Author/composer/lyricist and BMI Workshop teacher David Spencer visits with host "Broadway Baby" Jason Drew Wednesday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m. (EST) on Sirius Satellite Radio's "Broadway's Best." LIVE from the stage door of one of Broadway's biggest hit musicals MAMMA MIA!, Jason chats with the author about what makes a successful musical, as detailed in his new book "The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide," a comprehensive, guide to the game that navigates the complex landscape of developing a musical from the page to the stage.
"Jason Drew: Lost on Broadway" airs on Sirius Satellite Radio's Broadway's Best 77 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. every Wednesday afternoon. David Spencer moderates a BMI Master Class featuring Grammy Award-winning BMI composer David Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as a guest speaker at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop on Thursday, September 29. The class will be held at 5:00pm at BMI's midtown office (320 West 57th Street). The New York Times deemed The BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop the "Harvard of Musical Theatre" and was the birthplace of A Chorus Line, Little Shop of Horrors and Avenue Q. BMI master classes host prominent musical theater writers as master teachers for musicals in development. Past BMI masters have included Stephen Sondheim, Richard Maltby Jr., Sheldon Harnick, John Kander and Terrence McNally.The Master Class will examine two musicals developed in the Workshop: Adam Overett's Call It Courage and Carla Rose Arnone and Jason Coll's Haunted.
The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide is a first-of-its-kind book that analyzes and explains the ingredients of creating the successful musical, with chapters on craft, collaboration, directors, producers, agents and presentation -- all written in a sassy, colloquial style that has given the book a solid and consistent five-star rating at Amazon.com. (Not only musical theatre writers, but musical theatre actors are citing the book as a must-read!) Whether you're an aspiring writer, a veteran, or just a lover of musical theatre (or theatre in general!), this is a definitive insider's view like no other.
