This small group class will meet online and provide writers with the opportunity to develop a musical they are currently working on, and will include feedback, guidance, and instruction over the course of 6 weeks. This workshop is ideal for writers looking to make their musical performance-ready and to increase their musical theatre writing skills.
In this course you will present elements of your musical to the group, from elevator pitch to opening synopsis presentation to individual songs and scenes for feedback. You will also learn new techniques for writing lyrics and dialogue and new ways of thinking about writing theatrical music. Several classes will include a co-writing element followed by a presentation to the class.
Enrollment is limited to 6 writers.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: Presentation of elevator pitch and synopsis of each musical with feedback. Lesson: Dialogue Writing.
Week 2: Lesson: Lyric Writing. Presentation with feedback (suggested presentation: scene)
Week 3: Guest Speaker: Kieren MacMillan
Week 4: Lesson: Pop v Theatrical. Presentation with feedback (suggested presentation: song)
Week 5: Lesson: Script concepts: Character motivations, plot devices, scene length, song spacing, song ‘spotting’.
Week 6: Presentation with feedback (suggested presentation: scene). Discuss future goals and deadlines.
Interested in joining as a writing team? If you’re working on a musical together, additional members of your team can register for just $200 each. Email us for more information.
REGISTER:
There are no upcoming events
Cancellation policy: We offer the option of a full refund or class credit up until the first class begins. Once the course has started, we can no longer offer a refund.
INSTRUCTOR: Murray Foster
After twenty years as a touring musician, Murray Foster has turned a love of musical theatre into a second act career as a book writer, songwriter, and lyricist.
Best known for his role in the bands Moxy Früvous and Great Big Sea, Murray is a Juno-nominated songwriter, producer, and performer. In Moxy Früvous, Murray released several gold and platinum records (selling half a million copies), opened for songwriting greats like Bob Dylan, played over two thousand shows around the world and appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. In 2002, Murray joined Great Big Sea, and has since recorded five albums, written songs for the band (including the critically-acclaimed “Safe Upon the Shore”) and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe.
In 2014, Murray wrote, directed and scored his first feature film The Cocksure Lads Movie. After a successful Dragons’ Den pitch, The Cocksure Lads Movie premiered in December 2014 at the Whistler Film Festival and was released in theatres across Canada in 2015. You can still watch it on Crave or Starz in Canada or on digital providers like Amazon Prime and Google Play.
In 2017, he was invited to adapt The Cocksure Lads Movie into a musical through the Canadian Music Theatre Project at Sheridan College. Re-named Chelsea Sunrise, the musical has been workshopped at Theatre Sheridan (Toronto, ON), Millikin University (USA), and as an Off-Sheridan presentation at Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto, ON).
In addition to musical theatre, Murray is the founder of Toronto Songwriting School, a songwriting professor at Seneca College, and president of The Urban Orchestra.