write a musical

Always wanted to write a musical, very daunting though.

my friend and i have got a good idea of aplot its just getting started with everything, trying to write a good script whilst thinking about where music can fit into it all is harder than expected…any tips?

I have the whole musical planned out. The only problem: I have no concept of musical theory at all. I have some lyrics, and everything. It’ll take me a while to get it all together.

It’s gonna be freakin’ awesome, though.

The NaNoWriMo people have done it again! April is ScriptFrenzy month. The challenge – 100 pages in 30 days. Any subject, musical or non, just 100 pages. I figured it would be a good starting place for some people on here. Go to www.scriptfrenzy.org and get started!

I have been trying to write a short musical for a little while and I just never seem to get it one. One day I want to finish it…

I’ve written a few melodies, but words are not my strong point.
My father was born in a German concentration camp, and I think his story, combined with the 10 or so songs he has written on random topics, could be a compelling story.

I’ve been working on a musical for about three years now. It started with a very small idea and ballooned into a big project for me. I wrote one draft of the book and lyrics all the way through, completed an entire score and I wasn’t satisfied with any of it, so I scrapped. I’ve slowly re-written the score and in the past couple of weeks I’ve started re-writing the book and am on the second act now. I’m pretty much am satisfied with the score and have about three songs left to write and an addition to another one.

My advice to anyone writing a musical is, it’s not rocket science. Once you have an idea, outline it and only start writing your first draft when you are ready. It can’t be rushed by any means, it takes time and patience to write a musical. Lastly, work on it until you are satisfied, make as many changes as you think are necessary and call it your final draft when it is 100% for you. I’m still learning, but I’ve come to see that all of this has helped me write a musical that I am very satisfied with so far.

The plot is historical, adapted from real events. The songs..I’m aiming at ‘classic’ rather than modern. Less Cats and more Barnum or Gypsy or that kind of feel.

My experience, such as it isn’t…I’ve never produced or directed. I have sung in the chorus and/or been in the production crew of several musicals, some of which were the UK amateur premieres (one of them was Chess). That was a few years back, though.

I can just about read music, and I have a neat piece of software (Finale Notepad – recommend it, very useful) that lets you write scores and then play them back to check you’ve got it right. I’m not a pianist, which might be an advantage, but then some of the greatest musical writers couldn’t play any instrument, so probably no big deal.

And, I’ve written the basis of one song and bits of about four or five others, and the ideas are coming thick and fast.

I’ll try to check in here and update on how it’s going, assuming I keep up the impetus. Of course, getting it produced when it’s done is going to be a whole other story…

Me and my friend Dan want to get together and write a musical. It has to be funny, serious, romantic and heart-breaking at the same time. It also has to end with a death, like West Side Story.

Hmm…

Wonder if we’ll ever do it =)

With 12 songs (13 if you include a reprise) composed on sibelius so far and a 120 page script (3rd draft!) I’m well on my way to completing my musical comedy

I still need to write 5-8 songs though…