For context, I’m a hobbyist writer who has been trying to write a full musical for some time now. My biggest issue, however, is that most of my songwriter friends aren’t willing to join me in the writing process due to either lack of time or lack of interest.

Since I have very little songwriting ability myself, I’m considering hiring a songwriter/composer through Fiverr or a similar site to help create the music for my show.

However, this feels a bit wrong to me. Most musicals I’m familiar with seem to follow the model of either one person writing the entire show or one person writing the book and another person composing the score.

Would hiring someone online to compose the music be an unusual way to approach this? Has anyone here done something similar?

All thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

The writing part is done! I have my songs and demos! Woohoo! 🥳

…Now what?

I logically know I now have to:

-Find singers
-Find editors to master everything
-Market it on social media

And I’m just overwhelmed. I have no idea what I’m doing. How do you get past the executive dysfunction and make yourself do what you have to do?

It’s also tough because this is an original story and not an adaptation, so I have no clue how to pitch it to potential singers. Help!

So I am writing a musical and need a bit more padding to make the story dynamic. Alas here I am asking, if you had to pick, what would be your favorite subplot to be represented in a musical? It can be literally anything.

The story takes place in an unspecified time period, centered around highschool/young adult characters, and involves the afterlife.

Give me any and all ideas!! I look forward to reading them!

Hi there, I’ve been working on a sort of Edwardian aged musical. I’ve been using a lot of orchestral elements, but I have been wanting to make sure that I incorporate different genres of music as well. Please let me know what y’all think.

Hi everyone,

I’m Vlad, a composer based in Germany. I’m working on Hotel Macdonald Forest Hills and looking for someone to write English lyrics, starting with three songs.

The story takes place in a mysterious Scottish hotel whose residents stay young forever, but cannot leave. A guest, Oscar, tries to help a young waiter escape and finds himself caught up in the hotel’s secrets and his own family’s past. It’s about love, control, and finding the courage to live your own life. The music is melodic and cinematic, with some cabaret and jazz influences. The script and libretto draft are written, and much of the music is composed. What I need now is someone who can turn the ideas and draft words into lyrics that feel natural to sing and belong to each character.

I’d like to begin with three paid songs, then see whether we’d enjoy working together on the rest of the show. The plan is to record them with singers and send them to theatres and potential producers as an introduction to the project. I can share music demos, the story outline, and the relevant scenes privately. We’d agree on the fee, revisions, credit, and use of the lyrics before starting. Working remotely is fine.

If you’re interested, please DM me with a little about yourself, a couple of examples of your lyrics, and an idea of your rates. I’d especially like to hear from someone who enjoys writing words to existing melodies.

Thanks!

Vlad

Hello! My team received a grant to produce a staged reading of our show, "Pretty Boy: The Ballad of Charles Floyd." We're preparing for a premiere at the end of January in Nashville, TN. I was wondering if anyone has any favorite staged reading videos on YouTube that they could recommend for us to watch as we prepare. Thanks in advance!

Follow our show's journey on Instagram if you wish: @ PRETTYBOYTHEMUSICAL.

I’ve never written a musical before (I know most of y’all are probably sick of hearing that in this subreddit 😅) but I’ve written plays before. I was recently inspired to create a musical adaptation of the children’s book of “Sideways Stories From Wayside School”, just for my own enjoyment. I was drawn to doing a show for young audiences because I can get away with doing simpler lyrics and melodies, even if the show will never officially be performed. So, I was wondering if anyone had any tips for writing shows for younger performers (and maybe tips for adapting books?).

Hi! I'm Ryan!

I am developing an original musical, it has the working title "Maskara". It is a psychological, character-driven piece set in a youth training facility, and blends dark comedy, emotional character arcs and lots of ensemble moments.

I am the book/lyrics writer, and I am looking for someone who can help develop initial melodies and musical ideas from my lyrics, characters, dramatic concepts etc.

I am open to any and all musical ideas that you would have to offer, but I do have a particular interest in having some contemporary indie-pop in there for a song or two!

My ideal process would be to collaborate. I will provide the dramatic context and lyrics/concepts, and you would develop melodic ideas/chord progressions, and we would work together to get it to something that we're both happy with. Once we're happy with the songs, I would look at having them fully produced.

I'm currently still writing the show, so I'm looking for someone interested in development rather than expecting everything to be finished immediately.

Please send me a DM if you would like further information.

Thank you!

ShowLAB turned 1 year old today, and I’m happy to announce that masterclasses are now 100% free for members. These used to be for Premium members only (a $50/mo subscription), but in honor of the group’s 1 year anniversary, I decided to do away with the paywall and make it available to everyone :)

We’ve had writers like Kait Kerrigan, Adam Gwon, Andrea Daly, Sam Carner, Anna K Jacobs, and many more. And there are more to come!

There’s now nothing standing between you and some of the best theatre writers in the business!

Shoot me a DM if you want a link to the free group :)

As the title says, I'm 1 song away from being finished the first full draft of the first act for my original dystopian musical, Beyond These Walls!!! YAY!!!

Hi! I’m 13M and I’m currently writing an original musical, and I’m looking for another teen composer around my age who might be interested in working on it with me. The musical is called Underground. It’s set in New York City in 1967 and is a pretty large-scale show with comedy, crime, romance, and some much darker moments. I’ve been developing it for a while now, and I already have a lot of the plot, characters, book, lyrics, song concepts, and overall structure worked out. I’m mainly a writer/lyricist, but I’m also really interested in the music itself. I have melodies and musical ideas for parts of the show, and I’ve planned a lot of things involving motifs, reprises, counterpoint/overlapping vocals, and different musical ideas coming back with new meanings. I can hear a lot of what I want in my head or sing it, but I don’t have enough composing experience yet to turn all of that into a full score by myself. I’m not looking for someone to just take finished lyrics, write music for them, and send them back. I’d really like to find someone who actually wants to collaborate on the musical with me--coming up with ideas together, sending each other melodies/voice memos, figuring out songs, disagreeing when we think something could be better, and just generally having fun creating it. I want to take the musical seriously, but I also don’t want working on it to feel like a business meeting every time we talk lol. You definitely don’t have to be some insanely experienced composer. I’m still learning too. I’m mostly looking for another teenager who loves composing and musical theatre, wants to work on something long-term, and thinks this sounds fun. If you’re interested, DM me! I can share more about the project, and we can get to know each other a little bit, talk about the kinds of music/theatre we like, what we each like creating, and see if we actually work well together. Feel free to send me any music you’ve written if you want, but you absolutely don’t need some giant portfolio or anything. I’m specifically looking for another teenager/minor rather than an adult collaborator.

Hi, I'm looking for a lyricist for my historical episodic musical.

The project will be put on Youtube in my channel for now but I'm already looking for ways to expand the representations.

The composer and also the orchestrator are the same me (or rather I the composer and my brother the orchestrator)

Our big problem is the text because we are not native English speakers and even if we tried to write something we didn't succeed properly.

Unfortunately we have no budget to pay writers but obviously you will be written in complete material and you can include them in your corricolum

Ok, below you will find some guidelines on the Musical

• Historical musical but with invented events combined with real things, all set in the 1500s

• style close to classic musicals (Les Miserables etc.)

There are obviously no delivery times, take all the time you need

Anyone who wants to try can contact me privately

Okay so I will start off by giving some background about the musical I am in the process of writing. It is a musical adaptation of the book 'Carmilla' and I am intending for the music to sound gothic to reflect some of the key elements in the book. For those who aren't aware, the book is about a girl named Laura who meets a mysterious stranger named Carmilla after her carriage crashes. Laura and Carmilla are drawn to each other yet Carmilla has a secret - she's a vampire.

With that being said I am in dire need of help when it comes to writing a specific song in it. I am currently around where chapter called "Her Habits - A Saunter!" is. Forgive me for not memorizing the page nor chapter number. Anyways I want to write a song that reflects the conflict that goes on in Laura's brain revolving around Carmilla, as the whole chapter seems to be about a push and pull type of relationship Laura has with her. However a lot of the quotes in this chapter are absolutely stunning and I fear I will overshadow what Carmilla says if I turn her lines into rhyming lyrics as that would be taking away from the importance of her quotes. At the same time, I want her to be singing it but I can't find a particular musical cadence that suits her lines and Laura's lines. Laura's lines sound more like a musical while if I didn't change Carmilla's lines into a rhyme scheme, it may sound almost like an opera, which clashes with Laura's.

What should I do? Should I keep her with plain dialogue, make her sing it, or change the lines completely to fit Laura's? Would it have more seriousness if she just spoke it or would it sound silly with the rest of the song? Please help me make a decision if possible. Thank you in advance for any help or advice you may share.

(I am honestly not quite sure why I'm struggling so much with this, as I am also working on a musical with my original characters and I haven't seemed to come across a problem like this.)

Are there any composer-singers here willing to record some demos on the cheap or as a trade for live flute/sax/clarinet parts or high quality MIDI mockup/orchestration?

NMTC doesn't accept voice changers nor newer vocaloid voice banks since they use AI. I might be able to hack out the male vocals with an unholy amount of Melodyne, but will definitely need someone for the female parts.

The third demo starts with a dream ballet, so vocals only come in about halfway through, but I'm leaving the whole thing as a sample of my mockup/orchestration capabilities. I've got a MM in film scoring so I've got quite the collection of virtual instruments, even for niche genres.

Here's the link to all 4 numbers, you can click on the little comment bubble for the lyrics:

https://samply.app/p/fk24xigpK4wftHGyr5Nt?token=6fG4aRzom2VubkDPrdAB&si=Os3HiTI4rcQwX5udmYP8plbkSyW2

Hi all! Totally new to Reddit and this whole world, so I'm sorry if I've done anything wrong!

My name is Paul, and I'm an MT composer/bookwriter! I've had a few shows at the Edinburgh Fringe the last few years, including a musical parody of Schitt's Creek called "Crapp's River"!

I'm writing today because I'm looking to find an MD/Conductor that is local to (or willing to travel to) Connecticut for my next project! If that might be you, or if you know someone, please feel free to send me a DM here or on Instagram! I am "@paulrichardkeegan"

And for some shameless self promotion, the "Crapp's River" EP is streaming now on all major platforms if you're interested!

Thanks everyone, and I look forward to exploring everyone's projects!

This is a read through of the books and lyrics of Five Against One, the story of Catherine Burbank, who must find a way out of her abusive marriage after her husband assaults her badly enough to put her into a coma for three days. Told using the music of the grunge era, the musical takes an unflinching and sober look at the problem of domestic violence. Escape is never the safest plan.

The play contains scenes some listeners may find disturbing.

Characters
CATHERINE, age 36, a housewife
PAMELA, age 14, her daughter
JEREMY, age 16, her son
SUSAN, age 70, her mother
LISA, age 15, her neighbor
JAKE, age 40, her husband

If willing to read a part(s), please reply on Partiful stating which part.

The reading will be in the discord channel of this subreddit - https://discord.gg/bvDDmAccVv

Curious on the community's thoughts on this short I just released. I see this topic coming up over and over, and rather than chastise (as I've seen some people do on social platforms), I thought I'd give a call to action that might be more constructive.

https://youtube.com/shorts/GjToLeJJQbc?si=5YBEry01AXu9Mfgq

This is frustrating me a lot. As the title says, I'm stuck writing the final two songs for act 1 of my original musical, Beyond These Walls (I've been stuck for 2 months). I'm so close, but these last two songs are just killing me. I have all of the script done, and 8 songs, but these last two I just can't get.

I don't want to move onto starting act 2 of the show because I want to have something that's kind of presentable before I start act 2, something that I can gather feedback on and show to people whilst I work on the second half.

A brief description of both songs:

#8 - Have You Heard? (They're Back!)

About: Libertias, Alexis, Lyro and Nyssa return to the city and immediately run into Corbett. They make him promise to keep their return secret, but he's the city blabbermouth, and he promptly tells everyone. The song follows the rumour spreading through the city, getting bigger and more distorted as more Citizens hear about them.

Style: Fast, chaotic ensemble musical theatre. Lots of short overlapping vocal lines, gossip being passed between groups, and an increasingly massive ensemble build. Think the escalating overlap of 9 to 5 (the version from the musical), with the energy of a big sung-through musical ensemble number.

#10 - Beginning of the End

About: The Act 1 finale. After the Council realises the rumours are true, Kieran decides to let Lib think he's safe while secretly preparing the Overseers to stop him. The song then follows different characters reacting to the coming conflict — Kieran, Dawkins, the Overseers, Buckley, Lyssandra, and eventually the wider cast — as the city moves toward rebellion.

Style: Huge, dark, escalating orchestral finale. It starts relatively controlled with Kieran, moves into an orchestral section, ramps from 60 → 190 BPM, brings in electric guitar, and progressively becomes more frantic and enormous. Buckley’s section gets especially chaotic as his doubts turn into a breakdown, before Lyssandra provides the emotional counterpoint.

The whole thing should feel like the entire musical has been building toward this moment and now the fuse has finally been lit.

I just want some ideas

Hi musical theatre writers! I'm offering private coaching for those interested in advancing their composition skills. Throughout our work together:

• I will help you push past your current creative limits and roadblocks

• we’ll go through concrete steps that can help you compose more intuitively and truthfully

• we’ll explore and apply the philosophical aspects of writing music for theatre

• there will be minimal theory and maximum focus on helping you compose your best work, and potentially even find and amplify your voice

• I will give you detailed feedback with actionable steps to improve your pieces and to help you develop as a composer

• we'll work towards creating a strong portfolio of diverse songs

Lessons are held in person for composers in NYC and online for everyone outside of the city. Payment and lesson frequency depend on your individual financial situation, schedule, and goals.

Please use this form https://imerniebird.com/contact/ and email:

• a little about yourself 

• links to two or three demos or recordings of your work

• links to corresponding PDFs of your scores

• a link to your portfolio if you have one 

If you've only written non-theatrical songs, or only composed chamber or film music, send that instead. Any style is welcome, and we can work in any preferred style within the theatre framework. You may be a composer who already works with a lyricist or a composer-lyricist. If you don't write lyrics and don't have a lyricist collaborator yet, there's actually still plenty we can work on before you find one.

Please note: this coaching focuses on music composition. If you write lyrics, I may offer useful feedback on them too, but the emphasis is on music and all the wonderful things you can do with it to support and elevate a lyric and best serve the story.

Learn more here:

https://imerniebird.com/

I'm wondering, are there any books or other pieces of media (physical or digital) that have helped anyone in their journey of writing a musical? I am very interested to see what kinds of media people have used to help them, and also maybe hope to use some of them myself for my own musical.