MEDIA MARKET: Musical Theater
Writing music
for theater is a collaborative art form that combines all the elements-- Music, Drama, Dance and Design. Musical theater projects can be very lucrative but in order for the show’s success,
the creative collaborative efforts of composer, lyricist and theater script writer.
After the musical is written and has all the theater sections structured where emotional clarity is defined in each
musical moment, then the collaborative team expands to include director, choreographer, and music director.
Songwriters working on musicals need to have great discipline, craftsmanship, and patience with the constant rewrites
to accommodate running time, music cues, pacing, choreography, and character portrayals.
The key to writing a successful musical lies in the strength, emotional complexity and clarity of the book-story script (libretto).
The music and script need to fit each other to embellish character and plot which is the main goal of a fully integrated book
musical. While some musical theater revuew may contain marvelous songs, theatrically they do not pack the emotional
punch of a full-book show. These also tend to be a harder sell to production theaters.
There are many levels of musical productions from Broadway, University, Dinner
Theater, Community Theater, Summer Stock Theater Productions, College Productions. There are also many expanding organizations
sponsoring theater production and helping new musical theater writers.
The timing of songwriters/composers to find the opportunities to work with creative resonance in a musical where the
librettist shares in the music and drama vision is a key element. Traditionally,
the theater book writer supplies songwriters with structure, script, dialogue and scene descriptions before the songs are
written.
The revenue potential as a songwriter/composer in theater productions is very good. If a successful musical has several
road production companies performing in several cities simultaneously with productions also performed in high schools and
colleges, there is a good residual financial return. Composer, Lyricist and Theater
Script/Book Writer (Librettist) share equally in a percent- age of weekly theater profits.
The revenue percentage ranges from 16% to 25% depending on the play publisher license and contract agreement in On-Broadway
or Off-Broadway musical productions.
