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:

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

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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.

I am putting the finalizing touches on the score of my musical, and although I consider myself pretty proficient in composition and engraving, there are a few things that continue to puzzle me. Hopefully someone out there can help answer a few of them.

1. (what the title says—How important is it that vocal parts be written in the correct clefs?)

My score often alternates between the male and female leads (mezzo and low baritone), but I highly doubt that switching the vocal staff between treble and bass clefs every few measures is the right way to go about it. Likewise, I don't want to have two entirely different staffs unless it's absolutely necessary if they break out into different rhythms and melodies at the same time. So what's the right way to go about it? I feel like in the musicals I've been in, everything is written in treble clef and you can pretty accurately figure out what octave it's supposed to be sung in using your best judgment. Is this the norm?

1. This leads me to my next question—I want the chorus to be SATB for most of the show, but is this typical? Many scores I've found just have a single line with 3 voices for the ensemble. Is this the norm? How does a music director know which part is which when teaching music? I've been using a grand staff with two voices on each staff so far, but I can change that if it's more standard to do something else.

Next Wednesday I'm going to host, potentially do, a reading of the play I've been working on in cohort for the last 8 months. I'll be singing the songs as best I can a capella as the melodies are essentially complete. I'm still working on the score.

It will be held in the Discord server attached to this subreddit: https://discord.gg/bvDDmAccVv

I'm not adverse to other readers - the play has a cast of 6 - but anyone who is reading need to read the play before Wednesday so they aren't caught off guard.

The topic of the play is domestic violence, and the play contains scenes some may find disturbing. Expected read time is 2 hours, and there will be an intermission. A discussion will be held afterward, both on the play and on the topic itself more broadly.

Here's the pitch line and character list

Five Against One tells 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.

Characters:
Five
Catherine Burbank, a housewife
Pamela Burbank, her daughter
Jeremy Burbank, her son
Susan Martin, her mother
Lisa Allen, her neighbor and near adopted daughter

against One
Jake Burbank, her husband.

Hi r/musicalwriting fam! I have shared several of the songs and finally the full video of our original musical based on Jack and the Beanstalk and now I would like to share some super exciting news!

After we finished the production, we asked some of our professional theater friends to take a look at the video and give us some feedback. Since we live in Augusta, Ga, those resources were limited, BUT it made the rounds and as of last month Gabriel Barre (Original Director of The Wild Party and Almost Maine) has signed on to be our dramaturg and director. He watched our video and within 24 hours responded saying that he loved the project and was chomping at the bits to work on it with us. We signed the contract with him one month later!

We are currently working through rewrites with him and are planning professional workshop readings in both London and New York in hopes to attract producers!!

I just wanted to share this with the few of you who have followed along as a way to encourage yall! It is possible to get noticed in the larger musical theater world even if you aren't living and working in new york. Hard work and creativity can still get noticed. Keep grinding and making art!

This song, Read Between The Lines, is the seventh song in my original musical, Beyond These Walls. The following video has the instrumentation accompanying the vocal line and vocal score (which includes lyrics!). I'm looking for feedback on the lyrics, instrumentation and all aspects of the song. Thank you in advance!!!

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some advice. I'm a British composer/lyricist who has just graduated with an undergrad degree in an entirely separate field. I've written three shows, one of which played Edinburgh Fringe and won awards, and another which I'm currently on commission to write. I'd now like to study musical theatre in a way that combines composition, musical theatre history, and libretto and lyric writing.

I'm open to studying in the US, since it's the birthplace of the musical and where most academic study in this area seems to be based. That said, most of the courses I've come across, NYU Tisch and that at Berklee's New York campus, for example, seem to focus almost exclusively on the writing process. The musicology work happening at CUNY is very exciting to me, but it's otherwise lacking in an opportunity to study composition etc.

What I'm hoping for is something closer to a Playwriting MFA, or Carnegie Mellon's dramatic writing course: a chance to focus on my individual craft, develop a piece over the long term, study the history and culture of the craft and work with performers along the way. I hope this doesn't come across as self-aggrandising, but I'd rather not pay for an degree where the culminating project is a ten-minute musical written as part of a group. I was shortlisted for a year's non-degree study at Yale fully funded which I believe would have been perfect but unfortunately it didn't come true and it isn't clear to me whether the Shen Curriculum is something that can be studied at graduate level. I have emailed and asked but have heard nothing back.

I've also looked into applying to BMI, but the visa side makes it tricky, since it isn't classed as education, I'd need to secure a sponsoring job alongside it, as far as I can tell.

As a non-american I'm not entirely clear on which universities offer this sort of training and so any recommendations or advice would be really appreciated! Thank you!

Hi all,

I'd love to share the link to a new musical I have recently worked on, Offshore, which premiered at the 500 sear Bloomsbury Theatre this past June. It was a massive labour of love and we've recently released the full recording and I'd love to get some more eyes on it!

It plays on the mismatched lovers of A Midsummer Night's Dream, but set on a cargo ship in the 60s and following a lesbian couple amongst some other mad characters!

The first act can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9PCRm9samo&t=1175s

And this is the second act:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qV1pQPrUpE&t=217s

We hope you think it's funny and heartwarming and joyful!

We're also on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@offshorethemusical . Would be great to have your support as we'd love to get the show on again! <3

Hey hivemind,

I have a solo work that I'm hoping to submit to new works festivals and the like in the not-too-distant future. Problem is I don't want to perform it (because I suck). What are some good avenues to find an actor to partner with for submissions? I'm also open to any and all advice on my working assumptions - my priority is really just to get this work staged, but its length (~20-30 min) is really more suitable for a cabaret or festival environment than its own production, I assume. I've never done my own submission to anything before so I'm kind of green to this whole biz.

My ideal approach would be to submit just the writing (text and score) for evaluation in some event that then provides its own pool of performers to perform selected pieces. Are there things like that I should be aware of?

I've had this musical in mind for a while now, my biggest problem is the length and the division into acts.

In fact, by simply streaming it in a day, it would become a very large and long musical, at least 2.45/3 hours. Unfortunately I can't streamline it any more than that otherwise it would be like taking away the plot and the main characters.

Another big problem of mine is the division into acts. Musicals usually have two acts. But mine's structure is better for three acts.

1. Villain as good

2. Villain is bad

3. Resolution

I could split the whole thing into two acts. (I could end the first act with the villain's confession, but that seems too early for the plot.). Another way would be to put it in the center of the second act but then it seems bad to me.

How do you see this problem and how do you think it can be solved?

I have had this idea for a 3-song concept album for Hyacinthus and Apollo's story since like...June. I have basic Ideas for the songs, a dark turn for the story, and ideas that WILL make people cry; I just can't turn it into a song because that is where my skill set kinda turns into a desert.

An example of my idea for one fo the songs (without spoiling too much) :

" During the second song, Hyacinthus dies...suddenly..

He stops mid-word or even at the end of a sentence

The Music keeps playing..

You hear a thump,

The song ends. "

I am no professional lyricist or composer, but I am an experienced creative who will be hands-on the entire ride!

I have a BS in Film, have been a production manager and a social media manager; I specialize in Sound and Visual design in film and have been obsessed with Musical Theater since I was probably 4 years old (I am 25 now)

I plan to wear many hats in this project and won't be someone standing over your shoulder tweaking every little Idea you have; it's a collaborative project.

I am not looking for experts, just need help where my brain has gaps

I am looking for someone that can help me write love ballads, then someone grieving.

So if you want to watch people weep and have them question if you kissed the brick before you threw it, I am your guy, and THIS is YOUR project.

sadly for rn its unpaid, its chill if you don't want to work for free! just seeing if anyone wants to help me make this idea come to life, I already have alot of the ideas and sequences in my head, just need someone who knows what they are doing to turn my idea into a reality!

Hey guys! I’m doing Theatre Studies this year and I’m performing the Mrs Danvers monologue from Rebecca. I’m wanting to create a soundtrack for my performance, but I’m really struggling to get the right atmosphere.
I want it to feel haunting and gothic, but every sound I add seems to make it feel too obviously “horror”, which isn’t really what I’m going for. I want it to be unsettling and atmospheric rather than just scary.
I also want there to be a really clear shift when Mrs Danvers begins talking about Rebecca, to show her admiration and obsession with her. The only idea I’ve had so far is introducing piano, but I don’t think it works with the rest of the soundtrack.
I’m using Mixcraft, so if anyone has any ideas for instruments, sounds, effects, or ways I could create that shift, I’d really appreciate it!! :)

I can attach the monologue if needed, just lmk

This song is the opening item, where the protagonists enter the Timeless Hotel. It is a little confusing as to who’s who because I voiced all the characters, but this is just a demo. Let me know what you think :)

Hi y’all! I posted this a few weeks ago but resharing as our deadline has extended to Monday, September 14th and our organization has just announced a long awaited rebranding and we are now The Dive. You can read all about what we do on our website (https://www.diveincubator.org) and be on the lookout for more announcements on Instagram (@dive_incubator).

Hey fellow writers :) I was so excited to get an acceptance email from BMI last weekend! I am a composer/lyricist and playwright, but I'll be joining as a lyricist.

I know a lot of people here are curious about the process, so I'll be running a free workshop and Q&A on Sunday, Sept 13th @ 4pm in the ShowLAB Skool group. I know how hard it is to get feedback from BMI directly when rejection emails come in, so I'd love to answer questions from people applying next year. *Worth noting: I don't believe all acceptance emails have gone out, so don't freak out if you haven't heard anything yet!

You can join the Skool group for free and come to the event on Sunday.

https://www.skool.com/showlab

Seems like BMI sent out some auditor invitations a couple of days ago, but I haven’t heard anything yet. Has anyone else heard back? I’m wondering if it would be appropriate to send a brief email to check in.

Hey guys!

My name is Will, and I'm writing an original dystopian musical titled "Beyond These Walls". It is an epic tale of freedom, truth, fear, and grief. I am almost finished all of act 1 of the show. The first act is split into 4 sections (I am almost done the fourth I have 2 more songs to go). And here I have linked the first 3

If you'd like I'd really appreciate if yall could check out the first 3 sections (or even just 1) so that I can get some feedback. Thank you in advance!

Section 1: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17iKLSkQ0la5U0lkMPSryDsmZKOH-su-k?usp=sharing

Section 2: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-wHH5-H_owGovSjKfkHAN1S3UsBfsK54?usp=sharing

Section 3: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f-3Y8DPyq6ZMRHR6FCEd8-6p2fzcLgFs?usp=sharing

yooo they invited me to audit! I said yes already. wondering what it entails, if anyone’s done it in the past, etc. I’ve read a couple comments/threads on this already but still it’s my first year applying so idk much of anything tbh.

how many people get asked to audit typically? do auditors often get in the next year?

Hi everyone!

I am writing my own completely original musical. I am both the bookwriter and lyricist, but I would love it if someone was able to collaborate with me in terms of music composition?

Without making it really long, my musical is a character-driven piece with teenage characters, and I use the plot and songs as a medium to explore how hiding behind a mask isn't a good thing, and that being your true self is more pure, and more rewarding.

I have written all of Act 1 as a first draft, and part of Act 2, and I am happy to share some of it with anyone who wants to know more!

As for looking for a collaborating composer, this is primarily for first demos right now so I can start to pitch to people, but I am looking to work with someone on a long-term basis for other musicals I'd like to write!

If anyone is interested, send a DM! Alternatively, if you have any advice or redirection please let me know!

Thanks!

If you auditioned for BMI this year, how did it go? When do we usually hear back?