Q&A for How to Write a Musical

It depends. Many musicals, known as jukebox musicals, are made using pre-existing music--usually classical music or rock music. Keep in mind, however, that if you wish to use this music, you will need to acquire the rights to the songs.

You can always write the musical and the lyrics, then ask an expert in the field of music to compose the music and play it for you. However, it would be best to learn the piano or the electronic form of it, to give you much greater freedom in composing properly.

It's up to you. In a lot of musicals they rhyme the lyrics, but you don't have to if you don't want to. The music needs to have some sort of rhythm, flow, and cohesiveness, though, and rhyme tends to help achieve that.

It depends on how long you want your musical to be and if it's going to be sung-through or with some dialogue. If it's sung all the way through, take your desired time and divide by three or four.

You can easily turn one of your favorite movies into a musical by adding in some music that would fit in with the characters and scenes.

Of course! As long as an instrumental piece makes sense in the story, go for it. There are often songs such as an overture or exit music that are instrumental.

It depends on the musical. Your main goal should be to keep the characters realistic. Also, if any of your characters are going to both sing and dance, as this is hard to do, try to allow them some respite for the duration of the musical.

Connect with a musician in your area for help.

Try your own spin on the show. After all, writing a play is about being creative.

You can find someone else to choreograph, or you can learn. Study dance, take choreography classes, read as much as you can.

The filmmakers do not have the copyright because after 100 years, the book goes in to the public domain. This means that you are free to use the book for your musical.

There's no minimum or maximum age to writing musicals. If you want to write one, just get started.

A musical consists of two parts: The Book, and The Score. Thus, you will make two scripts. One script will be all of the dialogue, and you will also insert the titles of the songs whenever they take place. As for the Score, this is simply a collection of the musical pieces within the play, separate from the actual script (or book).

Yes, that is okay. Some musicals, like The Phantom of The Opera, start with an entire spoken scene before the first song. But I'd say you shouldn't wait longer than 5 minutes to have the first song. Also, even though it's not really a bad thing to start a musical with a monologue, the opening song is often a great way to suck people into the story. Maybe you could turn the monologue into a song instead?

Yes, but you must give credit to the creator of the characters you are using.

Contact the main production company of the film. For example, if I wanted to make a Suicide Squad musical, I would have to contact Warner Bros.

Yes, you can.

I would say yes. High school drama programs are always looking to spend the least amount of money possible for their productions, and are always looking for fresh ideas that can show off what students/locals can do.

If you have a local community theater, contact the board and ask if they would be interested in having their actors perform it. Also, check with your local community center to see if they have a theater program.

Yes. Although, not so much a template, as loose guidelines. If you take some time and watch a good few musicals, you can deduce the plot or template from them. The finale is always at the end, the twist comes at about 3/4 of the way through, and the setup comes after the opening. You can have a bridge, a romantic intermezzo, a sudden shift in mood, some character development, anything really, but you can't open with the finale, for example.

It is very common for a musical to start out with a song. This is for many reasons (to ease into the general feeling of your story, to introduce characters in an expressive fashion, etc.), which is why, generally, songs are used for the start of most musical productions. However it is never mandatory. You can find other ways to grab your audience's attention.

You'll have to get permission to use any characters that someone else created.

An orchestra is integral to many musicals because it can show a range of emotions while staying in the background and backing up the singing.

Technically there is no "right way" to structure the script, as long as it makes sense to others. For stage direction and movements, they should be in brackets before and/or after the specific dialogue where it takes place. However, don't completely micromanage all of the movement in your piece. One of the best parts of acting is the freedom of choosing your character's style based on what the playwright (you) has set down. Ex. "JERRY: [Comes in from stage ___] Honey, I'm home!"

That would be recommended, yes. It would be important to know which vocal range the singer should be in.

It does not have to have love in it, although most musicals, plays, movies, books and stories in general have some sort of love in them. But if you have a story that works without it, don't feel obligated to put in a subplot about love.

You can study lyrics from other musicals. See what the songs have in common and what you think works/doesn't work. It is also good to take poetry and/or songwriting classes and workshops.

Your musical can be as long or as short as you want it to be.

You're welcome to do so for the purposes of performing it in front of friends, family, etc., but you cannot use copyrighted material for commercial purposes without getting permission from the playwright or their estate. Since you're a minor, you'd need an adult to get the permission for you.

Perhaps the song could include the person's backstory or some key facts about the person. This could include information about their family, desires, relationships, past struggles, etc., whatever you want the audience to know about them right away.