Musical Theatre

The Manhattan School of Music Musical Theatre Lab Series is a new musical development program which offers musical theatre majors the opportunity to work with professional musical theatre creators on their musicals-in-development. Using an open-submission process, the Lab Series selects cutting-edge musical theatre projects with potential for professional life and, in alignment with MSM Inclusion Initiative, prioritizes artists underrepresented in the musical theatre industry.

Lab Series projects introduce students to professional creative teams and the process of working on new material, which increases students’ performance, industry networking, and artistic opportunities. We see the Lab Series as fundamental to our program, because it serves our students while also serving the industry. It augments our students’ education through real-world experience with professional theatre artists, who get space and resources to develop their work.

When musical theatre creators craft a show, an invaluable part of their process is the act of bringing their work to actors and a creative team so they can see and hear the work on its feet. Since musicals are complex machines with many moving parts (scenes, songs, dance, orchestrations, musicians, etc.), that crucial stage of the process is a complicated and expensive endeavor. The Lab Series, which is housed in the Musical Theatre department, provides writers and their creative teams with valuable time and space to workshop their projects, with current MSM students and MSM alumni serving as actors, as stage managers, and in other necessary roles. Creative teams maintain full autonomy over their process.

The Lab Series process is designed to be fully adaptable to the creative team’s needs for their project. Some use their time to hear their entire show, while some use their time to work on a section of their show that’s giving them trouble. For some, their time at the Lab Series culminates with a showing for an invited audience at our NYC campus, while for others a showing is not relevant to their process. However teams choose to spend their time, they are supported by our faculty and students, who are guided by a passion for cultivating the future of the musical theatre.

The Lab Series was created in 2021 by MSM’s Dean of Musical Theatre Liza Gennaro, under whose leadership the Lab Series has grown to present up to seven readings per year. Four of those shows went on to subsequently receive full productions in the MSM musical theatre mainstage season.

Please check back here in late spring/early summer 2025 for information about and guidelines for submitting a show to be considered for our 2025-2026 Lab Series season.

Sign up here to join our email list and get notified when we open our submission portal!

2024–2025 Season Lab Series Mainstage Production

GOOD LUCK IN SPACE

Purchase Tickets!
OCT 25 – 27

Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann

Meghan Finn, Director and Choreographer
Eric T. Johnson, Music Director

The Riverside Theatre

2024–2025 Lab Series Workshops

A MILLION AISLES AWAY
Book by Julia Newman
Music and Lyrics by Utsav Bhargava and Luna Abréu-Santana

POETRY & PROSE
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Katya Stanislavskaya
Directed by Dev Bondarin

MUDVILLE
Inspired by the poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Book by Mike Mitri and Dan Elish
Music by Douglas J. Cohen
Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen and Dan Elish
Directed by Joann Hunter

RED + VODKA + ME
Book and Lyrics by Gordon Leary
Music by Julia Meinwald

THE REAL GEMMA JORDAN
Book by Anna K. Jacobs
Music and Lyrics by Rob Rokicki
Directed by Portia Krieger

FATTY
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly

THE DARK LADY
Book and Lyrics by Sophie Boyce
Music by Veronica Mansour

2023–2024

Lab Series Mainstage Productions

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!
Book and Lyrics by Frankie Johnson
Music by Eric T. Johnson
Directed by Evan Pappas
Riverside Church Theatre

Lab Series Workshops

BRICKS
Created and Directed by Charlene Jean

GOOD LUCK IN SPACE
Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann

Photo of cast and creative team of Good Luck In Space

MUDVILLE
Inspired by the poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Book by Mike Mitri and Dan Elish
Music by Douglas J. Cohen
Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen and Dan Elish
Directed by Joann Hunter

THE TURNING
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Zack Zadek
Directed by Sammi Cannold

Photo of cast and creative team of The Turning

2022–2023

Lab Series Mainstage Productions

VALENTINO’S TANGO
Book and Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen
Music by Howard Marren
Directed and Choreographed by Parker Esse
Riverside Church Theatre

PAPERBOY
Book by Don Stephenson and Emily Loesser with Vince Vawter
Music by Jim Wann and David Shenton
Lyrics by Jim Wann
Directed by Don Stephenson
Neidorff-Karpati Hall

Lab Series Workshops

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!
Book and Lyrics by Frankie Johnson
Music by Eric T. Johnson
Directed by Evan Pappas

THE PETER GENNARO PROJECT
Created and Directed by Jason Wise

PRIVATE EDDIE
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Kevin Neil Bernard
Directed by Jessica Boevers Bogart

Photo of cast and creative team of Private Eddie

SACRIFICES
Book by Eli Kaplan-Wildmann
Music by Yonatan Cnaan
Lyrics by Andrew Zachary Cohen
Directed by Catie Davis

Photo from staged reading of Sacrifices

BRICKS
Created and Directed by Charlene Jean

2021–2022

Lab Series Workshops

THE COMPLICATED COLLECTION
Directed by Benjamin Ernest Abraham

4 New Plays:
Quarantine Kills by Kevin Renn
Alternating My Vices By Maggie Wilson
Untitled Toledo & July Project by Kevin Renn
Say It Naked by Maggie Wilson

SHOWCASE: A REHEARSAL MUSICAL
Book and Lyrics by Kevin Renn
Music and Lyrics by Erin J. Reifler

VALENTINO’S TANGO
Book and Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen
Music by Howard Marren
Directed and Choreographed by Parker Esse

PRIVATE EDDIE
Book, Lyrics, and Music by Kevin Neil Bernard
Directed by DeMone Seraphin

PAPERBOY
Book by Don Stephenson and Emily Loesser with Vince Vawter
Music by Jim Wann and David Shenton
Lyrics by Jim Wann
Directed by Don Stephenson