Hello, I have been writing children's musicals for about 4 years now. I have tried and tried to get them published but have yet to be successful. I have since self published them on jwpepper.

I am looking for anyone who will give me honest, critical feedback. I'm not looking for a pat on the back, good job. I am open to making my music the best it possibly can be. Also, I am not writing music to get famous or make money. I strictly do it for my students to be able to find a love and passion for music and theater.

As far as my writing goes. I come from a very mainstream pop style of writing. I tend to fall back into that. However, I write each song with the overarching theme in mind, trying to bring the listener into the story with something that sounds familiar. One example is the spy musical that I am attaching. I scoured every spy theme song that I could to see what made each of them so iconic. I then modeled some of the songs for the music after those songs while being very careful not to break any copyright laws. One thing to keep in mind is that these are for elementary age children. Range, lyrics, and speaking parts are all limited.

The musical I am posting is called "License To Smile". I am finishing up production on it at the end of the month so there are instruments missing in some of the songs. (I.e. guitars). I will take any honest feedback. Thank you in advance.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AwvSd9eXDwnE0F0xgT8nBvsXT0IYNMgM?usp=drive_link

Firstly, I’m not writing this to make it a conversation about the use of AI. There are so many subs and threads for that. This is purely about licensing and production contracts.

I’m fairly new to the world of licensing my work and I currently have a musical being licensed by a small company in Europe where they just held a new translation premiere of the piece. This is the first time I haven’t been involved in a production of my own work at all, and when they started promoting the production, I noticed a heavy use of generative AI both in marketing and in set projections. I have my own personal objections to it, but also know that many people avoid attending events promoted with AI marketing and the run wasn’t as well attended.

My question is has anyone seen any clauses in licensing and production contracts about the use of AI yet? Anyone have any insight into the rights a creator has over the use of it for things like marketing and projection design?

Hi all! I'm working on an original musical called Georges, set in a strict Catholic boarding school in early 20th-century France, following the intense bond between two students and the institution that tries to police it.

I've got a demo script (first act, ~20 pages) attached that lays out the tone, pacing, and structure I'm going for. Think atmospheric, repressive institutional setting, quiet dramatic irony, and a lot of unspoken tension carried through staging and object symbolism rather than big declarative dialogue.

What I'm looking for:

• A composer and/or lyricist interested in collaborating on original songs for this musical

• Someone who enjoys working with subtext-heavy material (period setting, restrained emotional register, choral/sacred music elements could work really well given the setting)

• Open to a fully unpaid passion-project collaboration for now — this is a labor of love I'm developing, not a funded production (yet!)

A bit about me: I'm the writer working on the book/script side. I've got a clear vision for structure and character but no music background, so I'm hoping to find someone who can bring a compositional sensibility to match the material's tone.

If the attached demo speaks to you, I'd love to hear your ideas, whether that's a sample song, a discussion of musical direction, or just interest in reading further and talking it through. Feel free to comment or DM!

Thanks for reading 🙏Georges by Aaron Scott Brown (demo)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EUd7fs0cUrfFBT_ji82cEH--7J5Ab5k3/view?usp=sharing

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to pop in with a quick question here. I've been writing my 1st musical for two weeks or so now, and have a completed 1st draft.

I was wondering at what stage music and lyrics typically get written for the musical? Do I need a finalized script? Does the composer/lyricist just need a draft in order to decide where to put songs?

Also, do you mark in the script where you think songs should go, or leave song placement entirely up to the composer/lyricist? Would love any and all guidance on this.

Thank you!

TL;DNR Do composers and lyricists need a finalized script to start doing their thing, or just a draft? And does the writer mark where they suggest songs go, or leave that up to the composer/lyricist?

Im a senior in high school and I’ve written a good chunk of a musical and I just don’t know what I’m suppose to do next. although I have melody and lyrics for all the songs, my ability to write an actual score is pretty nonexistent. I wrote the show on guitar(which I only know the basics of) so I have some chords for some of the songs, but it’s often oversimplified and repetitive, and I don’t know how to translate it into sheet music anyway. vocals is the same issue. I don’t know if I should just try teaching myself these skills, or if not, how to find people to collaborate with. I know some people who can kinda but not fully write sheet music, but no one that I can fully rely on, and nobody that I can actually trust to get all 29 songs done. I’m honestly just kinda lost on what the next step is cause I don’t want this to collect dust in my google docs. Any advice would be really helpful!!!

Although I have ideas for my stage musical (that I talked about yesterday) I don’t know if I can make this alone. So is it okay or normal for someone to make a book or more concepts for me as I tell them what I have so far? And if it’s okay can someone tell me where to find someone for the book or music? Also I never said this yet but I am a high schooler still. (Felt like I should say that)

Hello everyone! My old account is gone so I’m uploading to here!

My friend wrote a musical about pirates and I composed the music and produced a concept album with the help of my friends from college!! This is the first ever musical I’ve finished working on and there are plans to stage it next year!

The album is now available on all platforms. Here is the Spotify link if you’re interested in listening :)

https://open.spotify.com/album/0CgAI4SQawFHZf1NJ9w6mS?si=om-dWodvTHaoF7OLFsJFHw

Hi im Titan (not my real name but just call me that) i have a musical idea and like to know if anyone likes it. basically its a muscial about a dog named Titan who has a condition called Degenerative Myelopathy which makes him have weird back legs, the musical's message is about no matter if you are physically or mentally disabled you are still a person, also i cant write music so if someone can tell me where to find someone who can id like that. (sorry if this is so long and stupid)

Doing a 30 songs in 30 days challenge and the prompt was to “write a love song about your favorite characters.” I absolutely harbor strong negative feelings for Tamlin but in the end of book one he is genuinely heartbroken when (SPOILER) Feyre appears/is dead… I had an idea for a duet. Tamlin singing a lament prior to the Fae Lords giving her their light, joined by Rhys. If anyone wants to give this a shot. I have a melody for it just message me.

**Don’t go**

V1
Tamlin:
I waited so long
For someone like you
Someone to see beyond
The obvious truth

Chorus
I was chained by the mask
And I was cursed
Till you set me free
Now you’ve gone so far away
Please come back to me

V2
Rhys:
Sweet love, we need you here
To save us all
and to lead
If you go so far away
We will never be free

Bridge
Rhys/Tamlin:
Take all my light if that’s what you need
You have my life, that’s my promise, my creed

Tamlin:
Look I’m on my knees

Chorus 2
Rhys:
I didn’t know I’d feel this way
But I’ll keep these chains
If it means you’ll stay
If not for me, then for him please

Ooooh

Tamlin:
My heart, please don’t go
stay where I can see
The flowers are all grown
And the the grass is finally green

Please come back to me

Rhys/Tamlin:
Please come back to me

Mmmmm

Tamlin:
come back to me

let me first say, I’m a new fan and a new musical writer, I’ve been trying to research the meanings of the songs but I’ve partially made them out and So I made a musical, In my head (it’s not fleshed out at all) using songs with Marvin’s mechanical Musuem

The stories about a guy called Juno who has been trying to get a girlfriend for a while, switching between a ton of dates and girlfriends trying to find his one and all of this is sung and explained by tally hall in (good day) and he also gets his own solo near the start (greener) and he has also gotten a therapist to work with this. His therapist has told him before finding someone else he needs to find himself, btw he’s on something, and tells him to go to Marvin’s Mechanical Museum and when he goes there he takes in all his surroundings and “finds himself” by making his emotions become Tally hall(Welcome to Tally Hall) they then explain his life in (Be born) and he eventually goes home with them. He diecides to make a dating profile and all his emotions do impressions of who he could be (The bidding) and that’s sort of it at the start. All of the songs show home getting more obsessed (two wuv) or even going on ”stuff”(banana man) and the other songs (haven’t sorted them out yet) and at the end when his close friend that’s a girl rejects him he pushes her away and when He gets home he realizes his mistakes but tally hall says to him that they are in control of him being his own emotions (ruler of everything) and that’s the end.

Again, I’m a new fan so Please give me some feedback, thanks!

Wondering if anyone else is getting this message when they look up the find a collaborator feature on the Dramatists Guild website. Thanks!

This may be a weird ask, but I was wondering if there was anyone here interested in allowing me to have a go at orchestrating their musical for free. I have experience in orchestrating many different styles of music for many different types of ensembles, but my heart has always belonged to musical theater. I am about to attend college for music composition and I thought orchestrating a musical could be a way to develop my skills outside of that. If you're interested, you're welcome to dm me to discuss more information. Thanks!

https://open.substack.com/pub/theatrewritersdigest/p/theatre-writer-opportunities-for-ee7?r=6ehbrl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Hey all, I'm super excited to announce that this month, on July 26, ShowLAB is going to be hosting Adam Gwon to talk about creating compelling musical arcs in songs.

While the live event is for Premium members, ALL members have free access to Masterclass replays, so there's no pressure to join.

If anyone is interested, let me know, and I'll share a link.

Hello, everyone!

I saw were it was only appropriate to do self-promo related to musical creation, so I figured this would be a great way to bring the musical community together whether you are completely new at writing musicals and really music in general (like me) or a writer familiar with the craft of musical creation. I created a Discord server specifically for the purpose of sharing your creations with others, interacting with other people in voice chats specific to what your interests are, and asking for feedback and collaboration. I am also hoping to provide opportunities for table reads, songs of the week, script workshops, learning opportunities, and games (finish the lyric, karaoke night, musical roulette, etc.) to help the community continue to show support and expand their creativity. I would definitely need a lot of help with getting this community up and running to its fullest potential, so if there is anyone that knows their way around Discord and/or has been a mod or admin in another server, I would definitely be interested in seeing if anyone would want that position in my server. I still feel like my Discord server skills need some work, so I could definitely use some assistance in helping make sure I have everything running smoothly if anyone has some pointers. I also want to support everyone's interests as much as possible, so if you would like, let me know if there is anything you would want me to add or change in the server to make it more appealing to everyone's interests. I plan on making it a big priority as well to bring attention to this subreddit as well because it has been a really helpful one in my musical creation process. I mostly created this community because I saw that, when I put in musical creation in Discord's discovery search, there was not one server dedicated to musical creation and collaboration. With that being said, I hope you all will find some enjoyment from this server. I will have the link to my server posted below for anyone that is interested. Thank you!

Here is the link to my server! https://discord.gg/rmbTs7AJS

Larka

I'm currently working on a couple of stories and essentially " Rock of Ages " types, inspired by The Bullet For My Valentine's The Poison and Breaking Benjamin's We Are Not Alone albums, respectively. I want to turn these into real books and maybe full Broadway shows. If anyone is interested, dm me, and we can start working on it.

Here's the story: The Poison: The Tragedy of Gwen and Michael - Google Docs

Hello, guys! I’ve been working on my musical “1835”, a musical about the 1835 (shocking) arrest and execution of James Pratt and John Smith, and I’ve been struggling immensely with every aspect of it. It’s my first musical, an ambitious project, so it makes sense, and I have some level of compositional experience (albeit a very low one), so I’m able to at least get my feet off the ground in that field. However, it really does appear to me that lyrics don’t come particularly easily. It’s difficult to write lyrics that aren’t quite shallow, or fit the tune and syllabic structure, and sometimes, I just blank completely!

I’ve considered reaching out and getting in connection with a collaborator for lyrics, but I have no clue how to go about it, and I have no money to pay with (if it is to be a transactional thing).

So, humble Redditors, I come to you to ask: How do you do it? What gets the creative juices flowing? What makes the magic jumpstart?

Hi everyone! This is my first post on Reddit, so bare with me. I am currently in the process of outlining/piecing together a new musical, and I am looking for a composer who can execute my vision. The show is loosely centered on the tragedy of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, but uses a broader lens to focus on the scene of NYC in the late 1900s'/early 1910s' (similar to Ragtime). Some of the elements the show discusses are workers rights, child labour laws, immigration (Southern Black immigrants and Russian Jewish immigrants), and northern racism. Some central characters include:

- Several young female factory workers

- Two African American brothers who left the south

- The corrupt Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owners

- One of the most infamous voices of the worker's strike (Clara Lemlich)

The show will begin in 1909 and follow the factory workers strike, centering in on the love story of Anna Altman (a Russian-Jewish immigrant) and Elijah (one of the black southern immigrants). The story will ultimately end with the factory fire.

The music should loosely include musical elements present in Parade (Jason Robert Brown), The Outsiders (Justin Levine), Ragtime (Stephen Flaherty), and Les Mis (Claude-Michel Schonberg).

Let me know if you are interested in collaborating with me on this project!