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:

      • The Dog And His Master’s Dinner (by Jean de La Fontaine)
      • The Wax-Candle (by Jean de La Fontaine)
      • The Farmer and the Fox (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • Miss Harriet (by Guy de Maupassant)
      • Mr Lismore and the Widow (by Wilkie Collins)

      *** 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:

      • November 7, 1946     Eartha Kitt made her Broadway debut in 1946 in the revue Bal Negre.
      • November 5, 1987     Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s adaptation of familiar folk tales, Into the Woods, opened today on Broadway.
      • November 16, 1968     Zorba, by Kander and Ebb, which reunited Fiddler on the Roof vets Herschel Bernardi and Maria Karnilova, 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.

      • Chorus:

        The Chorus is particular type of refrain, usually shorter than the traditional refrain, often bearing repetitive phrases, often designed for chorus (or audience) to sing along. The musical theatre chorus is distinguished from the chorus in pop music. In pop music, the structure is typically verse/chorus, verse/chorus…which is equivalent in musical theatre to verse/refrain, verse/refrain. The chorus in musical theatre is much shorter, and most closely resembles the “na na na na” section of a pop song (like “Hey Jude” or King George’s “ba da da” from “Hamilton”). Musical theatre songs with singalong chorus include: “You’ll Be Back” (Hamilton) and “Schmuel Song” (The Last Five Years).

      • Creative Arranging at the Piano:

        by Bill Holcomb. New Jersey, Musicians Publications, c. 1980.

      • Accent – harmonic:

        A change in the expected harmony causes harmonic accents, or change in the harmonic rhythm. Perhaps a pattern has been established wherein the chords change only and always on the downbeat, so that when this harmonic rhythm is altered, an accent results. Or an deviation from the use of standard tonal harmony might cause an accent (e.g., a key change; an unexpected or unusual chord in the middle of standard tonal harmony; revoicing of a chord; etc.)

        • Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin’, woo woo  (from Chattanooga Choo Choo)
        • Was it accidental, or accurately planned? (from You Were There)
      • Alto:

        The lowest female voice, generally heavier than other women’s voices. Often associated automatically with worldliness, power. Changes timbre below about G and above an A.

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


Anna Held featured in the musical “Papa’s Wife,” presented at the Manhattan Theatre in 1899. From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.


Better than a palace with a gilded dome
Is a love nest
You can call home.

--Otto Harbach