"On the tightrope of being thrilling and silly" is how he describes his work, and Mr. Lloyd Webber's, and Miss Knop's, and most of his favorite rock and opera. He sees "Whistle" as a chance to bring theater's lyrics into the rock era.

"Rock 'n' roll really transformed lyrics starting in the mid-1960s - well, starting with Dylan and then going on through the Beatles, et cetera," Mr. Steinman says. "And that really changed the way lyrics were conceived and composed: much more compressed, imagistic, heightened language. And that never gets talked about, and that hasn't been used in theater. Theater tends to have very literal lyrics."

Mr. Steinman actually started out in the 1970s trying to create musicals at the New York Shakespeare Festival for the legendary producer Joseph Papp, who threw an ashtray at him when Mr. Steinman said he was leaving the theater to make records.

When Papp asked him why he was giving up on theater, Mr. Steinman recalls saying, "I look out at the audience every night, and all I see is old people and their parents."