BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop

About the Workshop

In 1961, veteran Broadway musical director Lehman Engel approached BMI with an innovative idea: create a place where the fundamentals of musical theatre craft could be conveyed to a new generation of theatre songwriters.

Today, more than 60 years later, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is the foremost training ground for new musical theatre writers; the setting where the writers of A Chorus Line, Little Shop of Horrors, Nine, Ragtime, Avenue Q, Frozen, Next To Normal and The Book of Mormon, among many others, learned their craft.

The Workshop focuses on craft, not on style. Writers are heartily encouraged to write with their own voices and tell their own stories, making use of structures and disciplines that support that.

In recognition of its resounding contribution to the past half-century of musical theatre, the Workshop was awarded a Drama Desk Award in 2006 and a special Tony Award in 2007.

More about Lehman Engel

Notable Workshop Writers & Shows

About the Songwriting Workshop

Entrance into the Songwriting Workshop begins with a two-year weekly course.

Writers in the First Year of the Workshop (moderated by Patrick Cook and Frederick Freyer) explore the fundamentals of songwriting for the musical theatre through a series of collaborative assignments, culminating in the creation of 10-minute musicals at the end of the spring semester.

In the Second Year of the Workshop (moderated by Patrick Cook, Frederick Freyer and Sara Wordsworth) writers team up to focus on crafting songs for a full-length musical, emphasizing the content and placement of songs and the use of music and lyrics to convey and develop characters. At the end of the Second Year, participants present excerpts from their work and a select number are invited to continue in the Advanced Workshop.

The Advanced Songwriting Workshop hosts ongoing weekly sessions of talented graduates of the first two years. Recent moderators include Lynn Ahrens, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Amanda Green, Richard Maltby, Maury Yeston, and more.

About the Bookwriting Workshop

Entrance into the Bookwriting Workshop begins with a one-year weekly course.

The First Year of the Workshop, moderated by Drama Desk Award winning bookwriter Adam Mathias, unlocks the toolkit for musical theatre librettists. Through lecture, discussion, and assignments students learn how to apply the fundamentals of dramatic writing to the craft of creating musicals. As a class, writers deep-dive into the DNA of the musical theatre canon – from the Golden Age through today – dissecting what works and why and then applying it to their own work.

The Advanced Bookwriting Workshop meets weekly to provide in depth peer and moderator feedback on musical theatre libretti at all stages of development.

Attending the Workshop

BMI fully funds the Musical Theatre Workshop and provides it free of charge to admitted participants. Writers are not required to be affiliated with BMI.

The Workshops meet September through June in person in New York City. Participants are expected to reside in the city or within commuting distance.

Inclusion & Accessibility

The BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is committed to maintaining an inclusive culture that allows all members a safe community with an equal opportunity to contribute in ways that will result in increased creativity and exceptional writing. The Workshop's ongoing goal is for our membership to reflect the diversity of the world we live in.

Please contact us if you have any questions about disability accessibility.