When deciding to put on a musical, the most important step of this process is to pick a show that you want to do and then secure the legal rights to put that show on. This is one of the most tedious steps of the process but takes an incredible amount of creative thinking. When deciding what show you are looking to direct, you must ask yourself three imperative questions.
Will the audience connect with this show?
This is important, of course, because while you want to enjoy the entire process, but you must consider your target audience and demographic. If this show is in a community that greatly values emotional or artistic expression, you can attempt more psychologically challenging shows such as Spring Awakening or Next To Normal, however most general audiences are more likely to support a show if they have a previously invested interest in the show. This is easiest to achieve by picking shows that a lot of people know such as The Sound of Music or Beauty & The Beast. This however can be a detriment as well, as it tends to limit how you and your cast can emotionally engage with a show
Will your cast & crew connect with this show?
Art is most beautifully created out of passion. This is true for musical theatre, as a set of actors are more likely to create something beyond expectation if they themselves are invested in the show. Because theatre people often have a vast knowledge of different shows that exist, it can become tricky to meet the cast & crew’s expectations with the expectations of the public.
Will you connect with this show?
Perhaps the most important question of the three, this demands passion from the director of the project. If you, as a director, are not heavily invested in the intricacies of each character, big or small, in your show, then it will be difficult to offer success to your crew. If you do not have the same driving factor required of the actors, they will not be able to match your energy in a way that is beneficial to the overall show.
After you have picked your show, it is time to find out what licenser you can get your show from. While there are many different licensers, the two most used are Concord Theatricals and Music Theatre International (MTI). Each of these licensers holds the rights to many incredibly popular shows, however, it is never guaranteed that you will be able to find the show you are looking for. While licensers will not have access to the rights of brand-new shows on Broadway until their run, which can vary from 1 to 20 years depending on the success of the show, it is also not uncommon for these licensers to have to pull their licenses when previously successful musicals are revived on Broadway.
Once you find out if the rights for your show are available, you have some options. While Concord and MTI operate slightly differently, they are designed for the same purpose and thus mostly share similarities. Through each of their websites, you can browse different shows and get details regarding the cast size, any puppets requirements, gender specificities, length of the show, level of content, and difficulty of show to put on. Through Concord, if you have an account with them, you can freely download entire scripts to be read for anyone interested, where as with MTI, you must request a perusal and have your request approved by a member of MTI staff. This gives Concord a fairly big advantage in my mind as it gives me the opportunity to read as many scripts as shows I am considering and making a judgement on that basis without the hassle of having to wait for approval. Another advantage to Concord is that it gives fairly accurate quotes for licensing fees based on audience size, number of shows and number of weeks the show will run, whereas, with the same information, MTI will give an estimated range that is often wide in scope and does not give the licensee a good idea of what the fee will be before applying. That being discussed, MTI has simpler rental services for shows that include puppets or specific props, such as Little Shop of Horrors, which needs four puppets, each significantly larger than the last.
While it’s easy to weigh the advantages of using Concord or MTI for licensing, the truth of the matter is, you will ultimately license from the licenser who currently owns the rights to the show that you have landed on. If you are looking to find a show that you’re passionate about, you should already have a fairly decent understanding of the show, and even waiting for the script perusal request to go through should not be a deterrent if you’re already emotionally invested in your show. Both services are excellent online tools however if you are wavering between a few different shows, and if my mind is bouncing between one show that is owned by Concord or one show that is owned by MTI, I will inherently use the simplicity of Concord as a point towards that show, making it less likely for me to rent from MTI in that situation. This is all of course widely dependent on the needs of the director, and the specific requirements of each show.