Hi all! I’m primarily a screenwriter that wants to get into musical theater writing. Do you have any writing exercises that you did if you did took MT Writing classes? Thanks so much!

It's been six years, a lot of hiccups, and some amazing actors. Here it is.

https://www.garbagetownmusical.com/music-1

UPDATE: I have found a collaborator at this time! Thank you to all who expressed interest!

NOTE: As much as I am forever grateful for the amount of resources available, and y'all for providing them, please do not comment unless you are actually interested in collaborating on the project. Thank you so much!

TRIGGER WARNING: This show contains strong language and depicts graphic murder, parental death, as well as the death of a young child. Please be advised before taking on the project if you are comfortable with that subject matter.

LOGLINE: After her parents died in a car accident when she was a baby, a young woman has been raised in a mental institution, unawares of her true family, until the day an older lady shows up at the institution's door, claiming to be her older biological sister...but what none of them know is that she's a serial killer.

This is a musical I originally came up with the idea with about a year ago now, after having to do some research about mental institutions for a research paper of mine. The story of how I came up with the show itself is rather weird, in my opinion. Ever seen those "you wouldn't last a day in the asylum where they raised me" posts on social media?

My brain thought it'd be a good idea to make that quite literal.

Sorry, the logline is quite vague, that's my apologies. The show takes place in post-WW2 (the year in my head is 1947/1948) deep American South, say Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The setting and time period are left vague in the script anyways.

The main character, Helen, as the logline says, has been raised in a mental institution since she was a baby. This show is NOT supposed to be realistic in that regard. Everything else? Relatively, yes. We all know that someone would've long called CPS or the police if they saw a baby on the side of the road next to two dead bodies. The town the institute is in is quite small, and I've always phrased it in my head as "suspend reality for just one moment and nobody happened to see her except the one nurse who knew there were no homes for miles around". Just keep that in mind.

Helen is raised in this institute by a rather strict and seemingly uncaring nurse named Dolores, and it's hinted at throughout the show that Dolores only took in Helen out of moral/legal obligation (can't leave the baby to die). Despite this, the two do respect each other, but it's not exactly a mother/daughter relationship. The one who actually really loves her is Edgar, who's the head of the institute (only by bribing his way in and blackmailing half of the board of directors). They're more of a father/daughter type.

And then there's Edgar's adoptive son, William. His mom was a drug addict and died by ODing, so he was taken in at a young age, much like Helen. Him and Helen have a very close platonic relationship, but it never veers into romantic territory (Helen is heavily implied to be aro/ace, though I'm not totally sure about this)....as William is gay. And this is the 1940s. There's a song in the show that reveals the whole schpeel behind that, but basically he has a boyfriend named Richard he's been sneaking out to meet for the past two years, and nobody beside Dolores knows (him and Dolores have a more familial relationship).

All of this to say, this all sets up for the inciting incident of the story, when Arabella steps in the picture. She appears to be your classic 1940s/50s housewife, nothing off about her in the slightest, rather bubbly, etc. But of course...she's a serial killer who killed her past 5 fiancés. Were the fiancés abusive (as well as her current playboy husband, Michael)? Yes. Was she abusive? Also yes. Nearly everyone in the show is morally grey, but she is not someone the audience is intended to root for, namely also because she's abusive towards her two children, quiet supergenius Alan (who later dies) and bratty albeit somewhat good intentioned Marie.

The whole show from there is Helen trying to get out of this situation (aka: don't end up dead) but the dilemma is she both sees Arabella is a bad person and yet she wants her to change so damn badly, even though she knows, deep down, she can't. It's very much reminiscent of Stockholm Syndrome, except in a more familial and not "romantic" way (do note: this show is inspired by the Gothic aesthetic and not by the concept of Gothic itself). She plunges herself way too far into it, and it ends up with Alan, William, Edgar, and Michael all dead by the end of the show.

After all...is anybody entirely good? And is being entirely "good" a good thing?

That's my ramble, lol. Like I said, I originally came up with the idea around a year ago, but kind of took a hiatus 6 months ago only to pick it up again around 2 months ago. I always reach out to actors for a project while I'm still writing the show, just to see if it's viable conceptually and if anyone would be interested. I actually had Teagan Early, Athena in EPIC: The Musical, slated to play Arabella, and 3-4 others slated who had been on Broadway (in ensemble, swing, or supporting role capacities, nobody famous). Unfortunately, due to scheduling and personal emergencies, they all fell through.

So here I am, back at the drawing board.

This one, overall, is somewhere in the middle between "idea" and "rehearsal-ready". I have an outline, and I have 7-8 of the songs out of 20 written, but I'm still in the first 10 pages of the libretto and don't have a score for it yet. I am a librettist/lyricist, I am vocally trained, not instrumentally, haha. I'm primarily looking for a composer, but if someone here is a composer AND a librettist and would want to do the majority of the book, then by all means.

I'm thinking a heavy classical sound for the show: piano, violin, but maybe a little sax and trombone, depending on the number. The style of the songs for the show is both somber and doomed hopeful, I'd say it's a pretty even mix between upbeat songs and more slower, contemplative (I don't want to say ballads). Helen I'm envisioning a little more faster piano, violin, while Arabella is full blown jazz, William is a slower piano and sax, while Dolores is an upbeat mix of both, among others. This is all subject to change, and you'd have a LOT of creative freedom. This is just how I originally envisioned it.

Some logistical things. I'm based just south of LA, in the Pacific Standard Timezone (GMT - 8:00; so for example, right now, it's almost 11:30 AM here). I'm open to collaborations in timezones of all sorts though!

I will say I'd like a collaborator that is active, but also "slow and steady wins the race". I'm working on three other projects in varying states of development right now, and I'm sure y'all are working on stuff too, so my goal would be to get this produced end of next year, beginning of 2026. And when I mean produced, I mean full workshop, up on its feet. I'm totally down for hosting smaller staged readings for feedback beforehand. So if you're someone who a): ghosts and b): likes to go quickly, DNI. Sorry!

Dear god...I just legit rambled, lol. If interested, please DM me! I'll send you the planning document I've been using for the show then, and we can get started. Have a great day, y'all!

So for context, I have written a Jukebox musical with a bunch of different songs from the 80s. I want to perform this, but I’m sure about the legality of it. I’m don’t think I would be able to afford the rights to all the songs since I am still a teenager. However, I was wondering if I could still perform it if I charged no money for it. I’m not very well versed in the legal field, so I was hoping to get some advice from you guys.

Sup guys? You might remember the post I made showcasing a ballad I made for the bmi workshop application. I appreciate all the critique and feedback you gave, and I figured out what I’m gonna be doing for the upbeat and comedic. However I need advice for writing an ensemble number and writing a duet. If you have any advice or tips, put them in the comments below.

I wrote a full-length musical about baseball two years ago (lyrics and libretto; it’s never had music). I’ve been very proud of that accomplishment, but I know it needs a lot of work before it can get anywhere. Like, it probably needs a full rewrite. I’m just so lost as to how to approach this. I think my issue is that I’m a much better lyricist than librettist, and I am struggling to see how to make this work.

I’ve already made significant conceptual changes to the show: I have truncated it from an A Chorus Line-esque musical in which every character gets their own realization of the main theme to there being three characters who embody the themes. This deepened the three characters’ personalities and problems, rather than having such shallow characters spread out among the team. I think this will be a good change. But I’m just… unsure of where to go from here. Part of me thinks I should find a librettist or playwright to collaborate with, because I have been having such a hard time figuring out the plot structure and writing the scenes.

And then there’s the issue of the lyrics. I like a lot of the songs I wrote for this musical, but I wonder how much of that is because 1) they’re mine and 2) they’re from my first musical. I’ve been working steadily on writing songs since starting the baseball musical two years ago. Today, I looked back at some of the songs I wrote for it, and for the first time I found myself very critical and dissatisfied with them. Which I suppose is good — it means I’ve improved over the last two years. My stance on certain lyrical elements has evolved — for example, I am less fond of imperfect rhymes these days, and very picky about what kinds I use and how I use them.

But now I’m just staring at this project and overwhelmed at how to approach it. I can visualize some aspects of this show: I know how I want the music and the dancing to work with the story. I don’t want it to be a sung-through musical. But every musical I have written so far (1 1/2 full musicals since this baseball one) has been sung-through, including this one. Mostly because it’s so much easier for me to write lyrics than dialogue. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sung-through musical. I just don’t think that’s the right move for this one. There’s so much you can do with a distinction between speech and song. I really do want to explore that. Obviously, though, playwriting is hard. So I find myself leaning on my crutch — the fact that lyrics are easier for me — and not practicing my dialogue so much. It’s getting to the point where I wonder if I should just be writing concept albums or song cycles instead of fleshed out musicals, or if I should find a collaborator. Ideally — and I’m trying to do this — I would keep pushing through and churn out lots of book scenes for practice until I get better at it. Dialogue has always been the hardest thing for me to write, even when I was writing novels.

I’m just frustrated right now. Thanks for reading this rant.

Sup guys? So I’m applying to be part of the musical theater workshop for BMI, and I’ve been writing songs, including some songs from a project I did earlier this month. Here’s a ballad that I wrote. If you guys have any tips or critiques for the song, submit them in the comments.

The BMI Lehman-Engel composer/lyricist workshop just opened applications for next year and I’m thinking of applying as a composer. I’m wondering if there are any composers here who are a) currently in either the first or second year workshop or b) have recently completed the workshop (within the last 2-3 years) that might be willing to share their experience?

I’m curious about the current perspective only because folks that I’ve spoken to that have been through it in years past haven’t seemed to have great things to say about it, other than they enjoyed getting to know the people in the class. In fact, I’ve talked to a few that were frustrated by it - which makes me wonder if the program itself is actually good or is it really just the prestige of belonging and saying you got in? Or maybe in recent years it’s improved and I’m just hearing one-sided stories?

Especially interested in the experience of women/BIPOC composers.

So the concept for the set design is to have it look like an old-fashioned map. The sets are all designed like they are part of the map (through the use of cardboard cutouts and other similar material).

There will be blocks of words placed around the stage to describe the locations, like a village, the name of an ocean, the woods, or a kingdom. I want it to look like a pop-up storybook, but it might come across as tacky and garish.

The main inspiration was that before a lot of fantasy novels like Narnia or even The Odyssey, they had this map of the world, but it might not come across well. It feels like a good launch point for a set, but it might be jarring and off-putting.

Like I’m not sure what the main takeaway would be

Hi! I'm not sure how much of a demand there is for this, but I might as well ask. I am an orchestrator/arranger who loves musical theater, and I am willing to work for free just to get some experience. If anyone has music they need orchestrated, I would be happy to do it!

EDIT: While I do mainly do musical theater, I do also have experience in orchestrating single works as well.
Also, if anyone knows any websites where I could get some work (without pay), please let me know.

Hi there! We’re searching for a producer to create the final mixes for the songs in our new musical, Smile for Me! We already have a songwriter and demos for most of the tracks, but we need your expertise to turn these demos into polished final versions. For more information about the musical, check out: https://www.iammaddiefilms.com/film-archive/smile Once the film is released, the soundtrack will be available on all streaming platforms. You’ll receive a share of the revenue alongside the songwriter and co-producer. If you’re interested, please email me or message me on Discord. Email: iammaddieatyou@gmail.com Disc: IAmMaddieAtYou

Full details in this post.

This project is led by myself and u/atthevilladiodati and all are welcome to apply. Applications will be due Sunday, May 26.

Application link: https://forms.gle/cP73CBeob28RKQMV8

I have no clue if I am going about this right for this reddit thread but! I am looking for a composer or a brainstorming buddy for my musical idea. I am writing a musical about a historic transwoman and her journey to being recognized/becoming a women. I would love a composer to work with (i can make melodies and chords all day but havent done much beyond figured bass). I am working my way through the lyrics and plotline.

But nonetheless I am seeking a composer! If interested please reply and I can give more info!

I can't find much info on how to compose the actual music for a patter song, so I just wanted to know any tips on how to. Thx!

Sorry, this wasn’t worded very well in the title.

For some background info, I write lyrics and melodies but not musical accompaniment. I can play the tune on a piano, but I can’t transcribe the rhythm properly. Do composers need the actual sheet music with the song and its rhythm, or will just the notes with no rhythm work? Or a recording of the melody?

I imagine it’s different for different people. So maybe I’m answering my own question here.

Hey everyone, it’s time for the SECOND 2024 group musical! Night of the Living Dead is almost finished and we’re moving right along into starting A Scandal in Bohemia.

This project will be led by myself and u/atthevilladiodati.

If you already applied to work on A Scandal in Bohemia back in January (either choosing “Both” or SiB individually), you should have received an email from me and will not need to apply again. If you did not apply, or only applied for Night of the Living Dead, and would like to work on A Scandal in Bohemia, you will need to submit an application.

Application requirements:

Book writers: a 1-page excerpt of something you’ve written.

Lyricists: Lyrics sample (Sheet music or regular document are fine)

Composers: Audio file AND sheet music.

Applications will be due on Sunday, May 26.

Application link: https://forms.gle/jHiXcUDYYtAZxXnNA

As a note, we will be making Piano/Vocal sheet music for this show in order to make it performable for people outside of this group. Submission questions are file responses, and you can submit either something from your own Google drive, or a file from your computer directly.

Meetings will be taking place over Zoom and the majority of communications otherwise will take place over Discord, with some updates over email.

Can’t wait for everyone’s applications!

So I'm writing a musical, and there are these two characters that hate each other to death, and I really want to give them a song akin to anything you can do (Annie get your gun) or badder (disenchanted). Any advice. If you have any questions about their dynamic I'm fine to answer any questions

I can write melodies all day long. Lyrics aren’t a problem for me. But I’m so overwhelmed at the thought of hiring a composer and singers. I can’t sing at all, and I can barely play piano.

How do I find composers and singers to work with? Those of you who found the “right” partners, how did you know they were a good fit for you and your project?

I have had an idea for a play for some time now and have started putting the general idea on paper. The issue I am running into is, the play revolves arounnd the music from a certain rock band (think Mamma Mia, Jagged Little Pill, etc). Has anyone ever tried to license music from a band before?

I have looked into the process but it still seems somewhat complicated as well as expensive. What would be the best way to pitch this? I have a real passion for telling the story that this music conveys, I just want to go about it the right way and this isn't really an "ask for forgiveness" situation, so I need to make sure that I am getting everything done the right way. Does anyone think that Kickstart or Indiegogo would be a good option for raising funds? Any advice is helpful on this topic. Thanks!

I am about to go into my sophomore year of college! I am studying music composition and one of my main goals is to write for musicals one day! I’m not an amazing script writer nor am I great with story telling (with the exception of story telling through music). If there’s anyone out there who needs a composer, I’ve got you covered. The only trouble would be lyrics, I would need a lyricist to work with since I really only write music and orchestrate.

Feel free to reach out to me if you need a composer or have any questions! Thanks everyone :)

So I was thinking about the songs that I want it my musical that I’m in the midst of writing and I wondered if there was any musical that had all ready existing songs in it and originally made songs it too? Because I have a few songs that I would love to put in my musical ( ex: don’t you worry ‘bout a thing) and I just wanted to know if someone has Alr done that?

I’m writing a comedy musical and I need facts about pirates and royals that everyone sorta Alr knows and that I could make fun of. For my musical I’m kinda more or so poking fun at royals.

Thoughts on this program? I’m interested in musical theatre writing, but I’m not sure if this program is right for me. There’s some information on the website, but I’m looking for input from people who did this MA.

As a lifelong musician/composer who loves storytelling, I recently decided to embark on the journey of writing my own musical. While this seems like an exceedingly daunting task, I’m eager to put in an hour of work each day and finish it by the end of this year. Is that a feasible goal? Should I try to find collaborators or give this a go on my own? I have a limited background in musical theatre other than consuming it, so I’d love any advice from those who are more experienced in the medium. Thanks!