BMI Lehman Engel
Musical Theatre Workshop

For over 30 years, the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in New York has been a Broadway training ground for composers and lyricists.

Its celebrated alumni include Alan Menken & Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Seussical), Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx (Avenue Q), and many more.

I was honored to be accepted to the BMI Workshop as a lyricist, and moved to New York for the 2-year program. I was privileged to write with some of the most gifted new voices in musical theatre. There were fascinating guest speakers, and master classes taught by true masters -- including the legendary Stephen Sondheim.

At BMI, the creative process is distilled to its essence: a composer, a lyricist, a piano, and some paper. You write a LOT, and in very little time. Your work is presented live each week, and opened for comment and critique from Workshop members and moderators. It is a rush of words and music, of inspiration, desperation, and exhilaration. Combined with the experience of living and writing in Manhattan, it is part of my life I will never forget.

Here I present a few examples of my projects from the BMI Workshop.