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:


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:

      • September 13, 1948     Nell Carter, Tony Award and Emmy winner for Ain’t Misbehavin’, was born today. Later a television star, Carter’s also appeared in the 1979 film version of Hair and returned to Broadway two decades later to play Miss Hannigan in a revival of Annie.
      • September 23, 1987     Director/choreographer Bob Fosse died of a heart attack, leaving behind an opus of work few of his contemporaries could even begin to compare with.
      • 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:


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!

      • Coloratura Soprano:

        The coloratura soprano is a voice with a lot of possibility for movement and a light, sometimes ethereal quality. Potential range extends above a more traditional soprano, potentially C4 to C6. The timbre is often brighter on the higher end.

      • Collaboration:

        The process of two or more people working together to produce or create something. In musical theatre, this refers both to the writers of the musical, and later to the artistic team necessary to get the musical produced

      • Writingmusicaltheatre.com:

        Online instruction in the craft of musical theatre; affiliated with sister organization the Academy for New Musical Theatre. www.nmi.org

      • Professionalism:

        At NMI, we try to treat our members as professionals. Some would say that the difference between a professional and an amateur is a paycheck. But here are some more useful ways of thinking about the differences:

        Professionals arrive for rehearsals a few minutes ahead of time; amateurs allow themselves to be late.

        Professionals show up prepared; amateurs show up unprepared.

        Professionals take responsibility for their work ethic and creative process; amateurs often look for someone to blame.

        Professionals seek out constructive feedback; amateurs get defensive and think of feedback as criticism and judgment.

        (etc.  You get the idea.)

      • Assonance:

        The repetition of vowel sounds in a passage.  Hamilton is ripe with assonance.  Assonance in contemporary (hip-hop) music can function similarly to internal rhymes, allowing words to resonate against each other.  See, for instance, for instance at all the ten trisyllable words from “Right Hand Man” (Hamilton) which have vowels similar to “elephant” in the following:

        …general
        The venerated Virginian veteran whose men are all
        Lining up, to put me up on a pedestal
        Writin’ letters to relatives
        Embellishin’ my elegance and eloquence
        But the elephant is in the room

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


Cal and Ethel Norris . Photographer: De Mirjian. Location: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Jerome Robbins Dance Division. From the collection Treasures of the American Performing Arts, 1875-1923


I want to remember you
Remembering the happy time.

--Fred Ebb