NMI’s RESOURCE CENTER for musical theatre writers

insider tips

glosssary of terms

FREE format video

public domain ideas

FREE curriculum video

theatre archives

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:

      • A Call to Quit (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • The Postmaster (by Rabindranath Tagore)
      • The Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled Ermine (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • The Moral Principle and the Material Interest (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • The Herdsman and the Lion (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:

      • September 26, 1957     The show created by one of the all-time starriest creative teams – Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Jerome Robbins (director/choreographer), and Harold Prince (producer) – West Side Story, opened on Broadway.
      • September 20, 2001     Urinetown, that musical with the title least likely to succeed, opened on Broadway. The darkly comic show won Tony Awards for Best Direction, Best Score, and Best Book of a Musical.
      • September 10, 2000     Cats closed on Broadway, having run 7,845 performances. The show spent its last three years as the longest-running show in Broadway history, having eclipsed A Chorus Line for that honor on June 19, 1997.

      *** 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!

      • Baritone:

        The middle-ranged male voice, generally thicker and more resonant than a tenor. Often associated automatically with maturity, physicality. Changes timbre below C and above F.

      • Mixed metaphor:

        Using more than one metaphoric scheme in the same expression.

        You’re missing the boat because you’re jumping the gun.
        Changing horses mid-air.

      • Metonymy:

        Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant. Metonymy differs from synecdoche in that synecdoche references an actual piece of the original; metonymy is about an attribute or something related to but not part of the original. Such as:

        crown for royalty
        mitre for bishop
        wealth for rich people
        brass for military officers
        bottle for wine
        pen for writer

      • B-section:

        A contrasting section of a song, often with different lyrical ideas. This term is different from the “bridge” of a a pop song: a “bridge” exists between pop’s verses or choruses; a B section in musical theatre refers to a portion of the refrain itself. (See AABA.)

      • Synecdoche:

        A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole. Such as:

        Classification of a noun standing for the noun itself:
        vessel for ship
        weapon for sword
        creature for man
        arms for rifles

        Noun standing for the classification:
        bread for food
        cutthroat for assassin

        Part substituted for the whole:
        sail for ship
        hands for helpers
        roofs for houses
        Noun itself used for what is derived from it:
        silver for money
        canvas for sail
        steel for sword

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


Jimmy Savo as Dromio of Syracuse in The Boys from Syracuse . 1938. Photographer: Tucker, Richard, 1895-1958. From Richard Tucker photographs, 1934-195. From the Digital Gallery Collections of the New York Public Library.


The road you didn’t take
Hardly comes to mind,
Does it?

--Stephen Sondheim