Storyline Craft a compelling storyline before anything else to give your musical an outline or “backbone” to follow. Storylines are based around the emotional core, lesson, or central theme you want to communicate. To help craft a storyline, ask yourself the following questions: What issues does the story address? What is the core emotional theme? Examples: Racism Overcoming adversity A journey to freedom The high price of revenge Finding oneself amidst chaos After you’ve written your storyline, create a storyboard of pivotal scenes to give you a rough idea of how the music will emphasize the emotional arcs. Be as detailed as possible in order to bring more life to your characters and your vision. Characters The storyline helps shape the characters (and vice versa), so be sure to write clear character breakdowns to get an idea of who they are (i.e., their personal histories, interests, desires). Each breakdown should include a description of the character, what they want, and any obstacle(s) that might prevent them from getting what they want. Example: Ann, age 27, long brown hair, a baby face, and sharp witted. On the cusp of 30, she wishes she would have gotten out of her small town sooner, escaping the wrath of her alcoholic Mother and the overbearing obligation of taking care of her chronically ill sister. She wants to move to a big city, find love, and live her life on her own terms, but feels a duty to protect and save her sister from her abusive Mother. Musical score Consider what type of musical you want to write: 1. All-sung: there is no dialogue and the entire script is sung (e.g., operas). 2. Integrated: music and dialogue are integrated into one show (most popular). If you’ve written music before, start by writing music to the most pivotal parts of the storyline. If you have little or no experience writing music, ask a knowledgeable friend or mentor for help. There are also software programs that can translate humming, singing, or whistling into written music. Lyrics Write your lyrics to intensify any emotional character and/or plot shifts. If you’re not as confident writing lyrics, seek out a writing partner. Example: If your protagonist has just lost the love of her life, you could write an emotional song for this moment in which she expresses her grief and despair (which will give the audience a deeper connection to her). Scenes Every scene should offer more depth to the characters or push the plot along accordingly. Order your musical numbers and scenes together in a way that ensures your transitions from dialogue to music (and back) are as seamless as possible. Stage directions Stage directions tell the actors where they need to be and when. Add these into your script to “block” each scene. If you have a visual idea of the performance space, let that inspire your stage directions. However, be aware that any blocking may have to change to suit the performance space. Stage directions also give the actors an idea of their character’s reaction. Example of blocking: [Enter SARA, stage left] [BRANDON moves downstage right] Example of character reaction: SARA: [crying] I can’t love you again! BRANDON: [silently raging] You don’t know me. Actors Hold local auditions or cast some of your friends or family members to play each role. Note that you may also need to hold separate auditions for background actors and chorus members. Typically, musical theatre auditions involve having the actors read a brief part of a scene and sing 16-32 bars (about 1-2 minutes in length) of a musical number. Depending on how big you want the production to be, you may also need help backstage (prop master, wardrobe supervisor, backstage manager), with technical aspects (light and soundboard engineer, carpenter, electrical rigger), and more.