Continued from page 47
strong personal connections in the script.
It's about a heavy metal band that starts
in 1993. Can you think of a worse year to
start a heavy metal band? Well, I joined
Twisted Sister back in 1976, forming a
glitter rock band. After Kiss had taken
their makeup off, and Alice Cooper was
drugged out, and Bowie had turned too
American. I mean glitter was gone, and
we started a glitter band. Just like the
band in the play, we didn't care and as a
result it took us 8 years to make it.
People went completely around and glitter rock became hair metal instead of
glam so there are a lot of parallels.
IE: As the musical's main
creator how would you
describe it?
DS: The simple line that I
always use; it's a story about
a struggling heavy metal
band that sell their souls
to the devil but find
the
magic
of
C h r i s t m a s
instead. Which
always
makes people
smile
and
laugh, and
then they
ask me,
" H o w
d o e s
t h a t
h a p pen?"
And you
have to
see
the
show
to
understand.
The show has
some very dark
things in there,
but I promise you,
it's a family show and
you
walk
out
feeling
Christmassy. It puts you in the spirit of
Christmas.
IE: What kind of an audience did you
have in mind when you were committing
this idea to paper?
DS: Very much family. I'm a family guy,
and that's no secret. I've been with the
same woman for 38 years now, we have
4 kids, and I got three grandkids. I'm
really big on holidays, I'm big on family
holidays, and I wanted to share the experience. At the same time, there wasn't
really an edgy Christmas show for the
whole family to enjoy. The last few generation starting from the 1950s were
raised on rock. We all understand that
pulse now. My parents did not, they
came from big bands, jazz, and so on.
But now, grandma and grandma rocked
at some point in their lives because it
was there for them to enjoy. And with
the success of A Twisted Christmas
record people were like, "We wanna
rock, we like the tradition but why can't
we rock at the same time?" That all came
together here.
IE: How does someone like Dee Snider
get to be an entertainer the whole family can watch? I mean, you were one of
48 illinoisentertainer.com november 2014
the more edgy and shocking frontmen
back in the '80s. So when did this transformation take place?
DS: Believe me, this is as much of a
shock to me as it is to you. I actually
asked Alice Cooper about this. I go,
"Alice, what's going on, I was the guy
people crossed the street to get away
from, and now I walk out [