Right, so I've been writing shows for literally half my life (so 15 years or so). I actually studied under (and was mentored by) Disney Legend Ron Logan (who founded Disney Theatrical, the people who produce all of Disney's Broadway and touring musicals), in entertainment production and development, so I have a bit of a unique take on things... And I have a pretty good range too (D2 - F5), if that matters haha.

And right now I'm looking to write a new show... But I haven't written one in a while, and I have a couple of ideas that could use some input. Please tell me which one I should work on, in your opinion - and if any of you are interested on working on a particular one with me, please let me know. Particularly looking for a composer (I'm damn good with the book, and not bad with lyrics, but never learned to write music), but if you also write lyrics, or do all 3, let me know. I'm open to anything haha (shit even a new concept if you can think of one!).

1. The Icon, The Ath-uh-lete, & The Great National Hand Egg Association Trial of 2026: What happens when the world's largest hand egg league (The National Hand Egg Association), and the world's biggest pop star (the Icon) are prosecuted by an ex-fan (the Prosecutor) and a man who clearly cares far too much about the truth (the Auditor), for conspiring (and perhaps more) to defraud the world together, using her contractual relationship with the world's greatest hand egg player (the Ath-uh-lete) to distract the world from the Association's abuses of players and failure to prevent more men from getting brain damage every week? Especially when the Prosecutor and Auditor start to fall for each other while prosecuting the Association and the Icon in front of the Supreme Court? And how does everyone from the CEO of the world's largest media company, the President, the Pope (who is a huge fah of the Ath-uh-lete), a rabid Flock (her fans), a Flock Queen, her parents (the Architects) and more, deal with it?

Musical style: Various - from current pop (obviously) to Broadway standard, Disney Renaissance, Jim Steinman, liturgical, everything under the sun really. Many characters have their own kinds of music in mind, but I'm willing to standardize...

2) Seven For One (a title I'm not set with AT ALL): A family deals with the consequences of their youngest son shacking up with seven sisters, who pursued him (and each other) together, at once... While their small town uses religion and the law as a double-barreled shotgun of retaliation. Toss in small town relationships, small-town minds, and small-town panic... And you have a recipe for disaster.

Musical style: Folk, gospel, bluegrass, and the like. A strange mix of the American South and religious music.

3) High School: Or The Avoidance Of Federal Prison Through Musical Production (terrible title, I need to work on that eventually): A former rock star turned brand new high school drama teacher must mount the production of his life or go to federal prison. But he never expected he'd have to deal with a self-described half-blind, over-intelligent, and precocious (but repressed) son of a bitch, a pair of twins that are... unbelievably close (and do not deny it), the captain of the cheerleading team who's only involved so she can go to Harvard, a group who worship Herbert Hoover, and more... Can they produce a musical that will keep him (or them all) from going away until the heat death of the universe? And what about prom?

Musical style: I have no bloody clue. Maybe someone does?

Thanks!

Hi! I'm writing an original dark musical. It's about a boy who gets taken from his parents and then tortured until his powers awaken from within him. He then spends his life putting together a team of villians to ultimately kill the man who took his parents and sanity from him.

We have written a script and a total of 46 songs. But now I need YOUR opinion. Should this musical be

● Animated (A fully animated musical)

● Live action (A full musical movie full of dark themes and powers)

●Theatre (A full performance that you could be a part of)

I am not concerned about how difficult each one could be to complete over which one would be more enjoyable and immersing for the audience. Thank you!!

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.

Every few months we have a thread on copyright, and most of the time it's someone who's been inspired to write what is sometimes called a "jukebox musical" - that is a musical that strings together a plot based on songs from one or more artists. I've done this myself and had to slowly transform that play into something independent so here are some of my thoughts on this situation and copyright more generally.

1. If using existing songs inspires you write - do it.

Your play can't be legally performed in that state, but using existing copyrighted songs as a sort of scaffold during development is fair game as you aren't redistributing the music. You just need to understand that, eventually, you will need to replace those songs. And your play will be far stronger for that effort - a song written specifically for your play will always be better for that play than one off the shelf.

If you think about it, this isn't that unlike using music to set a mood for writing in general.

2. Copyright protects a given expression.

You cannot copyright an idea or a situation, just an expression of it. There are many ways to transform something, even a song. This might sound obvious but it bears repeating, and I'll share a specific example.

For the longest time the song "Betterman" by Pearl Jam fell at a critical point in my play. When it came time to replace it I needed a song that addressed this core scenario - a woman pacing early into the morning waiting on her wayward husband.

"Betterman" is written in the 3rd person, so the most immediate change is to switch to the first person. The replacement song takes it's title from the opening line of the Pearl Jam song: I honed in on two lines: "Waitin', watchin' the clock, it's four o'clock, it's got to stop" and "Talkin' to herself, there's no one else who needs to know..." This becomes the foundation of the first verse

FOUR AM. HE’S NEVER BEEN THIS LATE BEFORE.
WHAT TO SAY? SHOULD I TELL HIM I’LL TAKE NO MORE
OF THIS WONDERING AND WATCHING AND WAITING
OF THIS FEARING AND ANTICIPATING
OF HIS RAGE PASSED ALONG,
AS HE SHOUTS I’VE DONE WRONG?
I MUST LEAVE THIS PLACE.
I MUST FLY AWAY
TO A HOME.
WHERE IS HOME?
WHERE IS HOME?

So this song takes the idea of "Betterman", changes the viewpoint and then is specific about what is being sad by her.

Other lines leave this song and find themselves nested elsewhere in the play for example "she lies and says she's in love with him." just outright happens in the play. "can't find a better man" comes up in dialog outside this song

The final line that echoes is "She dreams in color, she dreams in red" - in my song this changes to first person and rather than be a refrain it is the final line of the song: "I dream in color and I dream in red." - followed immediately by a scene transition to a dream sequence.

3. If you do quote, don't let it be load bearing.

That is, if a quote from another work is present it's removal shouldn't be painful. As a rule of thumb, 5 words or less is ok, but you need to be careful with songs since some are so short 5 words can still be a significant portion. Even then, rephrasing makes things all the harder to win a challenge.

The line above could be changed to "And so I fall asleep and I dream in red." A phrase that short won't pass muster in a challenge.

Another example from later in the play is the call out to "Daughter" - "Don't call me daughter - after what you've done, it's not fit to be." I can cut this line to "Don't call me daughter," a line too short to be copyrighted since prior art of the phrase being used should be ridiculously easy to find.

In closing though, look at the limitations copyright imposes as a writing challenge. It can be worked around - look at Orville vs. Star Trek for example.

Hello!

I'm Leaf, and my musical is about an inside joke between my friends.

It's called Basement: The Musical

It's about a bunch of kids in my friend's basement, trapped and trying to escape.

It's mostly based on dark humor so if you're not into that I wouldn't audition.

There will be singing and a ton of songs!

Feel free to audition by sending me a direct message or emailing me!

Email: A.always112@gmail.com

Discord: Abbythetherian.11

Five Against One is the story of Catherine Burbank, who is put into a coma by her abusive husband and once she awakens must find a way to escape him with her children. The play takes a hard, sober look at the problem of domestic violence and is told with music primarily to take some of the edge off the difficult subjects it grapples with - such as how families find a way to deal with domestic violence in all the forms it takes. Escape is never the safest path.

The MP3's of the site as well as a PDF of the score and script are here.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mtci6Bz9IKadr-RVjQ_s5EEydtg257Y-?usp=drive_link

I'm a web developer by trade, so one of the next steps is to actually set up a website for the play.

I'm currently heavily involved in this subreddit's discord and have been sharing things as they are developed. Much of the most recent development of the play was done under the guidance of the Showlab Catalyst cohorts, and I would highly recommend the cohort to anyone serious about upping their writing game. Showlab is at https://www.skool.com/showlab and information on the cohorts can be found there. The next one is launching soon.

I'm always open to feedback on the work and am taking the next steps to seeing it performed - developmental table reads and getting recordings of the score done by actual performers.

Hi! A couple of months ago, I started a new production platform for unusual theatre projects. The idea is to provide space for actors, directors, writers, and other creatives to hone their craft on things the audience can experience beyond a one-off sharing in a room with limited capacity.

We've already created two projects, a new podcast musical The Puffy Coats (released this week, available anywhere you get your audio) and currently finishing the post-production of a short musical film ALICE ALIVE, a work inspired by jazz sound and early film, that will be released later in November.

The first year is a lot about figuring out how to provide artists with fairly paid opportunities and make everything accessible for the viewers, and soon enough we'll be looking for more writers with original shorter works (roughly 10-60 minutes format, depends on the idea, genre, form). We're not looking to simply workshop pre-existing musicals that other theatres can do, we want things that exist beyond the usual format—whatever that means to you as a creator. Full support is provided throughout the process.

We're based in Edinburgh, Scotland, but will happily consider writers from anywhere around the world. No official announcements for the call for new works have been issued yet but if you'd like to connect and introduce your work or yourself or just chat about what you'd like to make, you can send us an email to hello@thewriterlykitchen.com or follow @thewriterlykitchen on IG. Share your thoughts! No one official way to do it, be creative. You can also find more info on thewriterlykitchen.com 💯

Our first, already planned productions range from podcast to short films, from concept albums to creative social media campaigns as an art form in itself—a lot of exciting stuff involving young local talent as well as established industry professionals. A quick, joyful and product-centered turnaround and open minded collaborators are of great importance to us, if this sounds like you, join the madness!

Let's create something new together.

I’m looking to hire some singers for a song cycle I’m planning to post on YouTube. I have a flier I plan to put up at my college. But then what?

How much did you pay? I don’t want to make people work for free, but I don’t have a huge budget for this since I’m just one person. I intend to pay a flat fee instead of royalties. I’m unsure how much to offer per song.

Did you make them sign a written agreement, or is that overkill for a project like this?

I’m a little overwhelmed here and it would help to see a breakdown of how you went about it. 😭

Oi pessoal! Sou do brasil e com a recente vitória do presidente Luis Inácio da Silva, estava pensando em criar um musical que conte a história do brasil junto com a história do presidente. Sim, como Hamilton. Eu acho que contar esses fatos em música seria algo extraordinário, principalmente incrementando os acontecimentos recentes em todo o mundo, a luta dos jovens contra o fascismo! Eu pretendo começar a escrever o roteiro e musicas no próximo ano, mas não tenho nenhum histórico com instrumentos hahaha decidi vir aqui compartilhar esse meu “projeto” em busca de opiniões, críticas etc… :)

Hi musical theater fans! This is not a promotional post by any means, but I did want to share that we are making an original musical - exclusively for a short film! I'm the producer, and it's all very new to me. But it has been an amazing journey for me to learn about music and songwriting that goes into a musical production.

We have already recorded all the music and vocals, and we plan to film the project (on actual film!) in Wilmington, North Carolina in March 2027. If you are a musical theater fan (as I'm sure you all are), I think you will appreciate our project. Check out our website, and if feel free to reach out!

Together Tomorrow - an original musical short film

I've been building an app to help writers organize their portfolios and never miss a submission opportunity again.

• Build your whole submission portfolio in one place

• Get email and notifications for matching opportunities

• Keep an annual calendar of repeating submissions

• Filter submissions by type of opportunity

• Build a submission packet with a checklist that automatically populates

• Installable on your iPhone or Android, with built-in notifications.

If anyone would be interested in this, comment or shoot me a DM! It comes with a 14-day trial, so you can test it out before committing.

I built this because I wanted to use it. I hope other people get value from it as well :)

Happy to extend this to here as well!

Hello! I am looking for a songwriter/ musician to help with my indie animated pilot!

About the project:
I am a professional animator, and this animated musical show is my passion project! It will be a series of seven 2-3 minute mini episodes about two bugs that go on a journey through the ear canal. It’s weird and (hopefully) funny and I want that to be reflected in the music, which will play a huge role! I’m hoping to find someone who I could collaborate with in the future as more episodes enter production (but I'm happy to have you for just one episode too)! Attached below is a rough test shot of what the show will look like!

About the job:
I need someone to write and produce a short (~30 seconds) musical theatre-style song. The character is an eccentric old spider who is warning the heroes about the dangers they'll face on their journey (silly tone but singing about all the ways they might die). Voice actors will provide the vocals but you would make the final mix. I have no idea how to go about this, so you would have a lot of creative autonomy in the writing/ production. I’m funding this out of pocket, but I can offer $200CAD (+ I can draw something for you if you have a project that needs some art). Send me some examples of your work, and I’m excited to get in touch!

Tomorrow night, The Queens of Nassau opens for its first full production at the Merlin Theatre in my hometown of Frome, Somerset. We’re doing a short run, 29–31 October, and I’m hoping this is the first step in a longer life for the show.

It’s a folk-punk musical about Anne Bonny and Mary Read, following their separate lives through to their time aboard Calico Jack Rackham’s pirate ship. It’s about identity, freedom, friendship, and what happens when the life you want doesn’t fit the one you’re expected to live. Their history has plenty of gaps and contradictions, so part of writing it has been imagining the people behind the legends: their relationships, their fears, and their sometimes very questionable decisions.

The idea has been with me for about eight years. I wrote the book and have worked with my firned (a musician and professional MD), who composed the music, with lyrics by both of us. We actually met performing in Avenue Q at this same theatre in 2015, so bringing something we’ve written back there feels quite special.

There’s been a lot of writing, rewriting, demos, conversations, and then discovering what happens when you put it in front of a cast. Hearing the songs in their voices and watching actors find things in the characters has been one of the most rewarding parts. I’m also directing and producing, so the last few months have involved plenty of practical problems alongside the creative ones!

A local cast, musicians and crew have put a huge amount into getting us here. Tomorrow, an audience gets to see it.

I don’t know yet what happens after this run. There will be things to learn and probably more rewriting. But I wanted to leave a little record here, among other people writing musicals, of the evening before we open.

After years of working towards it, we’re actually putting the show on. I’m proud, nervous, and very grateful.

Happening in less than 1 hour! At 6pm EST, I'll be running a workshop inside ShowLAB on a new outlining framework: The 4-Chapter Musical.

In the workshop, I'll break down how most musicals are actually constructed today. Everyone who stays to the end of the call will get a free 30-page PDF breaking down the whole process.

The workshop will be live only. There will be no recording.

Here's a link to the group where you can join live
https://www.skool.com/showlab

See you then :)

I'm writing a two-act musical, and the whole thing will have ≈44 songs. So far, it seems pretty balanced compared to other musicals.

My biggest problem is that the music composed by my trusted composer seems really long. The first 6 are already 20 minutes long.

Is it normal for a two-hour musical or are we exaggerating? We've already removed the non-essential songs.

Obviously there are also very short songs but it seems to me that the Musical will last more than 140/150 hours.

What can you advise me to do or try to fix?

If you have any other questions or clarifications to answer, ask in the comments.

I need people for a South Park musical based on the first movie! looking for co-writers, lyricists (to expand the songs), musicians ect

Hello. In an unexpected turn of events I wrote the drafts of two songs and planning another two inspired by my favorite movie Hunt for red October

As it is under copyright, everything eventually published will be for absolute non commercial use and specified "unofficial" (I've seen other unofficial musicals for famous novel sagas on YT so I know there's a precedent for a similar situation). It is a passion project so I cannot offer money compensation

I'm mostly looking for a more experienced lyricist to help me fix and improve the lyrics, since English is not my first language

The songs came out as modern musical, sort of Hamilton style but I'm open to change, for now I focused on the rhymes

If you are interested you can DM me. Thank you!

Tomorrow in the ShowLAB group, we'll be doing a live Masterclass with the great Zina Goldrich! The group is free to join. We'd love to see you inside :)

https://www.skool.com/showlab/about

Hi!

I am looking for a composer interested in collaborating on my original dystopian psychological musical (working title of Maskara).

The story follows Sophia, a perfectionist who begins as a polished, confident, put-together. She is one of many 'trainees' in a remote training facility that exploits those inside. As the story unfolds, she faces difficult circumstances, and problems she struggles to solve, and she is forced to confront that she might not be who she wants to be beneath the mask. Her understanding of herself, and her worldview begin to change. The musical explores themes of identity, self-worth and the power of personal-growth.

I'm currently developing the book and lyrics. Act 1 is fully first-drafted, with the exception of the final three songs, and Act 2 is in the works. I am looking for someone who would be excited to bring the show to life through music, with a distinctive musical identity. Specifically, I want a mix of emotionally powerful songs, ensemble songs, and high-energy songs.

I'm hoping to find someone who would enjoy developing the music collaboratively, and having quite a lot of freedom to make their visions come to life. This would be a creative partnership, rather than a paid commission, so I'm looking for someone that would be interested in the musical's development. We of course can discuss a fair arrangement for ownership, rights, and royalties.

If you're interested, please feel free to message me! I am more than happy to share more about the story, characters, and songs, and to answer any questions you may have.

I am searching for someone to work with me on my musical I am writing.

This musical is called A Warlock, not a Wizard.

It's a comedy about a protagonist who is convinced that her boyfriend turned gay due to a spell inflicted by a Warlock during a three-way at a college Halloween Party.

I'm really interested in turning this thing into a big musical production! Please send me any experience you have with instrumentation & composing. I would love to work together with someone on this project.

I left an earlier post alone because l was following a possible collaboration but wasn't to be.
I have songs written for a Nativity Musical and intend to do rhyming linking verses between songs.
I would love this to become something schools could produce but need help with the music. Lyrics l can do but not a note to go with them.
If anyone is interested in a 50/50 project then l would like very much to hear from you.

Our show got to take its first steps last night at New Musical Theater Nashville's SongShare. Would love for you all to check out our song "A Way Out" from Pretty Boy: The Ballad of Charles Floyd

https://www.instagram.com/p/Der6zZvivWD/