Welcome to the musical theatre writers’ Resource Center.

This is a FREE page hosted by New Musicals Inc.
As of September 1, 2024, we are NO LONGER maintaining a list of Producers and Theatres, or a Contests Listing. We have found we are no longer able to keep those lists properly up-to-date.
BUT we encourage you to check out the offerings from our friends at MusicalWriters.Com who have a wealth of resources for musical theatre writers!
What you can still find on this page is:
  • an idea library of thousands of royalty-free public domain stories and plots
  • a glossary of musical theatre terms (with audio/video examples)
  • access to short videos filled with tips and advice from NMI staff
  • access to critical feedback options and format guidelines from NMI

Enjoy!


FORMAT LIKE A PRO


Watch this FREE video to learn how to implement the FORMAT GUIDELINES specifically designed by New Musicals Inc. Make sure your script and score look professional and are ready to go into development.

Want more tools to help you get your formatting right?

*** VISIT OUR FORMATTING PRODUCTS PAGE ***



LIBRARY OF IDEAS (Royalty Free)

FREE ACCESS to a library of 1000+ downloadable royalty-free stories, plays, plots and other inspiring indeas we’ve found in the public domain for you. There’s a brief excerpt of every item in the library, so you can take a quick glance to see whether or not you want to read the whole text. In addition, the NMI staff has made annotations and recommendations for many of the titles in the library about their potential to become musicals. Save hundreds of hours of research and reading!


Here are some random samples from our listings of story ideas in the public domain:

      • The Dove and the Ant (by Jean de La Fontaine)
      • The Postmaster (by Rabindranath Tagore)
      • The Politicians (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • Clochette (by Guy de Maupassant)
      • Jupiter and the Birds (by Ambrose Bierce)

      *** LINK TO COMPLETE LIBRARY OF IDEAS ***


IMPROVE YOUR CRAFT


New Musicals Inc. offers a whole series of professional online LABS for bookwriters, lyricists, and composers who are serious about improving their craft. This video is a FREE sample of one of the lecture videos from the all new Lyric Lab 1 - Fundamentals.

FREE PROGRESSION HANDOUT


NEED SOME FEEDBACK?


Have you written a musical? Are you working on one? NMI has smart, professional, detailed dramaturges who will help you make sure you are on the strongest path to fulfilling the promise of your work. From video and audio feedback packages to one-on-one dramaturgical sessions, we have what you need to take the next step forward. We even have an annual contest that results in a workshop and concert reading in Los Angeles.

"We really did appreciate all your help - you’ve got just the right tone to critique. It’s a matter of 'A Spoonful of Sugar Helps The Medicine Go Down'!”
                    ~~George Stiles
          (Mary Poppins, Honk, Soho Cinders)

*** Check out NMI's Feedback options ***


MUSICAL THEATRE ARCHIVES


Here's a sample of items from our vault of historical photos, and musical theatre trivia about events that happened THIS month in the past:

      • April 16, 1927     Edith ‘Edie’ Adams was born today. Adams won a Tony for Best Featured Actress as Daisy Mae in L’il Abner. Then, she played Julie Andrew’s Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s television version of Cinderella.
      • April 21, 1977     Annie opened on Broadway today starring thirteen-year-old Andrea McArdle.
      • April 11, 1991     Miss Saigon opened on Broadway today.

      *** Click to access the full archives. ***


INSIDER TIPS AND ADVICE


Here is one of our videos with insider tips and advice:


GLOSSARY OF TERMS


Here are some samples from our Glossary of definitions of musical theatre terms. We will be adding to this over time - as well as adding actual sample scores and sound recordings. Check back often!

      • Euphony:

        An harmonious succession of words having a pleasant sound. Such as:

        I’m simply drowned in the sight
        And the sound and the scent
        And the feel of a real live girl.

        my jauntily, sauntering, ambling shambler.

        Whatever the boat I row, you row.
        Whatever the row I hoe, you hoe.
        And any I.O.U. I owe, you owe
        No, we owe – together.

      • Tessitura:

        The range which comprises most notes of a vocal range; the general range of a character.

      • NMI:

        New Musicals Inc. They study, develop and produce new musicals. www.nmi.org

      • Anapest:

        A three-syllable unit comprised of two unstressed syllables followed by an stressed accent. Such as:

        • Are you LONEsome tonNIGHT?
        • Do you MISS me tonNIGHT?
      • Accent – dynamic:

        Dynamic accents are a result of notes which are noticeably louder than the notes around them. Dynamic accents can be created by notation (placing accent marks over notes), by syncopation, or by observing the natural accents created by regular meter in which accented syllables fall on accented beats).

        • In Camelot.
        • The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
        • If I were a rich man.
        • I want to be in A-mer-i-ca

      *** Click to access the full glossary. ***


A scene from Act II from the production of the musical satire “The Sultan of Sulu,” by George Ade, starring Frank Moulan and presented in 1903. From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.


At the end of the rainbow there’s happiness,
And to find it how often I’ve tried.
But my life is a race, just a wild goose chase,
And my dreams have all been denied.

--Joseph McCarthy