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NMI’s RESOURCE CENTER for musical theatre writers

…producers, theatres, contests, ideas, feedback, definitions, links, glossary, insider tips and advice, and free videos

contest listings

insider tips

glosssary of terms

useful links

FREE format video

writer bank

theatres listing

public domain ideas

musicals online

FREE curriculum video

Welcome to the musical theatre writers’ Resource Center.

This is a FREE page provided by New Musicals Inc.  We’ve gathered in one place lots of info we think will be useful to writers of musical theatre:
  • hundreds of musical theatre contests
  • over 700 theatres and producers where you can submit your work
  • an idea library of thousands of royalty-free public domain stories and plots
  • a Writer Bank of potential musical theatre collaborators
  • a glossary of musical theatre terms (with audio/video examples)
  • a page of useful links to other resources for musical theatre writers
  • access to short videos filled with tips and advice from NMI staff

You can see the full listings for FREE!  You just need to register.   Take a look at some random highlights from the feature boxes of the Resource Center below.

REGISTER FOR FREE
 
We also offer a paid Premium version of the Resource Center which gives you the ability to SEARCH all the listings for contests, theatres, and ideas which are relevant to you and your work; and includes a monthly e-newsletter with up-to-date listings that come straight to you.   

BECOME A PREMIUM MEMBER

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INSIDER TIPS AND ADVICE


How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 50 – Collaborative Workshop Lecture #1 – Story Story Story

The 50th post in the video blog from NMI Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry - How to Get NO Feedback from Elise. The first in a short series of excerpts from the NMI Core Curriculum Launch Lectures for the 2021-22 season: Story Story Story.

To see more from this series, subscribe to the vlog at http://nmi.org/nmi-resources/elises-video-blog/


October 1, 2021     How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 49 – SPOTLIGHT ON CATHY ELLIOTT

September 9, 2021     How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 48 – NMI’s MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS’ WORKSHOP

August 2, 2021     How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 47 – THE INTRODUCTORY VERSE

July 1, 2021     How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 46 – STATEMENT OF FACT

June 1, 2021     How to Get NO Feedback from Elise: Vlog 45 – TELLING A GLOBAL STORY

*** Visit the INSIDER TIPS page to see the full listing of insider tips and advice videos. ***


CONTESTS

FREE LISTING of hundreds of contests for plays and musicals.

Premium Subscribers: get the additional ability to search by keywords. Who’s running contests for ten-minute musicals or one-acts? Who’s looking just for musicals? Dramas? Comedies? Or search by special interest, or geography.

Here are some random samples from some upcoming contests/submissions listings:

      • The Kentucky Women Writers Conference (November 30)
      • Will McLean Song Contest (November 30)
      • The Rosa Parks Playwriting Award (December 1)
      • The National Student Playwriting Award (December 1)
      • Mountain Playhouse Playwriting Contest (December 1)

      *** CLICK TO VIEW ALL THE CONTESTS ***


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.

      • Page numbers — paginating integrated script and score:

        A screen capture of a session integrating script and score and adding running page numbers.  This video demonstrates using Acrobat, but the principles of pagination would apply to any pdf integration program.

      • Pastiche:

        A musical score fashioned from many many different styles: e.g., ragtime, pop, hip-hop, an Elvis number, and a good-ol’-fashioned Broadway kickline.

      • Metaphor:

        Metaphor is an implied comparison identifying the two things compared with each other. Note: A metaphor is a different grammatical construct from the simile. The simile deliberately and obviously says to the listener, “I am comparing X to Y, and telling you that they are alike” (“crazy like a fox”; “Life is a cabaret”). However, a metaphor is not a simile with the “like” or “as” missing. A metaphor uses imagery or language from one idea and inserts it into the other idea…from which the listener must infer the comparison.

        Simile: My father is as steady as a ship.

        Metaphor: My father navigates this family through the tempests of our lives.

      • Pentameter:

        A line of poetry with five feet such as The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.

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


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.


Grace McDonald as Dolores Reynolds and RollyPickert as Gus Fielding in rehearsal for Babes in Arms . 1937. Photographer: Tucker, Richard, 1895-1958. From Richard Tucker photographs, 1934-1951. From the Digital Gallery Collections of the New York Public Library.



WRITER BANK


Here are the newest additions to our Writer Bank:

  • Tim Corpus - Composer    SEEKING COLLABORATORS/PROJECTS
  • Ahou Yasmine - Bookwriter, Lyricist   
  • Hudson Liverance - Lyricist, Composer   
  • Susan Rabin - Bookwriter, Lyricist, Composer   
  • Corinna Anne Hogan -    

*** VIEW THE WRITER BANK ***

You may peruse the Writer Bank for potential collaborators.

If you are a logged-in registered (free) user, you are also welcome to enter your own information into the Writer Bank.

Not yet registered? Just look for the registration form at the bottom of this page.



PRODUCERS & THEATRES

FREE LISTINGS of nearly 700 producers and theatres for potential submission of your work.

Premium Subscribers: get the additional ability to search by keyword or genre to identify who’s most likely to be interested in YOUR musical. (Large/small; comedy/drama; full-length/one-act; special interest like “women” or “LGBT” or youth theatre, etc.)


Here are some random samples from our listings of theatres and producers:

      • Soho Repertory Theatre (Accepts Musicals / )
      • Royal Court Theatre (Accepts Musicals / Plays / )
      • American Theatre of Actors (Accepts Musicals / Plays / )
      • Hubris Productions (CLOSED) (Accepts Plays / )
      • Weidner Center (Accepts Musicals / Plays / )

      *** COMPLETE LIST OF THEATRES/PRODUCERS ***


NEW MUSICALS ONLINE


Here is one of our featured new musical theatre videos:


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!

Premium Subscribers: get the ability to search the library for genre (Comedy, drama, suspense, ghost story, fairy story, etc.).


Here are some random samples from our listings of story ideas in the public domain:

      • Miss Bertha and the Yankee (by Wilkie Collins)
      • Chautonville (by Will Levington Comfort)
      • The Waiting Years (by Katharine Metcalf Roof)
      • The Ass and the Grasshoppers (by Ambrose Bierce)
      • The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (by J. M. Barrie)

      *** 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


LINKS


Here are some random samples from our musical-theatre related links:

      • Chicago Dramatists
      • Play Submissions Helper
      • National Alliance for Musical Theatre
      • TheatreMania
      • Tisch – Graduate School in Musical Theatre Writing

      *** VIEW ALL LINKS ***


MUSICAL THEATRE ARCHIVES

Here is some musical theatre trivia about events that happened during THIS month in the past:

November 10, 1949     Anne Reinking, muse of Bob Fosse, star of Over Here!, Dancin’, and Chicago (see below), was born today.

November 19, 1973     Savion Glover, the youngest person to win Best Choreographer Tony Award for his work on Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, was born today. Glover also appeared in The Tap Dance Kid, Jelly’s Last Jam, and the film Tap.

November 6, 1989     Maltby & Shire’s Closer Than Ever, a revue compilation of some two dozen of their “trunk” songs from the past 30 years, opened Off-Broadway today.

November 16, 1968     Zorba, by Kander and Ebb, which reunited Fiddler on the Roof vets Herschel Bernardi and Maria Karnilova, opened on Broadway today.

November 5, 1987     Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s adaptation of familiar folk tales, Into the Woods, opened today on Broadway.

news feed:

Beverley Knight Stars in The Drifters Girl Musical, Opening November 25 in London’s West End

The new musical The Drifters Girl, starring Olivier nominee Beverley Knight, officially opens at London’s Garrick Theatre November 25 following previews that began November 4. The production arrives following a previous engagement at the Newcastle Theatre Royal in October.Joining Knight are Olivier winner Adam J. Bernard (Dreamgirls), Tarinn Callender (Hamilton), Olivier winner Matt Henry (Kinky Boots), and Tosh Wanogho-Maud (The Book of Mormon) as The Drifters.Jonathan Church (Singin’ in the Ra…Read more

VIDEO: Watch ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ by Lin-Manuel Miranda from ENCANTO

Disney has released a brand new clip of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’, one of the musical numbers from Encanto written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The voice cast of the new animated film features Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Maluma, and more.

Broadway’s Weekly Grosses Report

After a coronavirus hiatus, The Broadway League has resumed sharing gross reports for Main Stem productions.Unlike previous gross reports, the League is now publishing numbers as composite figures comprising all currently running shows, rather than broken out by individual title. Some figures from previous reports, including the average ticket price and the percentage of the maximum potential gross reached, are not included for the time being.The League reported grosses for the final time before…Read more

VIDEO: Watch Andrew Garfield & Vanessa Hudgens Perform ‘Therapy’ in TICK, TICK…BOOM!

tick, tick…BOOM is an adaptation of the autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, who revolutionized theater as the creator of Rent. Watch Vanessa Hudgens and Andrew Garfield perform ‘Therapy’ in a new clip from the film The film also stars Joshua Henry, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jess, MJ Rodriguez, and more.

A Sherlock Carol Opens Off-Broadway November 22

Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle collide when a grown-up Tiny Tim turns to Sherlock Holmes to solve the peculiar death of Ebenezer Scrooge in the new holiday mystery A Sherlock Carol from playwright Mark Shanahan. The show opens at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages November 22, for a holiday run through January 2, 2022. Previews began November 11.The company will be led by Drew McVety (Billy Elliot, Spamalot) as Sherlock Holmes and Thom Sesma (Sweeney Todd, Pacific Overtures) as Ebenezer Scr…Read more

VIDEO: Andréa Burns Sings from THE FULL MONTY in Rehearsals for The Seth Concert Series

Andra Burns is the next guest on The Seth Concert Series Watch her sing ‘Life with Harold’ from The Full Monty ahead of her virtual concert with Seth Rudetsky on Sunday, November 21.

VIDEO: Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains How TICK, TICK…BOOM! Changed His Life

After a week in theatres, the much-anticipated adaptation of tick, tick…BOOM is officially available to stream on NetflixWe’re chatting with the first-time director- the wonderful Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Inside Live Theatre’s ‘Hands Across America’ Moment: Music Theatre International’s All Together Now!

Last weekend, Music Theatre International—the licensing company behind such musicals as Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, and Legally Blonde, among many others—celebrated the return of live theatre after nearly two years of most live performances being shuttered worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All Together Now!, a special revue made up of songs from some of the most beloved musicals MTI licenses, was performed at theatres around the world over the weekend of November 12, cappi…Read more

Take a Peek Inside Rehearsal for the Broadway Revival of The Music Man

Rehearsals are underway for the upcoming Broadway revival of The Music Man. The production, starring Tony winners Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster as Harold Hill and Marian Paroo, respectively, is set to begin preview performances at the Winter Garden Theatre December 20. Opening night is set for February 10, 2022.The Music Man tells the story of what happens when con artist Harold Hill arrives in River City and falls in love with the straight-laced librarian, Marian. The musical, which features a…Read more

Wake Up With BWW 11/19: TROUBLE IN MIND Reviews, and More!

Last night, Trouble In Mind opened on Broadway Check out all of the reviews in our roundup below, and stay tune later today for coverage from the big night Plus, check out photos from the North American Tour of Hairspray, new Moulin Rouge production photos, Mrs. Doubtfire’s Good Morning America performance, and more

new musicals ... ingenius

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER


Premium Subscribers receive a monthly email that lists upcoming contest deadlines; the newest members of the Writer Bank, some sample public domain ideas; as well as some fun musical theatre trivia like random lyric quotes, pictures from the archives, and listings of things that happened in the musical theatre world during this same month in the past. We know that it's not always easy to remember to come back to the Resource Center to remind yourself of what contest deadlines are coming up soon - so this newsletter will come to YOU.

FREE ACCESS right now; just register with us and pay no fees. But for $50 a year, Premium Subscribers get all the extra stuff listed on this page.  Here’s a summary of the additional perks for Premium Subscribers:

 Free v. Subscription?

 

FreeSubscribers
Insider Tips√
Contests√Custom search
Producers/Theatres√Custom search
Idea Library√Custom search; recommended titles
Links/resources√√
Writer Bank√√
Glossary of Terms√√
Monthly Newsletter–√
Format Guidelines$15FREE
Creative Services–$50-$400 off
Advice–$50 off

CREATIVE SERVICES
advice, and online classes

The Resource Center is a very powerful clearinghouse of information and source material. But what it does NOT include are workshops, feedback, or advice on how to get produced, all of which have some fees involved.

However, premium subscribers to the Resource Center get discounts on our services, ranging from $50-$400.  Here are some links to pages describing how New Musicals Inc. supports writers and composers of new musical theatre:

New Musicals Inc. Creative Services — Script Analysis, workshops, table readings, concerts.  You’ll also find here some options about developing your musical.  (Hint:  look at “The Sandbox” — and create your own pathway according to your budget and timetable.)

PREMIUM Subscribers get up to $400 off.

Consulting/Advice — We’re known for our supportive, practical consultations on producing, raising money, putting together budgets, as well as artistic issues like music notation, script doctoring, etc.

PREMIUM Subscribers get $50 off.

Format Guidelines — Want your script and score to look as professional as possible when making submissions?

PREMIUM Subscribers get our infamous GUIDELINES FOR PROFESSIONAL SCRIPT AND SCORE FORMATTING - ILLUSTRATED & EXPLAINED (a $15 value) for FREE.

REGISTER FOR FREE!

OR become a PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!

Already registered? Please login below.

Out on the ocean
Sailors can use a chart.
I’m on the ocean
Guided by just a lonely heart.

--Lorenz Hart

 Free v. Subscription?

 

FREE to Registered Users

Insider Tips
Contests
(Subscribers get access to custom SEARCH options)
Producers/Theatres
(Subscribers get access to custom SEARCH option)
Idea Library
(Subscribers get access to custom SEARCH and recommended titles options)
Links/resources
Writer Bank
Glossary of Terms

PERKS for PREMIUM Subscribers

Custom search/filtering options
Monthly Newsletter
Format Guidelines for FREE
DISCOUNTS on Creative Services
(from $50 to $400)