ABOUT

Books & lyrics for a dozen musicals now in the process of receiving scores by a half-dozen composers, including:
"The Cotton Club," "Pocahontas" (NOT the Disney version), "The Last Nights of Pompeii," "The Long, Hot Summer," "Trifles," "When Knighthood was in Flower," etc.

In addition, I've written a dozen more copyrighted libretti for which I'm seeking New York City-ONLY-based composers who are willing/able to work temporarily ON SPEC (without compensation) until the shows are optioned for commercial production. When they are, then--in most instances--the split on the author's advance and ALL royalties will be 50-50, instead of the Dramatists' Guild standard of two-thirds to me for book & lyrics and only one-third for the music.
It's my belief that the score contributes as much to the storytelling and characters as do the words and that this should be acknowledged monetarily, not just in the Playbill. Where the libretto is based on/adapted from material copyrighted by a third party, as with a film, then the split will be one-third to each of us.
Much as I admire Stephen Sondheim, he has far too many third- and fourth-rate imitators nowadays, so the composers who are interested must each have his own original, individual musical style, while still being trained in and familiar with the classic Broadway genre of Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, etc.
The ideal candidates will be available for regularly scheduled daytime (10 am-6 pm) meetings, have their own personal pianos/synthesizers and live near subways in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens.
Each project requires a specific musical interpretation, which not only delineates character and plot, but geographical locale and historical era, while still appealing to a 21st century audience.
If you're interested, and willing/able to work under these conditions, please contact me with your resume'/c.v., a list of references with their contact information, letters of recommendation or media reviews of your original compositions--not your new arrangements of the work of other composers--for human voices, and mp3s of your songs for those real human voices, NOT MIDI.
My resume' and a writing sample are available here. I'll send additional support material and mp3s of songs for which I wrote lyrics to your personal email address.
Thanks and best wishes for your continued success.