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 Nine Cent-Girls (by HC Bunner)
Boccaccio’s Untold Tale (by Harry Kemp)
Elder Brown’s Backslide (by Harry Stillwell Edwards)
A Thing Of Beauty (by Elias Lieberman)
The Hare and the Tortoise (2) (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.

*** 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 5, 1987 Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s adaptation of familiar folk tales, Into the Woods, opened today on Broadway.
November 7, 1946 Eartha Kitt made her Broadway debut in 1946 in the revue Bal Negre.
November 18, 1909 Four-time Oscar winner and lyricist for L’il Abner, St. Louis Woman, and Top Banana, Johnny Mercer, was born today. Mercer teamed with some of Hollywood’s top composers, including Harold Arlen, Henry Mancini, Harry Warren, Jimmy McHugh, Jerome Kern, and Marvin Hamlisch, among others.

*** 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!

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
Prosody:
The alignment of stresses in music with stresses in the lyric for the purpose of clarity of meaning.
Through-composed:
A musical with music which plays without a break throughout the entire show, from beginning to end, pausing only for intermission.
Soprano:
The highest female voice, generally lighter than other women’s voices. Often associated automatically with innocence, purity, youth. Changes timbre below about middle C and above high F. Examples include: Maria (West Side Story); Luisa (Fantasticks); Hope (Urinetown); Ann (A Little Night Music)
Linear prosody:
In which the meaning of the lyric matches “meaning” of the music; broken linear prosody is when lyric’s meaning is broken by pauses or elongations in the music. (See prosody; linear prosody refers to horizontal, forward motion created either by the lyric or the music)

An example of broken linear prosody:

SHE HELD UP THE BABY. IT SMELLED

(music plays a little underscoring)

THE ROSES.

An example of beautiful linear prosody (Now from A Little Night Music):

Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap
Now there are two possibilities: A) I could ravish her; B) I could nap.

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

Players Cigarettes from the H.M.S Pinafore production – date uncertain. From the New York Public Library collections.

Maybe fifty million Frenchmen will agree
But spare us
Another song about Paris.

--Dave Frishberg