I remember the first time I heard Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner rip through "Who Will Love Me As I Am." When I finally took a breath, I wanted to find out all I could. At the time, I didn't…
In a recent interview with The Ensemblist podcast, songwriters Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty talked about why they like writing for ensembles and described the dramat…
Do you have a lot of feelings about contemporary musical theater? Do you like to share those feelings with other people, maybe in writing? That’s great to hear, because the NMT Gree…
Joe Mantello began his career as an actor in Angels in America but soon moved on to direct major musicals on and off-Broadway including 9 to 5, Assassins (Tony Award), Wicked, Dogfight, and …
I teach children's theatre. At least, that's what I tell people. I'll also toss choreographer, conductor, artistic director, prompter, stage manager, director, coach, psychic, eternal optimi…
For the past few posts, I've looked at how solo albums benefit contemporary musical theatre by providing a platform for composers and lyricists to write and record new stand-alone songs, exp…
In the last installment of this series, I got to talk with representatives from community theaters. Community theaters are a topic that has been particularly on my mind of late because my ad…
All theatre is community theatre. This is one of my favorite professor's go-to phrases during class and one that has deeply resonated with me. I've had her for two semesters now so I can't r…
I'm sure we can all agree that contemporary musical theater has a special place in our hearts. When I saw Edges for the first time, I was hooked. I fell in love with the music and the charac…
Many of us who have come to the piano as a primary instrument did so in a variety of ways. Some have been taking dedicated lessons since age 5; others have never taken a single one. Some wer…
"Counterpoint" is one of those fancy musical terms I was never sure I understood until I actually heard it in action. Once I did, I thought "witchcraft" might be a more accurate description.…
Before coming to college, I was afraid on how my little income would support my obsession of seeing shows. In high school, my parents were incredibly supportive of my appreciation for the ar…
ENTER NMT’S VERY FIRST COSTUME CONTEST! As a theater nerd, growing up, I always faced the problem that precisely no one understood my super-awesome-musical-theater-reference-y Hall…
It’s a good time for Shakespeare adaptations. Correction: It’s always been a good time for Shakespeare adaptations. West Side Story! Ten Things I Hate About You! Both the movie a…
I thought about starting this blog with a play on a eulogy, mourning the loss of the overture a la La Vie Boheme, but I became so excited to talk about overtures I didn't want to take the ti…
Let's talk about money. A solo album, while being an artistic endeavor, is beholden to the same economic factors as any other work of art. In my last post, I spoke about how digital download…
Ok, let's start with a refresher from our conversation with theater marketing expert Clay Mabbitt: Marketing has two parts. The first part is identifying who's going to love what you're crea…
At some point in your life, I'm sure you've felt like 24 hours just wasn't enough time for you to accomplish everything you had to get done. For some of you (me included), this feeling occur…
October is the pinnacle of all things fall. Leaves burn crimson and gold while the ubiquitous #PSL floods Instagram accounts. It's a glorious month for sweaters, Halloween, and Christmas alb…
Adam Guettel's beautiful musical The Light in the Piazza tells the story of a young American woman named Clara who falls in love with Fabrizio, a young man she meets on vacation in Italy. Wh…
In my past few posts, I've been offering some general tips to making the relationship between new musical theatre writers and regional theatres really strong and useful for everyone involved…
The other day I was walking around campus listening to The Last Five Years" as per usual"my school is built on hills so how could I pass up the opportunity to listen to "Climbing Uphill" as …
Julie Taymor is widely known for her success in theatre and film with triumphs like The Lion King, Frita, Across the Universe, and The Magic Flute. She was the first woman to win the Tony Aw…
Nikki M. James, Keke Palmer, Norm Lewis, and Kyle Scatliffe all have one thing in common: they are people of color who are currently playing traditionally "white" roles on Broadway. Nikki M.…
Even the most technologically-averse thespian knows that the times, they are a-changin'. In the world of contemporary musical theatre, music streaming and online video have fundamentally cha…