The Broadway Factory You’ve Never Heard Of

Music publisher BMI is the force behind Broadway’s most successful creative workshop, but the group flies so far below the cultural radar that even most theater aficionados are unaware of its existence. “The workshop is little known except among music-makers, but to those in that rarefied world, it is the Harvard of show tunes, helping develop a string of hits that include A Chorus Line, Nine, Little Shop of Horrors and Urinetown… Every year, 30 to 40 aspiring lyricists and composers are selected for the highly competitive two-year course devoted to fundamentals. The third year (which students take again and again) is devoted to projects in development and is by invitation only.”