Blog Filter By Tips For Writers

You’ve seen her Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning television show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, you’ve downloaded her songs, you’ve bought her sheet music. (I know you have – you’ve asked me to transcribe her sheet music for you, and she has generously allowed me to do that.) You’ve even seen her in her viral, break-through, Youtube channel... As her hit show sets off on its fourth and final season, I sat down with the one and only Rachel Bloom... and asked her the nine most pressing questions I had. Here’s what she said:

The article 9 Questions for Rachel Bloom appeared first in 

Musical Theater Today, Volume 2.

Before it was an earth-shattering, heart-rending groundbreaking musical, Be More Chill was the late, great Ned Vizzini’s debut novel. If you had told me, the first time that I read the book—after a recommendation from my high school librarian somewhere during sophomore year—that its musical adaptation would be a viral phenomenon, I would have laughed. Judging by the date stamps, I was one of the only people reading that book.

The post 5 YA Books that Deserve the Be More Chill Treatment appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

A new musical is a tricky beast. It comes with all the challenges of a new play--the problems of dramatic build, character, denouement, economy of dialogue--plus a suite of other potential pitfalls. Is the opening number suitably energizing, and if it is, does it still adequately introduce us to the world of the show? How many ballads is too many ballads? Not to mention solos versus duets or ensemble numbers, male versus female voices, and the question of choreography...it’s enough to make a well-intentioned Lin-Manuel Miranda-wannabe throw in the towel.

Survival jobs. I mean until we reach that Lin-Manuel-Stephen-Schwartz hybrid of greatness, most of us MT writers are largely dependent on a day job or side hustle to sustain ourselves. It’s hard not to get resentful when you’re making money doing something you’re not exactly jazzed about. But here’s the kicker that will rock your […]

The post How Not to Hate Your Survival Job appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Okay, so. This may seem like an awkward thing to say, but you don’t have to like your writing partner all the dang time. In fact, I think it’s impossible to. You’re making art together, which is undoubtedly complicated and will lead you both to feel vulnerable. Now, don’t get me wrong – if you’re […]

The post How To Survive a Fight With Your Collaborator appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Writer’s block. It’s the worst. It’s haunting, it’s emotionally complicated, and it fills us with crippling self-doubt. It’s a tricky beast that comes for us all at some point during the musical theatre writing process, but it does not, by any stretch, have to break us. I’ve learned that the easiest cure all for writer’s […]

The post 5 Tips to Tackle Writer’s Block appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

In Part 1 of my “Dynamic Duo” series, we covered topics like honesty between co-writers and how to manage obstacles like distance. This week, we’ll uncover more tips and tricks related to the importance of fairness and responsibility between co-writers. Read on for 3 more secrets of a successful writing partnership. 1. Define Your Responsibilities […]

The post Dynamic Duo: Co-Writing and How to Achieve Artistic Success with Your Writing Partner (Part 2) appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Musical Theatre writing is tricky business, and as writers, we are always searching for inspiration in terms of song and structure. Structure. I had to say that one again, because quite frankly, in MT writing, it always wins. Here are the songs I look to when I’m struggling with certain structural ideas that need more […]

The post 8 Musical Theatre Songs to Inspire Song and Structure appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Jennifer Ashley Tepper is a Musical Theatre Historian and curator/author of the books The Untold Stories of Broadway Volumes 1 and 2. She’s also the co-creator and writer of the Bistro Award-winning concert series "If It Only Even Runs A Minute," which celebrates underappreciated musicals, and the Director of Programming at Feinstein’s/54 Below, where she […]

The post Drinks with Jen: My Conversation with Jennifer Ashley Tepper appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

For students everywhere, the holiday season offers a respite from schoolwork and a chance to relax and recharge, both mentally and physically. But what about creatively? Let’s face it – even if you’re a theatre major (like me) and loving your program (like me), not everything you do throughout a school term is going to be […]

The post How to Jumpstart Your Holiday Creativity appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Kander and Ebb, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Webber and Rice. Historically, musical theatre has had its fair share of songwriting duos whose names have audiences lining up around the block to witness the genius of their partnerships onstage. It’s an understatement to say that writing for musical theatre (and theatre in general) is no small feat, […]

The post Dynamic Duo: Co-Writing and How to Achieve Artistic Success with Your Writing Partner (Part 1) appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

So we're in a business filled with rejection. Shocker, right? I know, I told you something you absolutely didn’t know. You're welcome. Look, nobody likes rejection. Especially in theatre. Despite that we're semi-prepared for the harsh realities of our industry (teachers have warned us that it's not going to be easy), we initially refuse to believe […]

The post “No One Is Alone”: The 5 Stages of Rejection as a Musical Theatre Writer appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

The process of rewriting in musical theatre (or anything for that matter) is a tedious one. You finish a draft of this monster you’ve been crafting for however long, you’re super jazzed about it, you think it’s ready to approach The Broadway, but then. Well. Something is wrong. The dots aren’t connecting. The ending doesn’t […]

The post Consider Rewriting. No, Seriously. appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

A songwriter examines the tools he has to survive the inevitable.   Eighty-eight keys. Twenty-six letters. That’s it. That’s all that separates me from oblivion. Often when I sit at the piano with my laptop resting on top, getting ready to write, it hits me: every key is there, every letter already formed, every pitch […]

The post 88/26 appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

A songwriter examines the tools he has to survive the inevitable.   Eighty-eight keys. Twenty-six letters. That’s it. That’s all that separates me from oblivion. Often when I sit at the piano with my laptop resting on top, getting ready to write, it hits me: every key is there, every letter already formed, every pitch […]

The post 88/26 appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.

Recently, I sat in a room full of young theatre students. Many of the budding thespians were discussing the songs they had been assigned in a musical theatre class, and the students began to sing the praises of a certain composer whose work I have never admired. They asked me what I thought and were […]

The post Emotion: The Theatremaker’s Trap appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.