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 Story of the Yara (by Andrew Lang)
      • The Life of Five Points (by Edna Clare Bryner)
      • The Lion and the Rattlesnake (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • Equipped for Service (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • Make-Believe (by AA Milne)

      *** 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:

      • January 17, 1908     Ethel Merman, perhaps the icon of Broadway musicals, was born today.
      • January 23, 1941     Lady in the Dark – with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book and direction by Moss Hart – opened on Broadway today with Gertrude Lawrence starring and Danny Kaye nearly upstaging her with the tongue-twisting showstopper “Tchaikowsky”.
      • January 16, 1964     Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway today to become one of the biggest smash hits of all time.

      *** 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!

      • Mister Golightly:

        A YouTube character who compares “who sang this role the best” — comparing, for instance, a bunch of performances of the same section of On My Own from Les Miserables.

      • The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology:

        by Richard Walters. MN, Hal Leonard Publishing Corp., 1986.

      • Prosody:

        The alignment of stresses in music with stresses in the lyric for the purpose of clarity of meaning.

      • 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

      • Integrated script:

        A combination of script and score, with running page numbers, prepared for rehearsal purposes, in the following order: book, lyric, music, book, lyric, music, etc.

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


Jacques Offenbach, composer of operettas (early musicals) – 1880. From the New York Public Library collections.


Please forgive me if I seem naive
I would never want to force your hand
But please understand
I’d be good for you.

--Tim Rice