NMI’s RESOURCE CENTER for musical theatre writers

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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 Disinterested Arbiter (by Ambrose Bierce)
Puddnhead Wilson (by Mark Twain)
Education (by Jean de La Fontaine)
The Fox and the Grapes (by Ambrose Bierce)
Lonely Places (by Francis Buzzell)

*** 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.

*** CHECK OUT ALL THE LABS ***

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:

November 10, 1949 Anne Reinking, muse of Bob Fosse, star of Over Here!, Dancin’, and Chicago (see below), was born today.
November 14, 1996 Twenty years after it originally played on Broadway, Chicago opened in an incredibly successful revival production which preserved Bob Fosse’s style and vision for the original, but jettisoned the sets, the costumes, and any sense of period. Walter Bobbie (director) and Anne Reinking (choreographer; she also starred in the revival production, having also been a replacement for Gwen Verdon in the original production) won their first Tony for the show.
November 22, 1965 Man of La Mancha began its original 6-year Broadway run today.

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

INSIDER TIPS AND ADVICE

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

*** VIEW MORE INSIDER TIPS AND ADVICE VIDEOS ***

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!

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
ANMT:
Academy for New Musical Theatre. The academic branch of New Musicals Inc. They offer classes, workshops, readings and other support for writers studying the craft of musical theatre.
Near rhyme:
Syllables which are close to rhyming, but do not pass both rules of rhyme. Near rhyme is encouraged in pop music, but frowned upon in musical theatre.
Courtesy / Cautionary Accidentals:
A courtesy accidental, also called a cautionary or reminder accidental, is one that, according to the rules of accidental occurrence, isn’t strictly necessary before a note. But there are times when the composer wants to remind the player that an accidental is (or is not) in effect for a particular note. For example, in a measure containing several E accidentals, the first E in the next measure often has a courtesy natural attached, even though the E is technically canceled in the new measure. See also Cautionary Accidentals..
The Dramatist’s Toolkit:
by Jeffrey Sweet. New Hampshire, Heineman, 1993.

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

The marquee of the Casino Theatre, with “Havana” on the marquee. 39th Street and Broadway. 1909. Photograph by Arthur Vitols. From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

I like bread and she likes jam.
I like eggs and she likes ham.
What a perfect combination.
No wonder we’re in love.

--Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby