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:

Zozo (by HC Bunner)
The Yellow Wallpaper (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (by George Bernard Shaw)
The Trumpeter of Säkkingen (by Rudolf Bunge)
A Jury of Her Peers (by Susan Glaspell)

*** 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:

October 20, 1935 Jerry Orbach, star of the original productions of The Fantasticks, Carnival!, Promises, Promises, Chicago, and 42nd Street – as well as revivals of Guys and Dolls and Annie Get Your Gun – was born today.
October 16, 1925 Angela Lansbury, musical star of Mame, Anyone Can Whistle, Gypsy, The King and I, Dear World, Sweeney Todd, and others, was born today.
October 30, 2003 Just in time for Halloween, Wicked, the musical about two witches, landed on Broadway.

*** 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!

Stranger exposition:
Information exchanged between characters who know little or nothing about one another. See Neighbor exposition (above). Because strangers don’t know much about each other, they’re useful to the bookwriter to deliver information which neighbors/friends wouldn’t exchange. It makes perfect sense for a stranger to mention that he has a sister, Stella, who is the youngest daughter in his family; or to explain a custom or bit of history to someone who is unfamiliar with it.
Simile:
A figure of speech involving a comparison between two unlike entities, explicitly indicated by the actual or implied words “like” or “as.”

somber like a cathedral
Love is like a river
I’m as corny as Kansas in August

Note that the words “like” or “as” do not have to present for the phrase to be a simile.

Life is a cabaret
You’re the cream in my coffee
The Art of Writing Great Lyrics:
by Pamela Philips Oland.
Pastiche:
A musical score fashioned from many many different styles: e.g., ragtime, pop, hip-hop, an Elvis number, and a good-ol’-fashioned Broadway kickline.
Writing a Musical:
by Richard Andrews. London, Robert Hale, 1998.

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

O’Brien Sisters . Photographer: Strand (New York, N.Y.. Published between 1910 and 1923. “The O’Brien Sisters, Virginia and Marjorie, daughters of T.W. ‘Chicago’ O’Brien, the turfman, who reached stellar heights at Leith-Albee Palace Theatre, with Charlie King’s Revue after a short time in show business.”–Hand-written on verso of no. 401. Location: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Jerome Robbins Dance. From the collection Treasures of the American Performing Arts, 1875-1923

Come on, babe,
Why don’t we paint the town,
And all that jazz!

--Fred Ebb