Kris Phoenix embodies all the English superstar rock musicians from John Lennon and Mick Jagger to David Bowie. He has questionable morals but a strong conviction and determination to succeed, and any unpleasant things he must do are done with the belief that his art will justify his life. Bobby Mondella, black and handsome, is the talented child of the ghetto who makes all the necessary compromises to reach superstardom. Rafealla personifies the aimless rich kid who leads such a fast life that she is jaded before the age of twenty-one, and almost falls into the profession of rock stardom because there is nothing else left to do.

There is the ruthless, powerful older man who controls the lives of others with the dispassionate abandon of a child manipulating dolls. Marcus Citroen represents the power to create or destroy the lives and careers of people who try to...