Textbooks on writing musicals
Twenty years in the making…at last, ANMT’s famous courses, now in book form!
Elevate your skills with “A Crash Course in Musical Theatre,” “The Craft of Writing Musicals,” “The Business of Musical Theatre,” and “The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox” – your complete resources for mastering the craft of musical theatre.
About The Books
Explore the magic of musical theatre with our four essential textbooks. Begin your journey with A Crash Course in Musical Theatre. Deep-dive into writing and composition with The Craft of Writing Musicals. Gain industry insights on producers (and how to approach them) with The Business of Musical Theatre. Expand your writing toolkit with The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox, a priceless resource offering side-by-side play adaptations, Golden Age musical scores, and an enlightening essay “Five Mistakes (Almost) Every Musical Makes” – all in one indispensable collection. Master the art, business, and craft of musical theatre with this quartet, ensuring you’re well-prepared for a successful journey into the heart of the musical world.
A Crash Course in Writing Musicals
Summarizing the prestigious Academy for New Musical Theatre’s two-year curriculum, this compact textbook is your guide from a blank page to the stage. Immerse yourself in intensive overview of bookwriting, lyrics, and song integration.
The Craft of Writing Musical Theatre
Master bookwriting, music, lyrics. Explore theatre structure, lyric, song writing. Essential guide for musical storytellers of every level.
The Business of Musical Theatre
Essential insights on collaboration, copyrights, pitching, and crafting compelling musical ideas for writers.
The Musical Theatre Writer's Toolbox
A treasure trove of resources, including musical scores, scripts, essays, format guidelines, sources for ideas, and beyond.
- Get writing right away with A Crash Course in Writing Musicals
- Perfect your craft and sharpen your skills with The Craft of Writing Musical Theatre
- Be ready to meet producers with The Business of Musical Theatre
- Free books, scores, articles, ideas, and other free stuff in The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox
“Unlock the full spectrum of musical theatre artistry.”
“Elevate your story-telling skills.”
“Exactly what every musical theatre writer needs. At last!”
The Craft of Writing Musical Theatre
What’s inside
Bookwriting
Outlining, plot, dialogue, exposition, rough draft, feedback, final draft, &c.
Composing the score
Ballads, comedy songs, ensemble songs, musical scenes, writing for piano, vocal ranges, etc.
Toolbox
Musical scores, scripts, books, essays, suggested reading lists, musical theatre glossary, &c.
Lyric writing
Structure, rhyme, progression, prosody, song-spotting, metaphor, list songs, &c.
The Biz
Rights, agreements, copyright, marketing, approaching producers, &c.
And more!
Insider tips, format guidelines, idea-generators, “Five Musicals (Most) Every Musical Makes” &c.
topics in the index
Pages
“It took ANMT to lead me through the steps to learn the craft, develop the skills, and ultimatley find my own voice as a writer.” (Robin Share, Windjammers.)
“We can’t imagine how we would produce an original musical again without NMI.” (Tim Dang, East West Players.)
“For the person interested in musical theatre, there are few places greater at bringing together support, critique, and artistic collaboration than The Academy of New Musical Theatre.” (Sachi Oyama, IMELDA.)
Excerpt from the section on bookwriting
Excerpt from the section on lyric writing.
Excerpt from the section on composition
"The Craft of Writing Musical Theatre"
Master bookwriting, music, lyrics. Explore theatre structure, lyric, song writing. Essential guide for musical storytellers of every level.
"The Business of Musical Theatre"
Essential insights on Collaboration Agreements, Underlying Rights, Public Domain, Copyright, Agents, Pitching to Producers, Self-Producing, and some highly-opinioned essays such as “Five Mistakes (nearly) Every Musical Makes” and “What Makes a Good Idea for a Musical?”
Based on the accumulated knowledge from eight national writers’ conferences on the business of musical theatre.
Includes “A Guide to Producing Stage Readings” and guidelines for approaching agents.
"A Crash Course in Writing Musicals"
Summarizing the prestigious Academy for New Musical Theatre’s two-year curriculum, this compact textbook is your guide from a blank page to the stage. Designed to get you writing right away, through an intensive overview of bookwriting, lyrics, and song integration.
"The Musical Theatre Writer's Toolbox"
A vast compendium of resources. Over 2000 pages of goodies, free with any textbook purchase.
Note: Most of these materials will be available year-round; some might be unavailable if publishers pause access for fair use study.
We’re always adding more materials to the toolbox, so check back often.
“The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox” includes:
- A Little Night Music - piano-vocal score
- A Little Night Music - script
- Advice to Musical Theatre Writers from Alan Lerner
- American Musical Theatre Chronicle Appendix - History up to 1910
- Bat Boy - piano-vocal score
- Bat Boy - script
- Chord symbol chart 121517
- Copyright_Term_and_the_Public_Domain_in_the_United_States_2_August_2023
- Defence of Poetry - Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Glossary of Musical Theatre Terms
- Gypsy - piano-vocal score
- Gypsy - script
- Hamilton - piano-vocal score
- Hamilton - script
- In the Beginning Was Sound - Daniel Barenboim
- My Fair Lady - piano-vocal score
- My Fair Lady - script
- On adaptations in musical theatre David Benedict
- PTG Stage Manager’s Handbook
- Script to Script Side By Side Comparison - My Fair Lady to Pygmalion.pdf
- Script to Script Side By Side Comparison - Oklahoma to Green Grow the Lilacs
- Script to Script Side By Side Comparison - Sweeney Todd script to musical
- Stage Management Handbook V4
- Standard Music Notation
- Sweeney Todd - piano-vocal score
- Sweeney Todd - script
- The Musical Comedy Book - by Peter Stone
- The Needs of a Musical - by Lehman Engel
- Vocal range chart
- West Side Story - piano-vocal score
- West Side Story - script
And more! All free with any purchase.
NOTE: Materials in the Toolbox are for fair-use educational purposes only. They are not downloadable or printable.
Musical Theatre scores for study
Fair use library of scores, including: A Little Night Music, Bat Boy, Gypsy, Hamilton, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, and West Side Story,
Library of Books and Essays
Essays and excerpts from books by Alan Jay Lerner, Peter Stone, Lehman Engel, Daniel Barenboim, David Benedict, and others.
SCRIPTS for study
Fair use library of scripts, including: A Little Night Music, Bat Boy, Gypsy, Hamilton, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, and West Side Story,
Research library
A deep resource for learning, including side-by-side comparisons of script to source material, music notation style guide, glossary of musical theatre terms, stage manager handbooks, Copyright manuals, and more.
About the author.
SCOTT GUY
Scott has been actively involved as a writer and producer in both theatre and television. He has six Emmy nominations, and over 100 produced television scripts for Warner Bros., FOX-TV, Disney, Discovery Channel, PBS, etc. Scott is the Executive Director of New Musicals Inc. where he supervises the development of musicals for live and digital platforms. He created the Lyric Lab over fifteen years ago and has supervised the development of hundreds of musicals. He has been Winner/Finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award, Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Award, four-time winner for Stages Musical Theatre Festival, and many other accolades. His theatre scripts, including The Fish Whisperer, Just-So Stories, Der Strunkenwhitenlieder, and Rootabaga Stories have had multiple productions throughout the United States.
THE ACADEMY FOR NEW MUSICAL THEATRE
ANMT was founded over 40 years ago. Under its parent organization, New Musicals Inc., The Academy continues to offer a comprehensive, multi-year musical theatre curriculum for bookwriters, lyricists and composers (the Core Curriculum), as well as an on-going writers’ workshop. ANMT develops several dozen musicals each year for producers and writers all around the country through table readings, workshops, concerts, and occasional productions.
Scott Guy
30% off!
$243 $170
If you order all three books, we’ll take 30% off the total price. Separately: $243. Order together: $170.
The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox is free with any order.
PURCHASE HERE!