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 Lion and the Bull (by Ambrose Bierce)
My Nephew Joseph (by Ludovic Halevy)
Monsieur Lamblin (by George Ancey)
The Last Lesson (by Alphonse Daudet)
The Laughing Hippopotamus (by L. Frank Baum)

*** 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:

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 17, 1933 Dorothy Loudon, who received her first of 3 Tony Award nominations for her breakout role in 1969’s flop The Fig Leaves are Falling – despite its having run only four performances – was born today. The biggest triumphs of Loudon’s long career were her boozy, frowzy Miss Hannigan in Annie (Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical) and the widow Bea in Michael Bennett’s Ballroom.

*** 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!

List song:
The list song is a song whose prime characteristic is lyric which features a list centered on a topic. Secondary characteristics vary, but might include: rapid tempo or pace, clever rhymes, minimal grammar and a sense of absurdity. But not all list songs are rapid, and some are serious. Often the raison d’etre of a list song is to feature a performer or to show off a clever lyricist. Examples include: “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” (Pirates of Penzance); “The Elements” (Tom Lehrer); “Tchaikovsky and Other Russians” (Ira Gershwin); “You’re the Top” (Cole Porter); “My Favorite Things” (The Sound of Music).
Thrust stage:
A stage that extends into the performing area so that the audience is seated around three sides.
Double rhyme:
Perfect rhyme in which the accent involves two syllables; the first syllable is accented, the second is unaccented. Such as:

fatal/natal
screaming/steaming
daughter/water

(also called “Feminine Rhyme”)
Legitimate singing:
Full, classical, almost operatic sound with power and dynamic control throughout the entire vocal range.
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

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

Poster for “I’d Rather Be On Old Broadway With You” – 1909 – from the New York Public Library collections

I like cats.
I’m fond of rabbits.
I like dogs.
And even goldfish.

--Anne Caldwell