Every fourth Wednesday of the month, the “VIP Access” column will serve up advice on how to make your theater-going experiences cheaper, easier and more fulfilling with inside scoop from the experts. This month, we’re going to freshen up your audition repertoire and your insider knowledge…

Zac Resnick sings Kerrigan & Lowdermilk. Photo by Monica Simoes.

There’s a new generation of music theater writers (I like to call them young whipper-snappers) storming the Broadway castle, savvily building buzz by harnessing the power of social media. Whether it’s the pioneering grassroots campaign to get [title of show] on the Great White Way or the twitter-ing fan base for Kerrigan & Lowdermilk, it’s hard to break into the big time without youtube videos and a strong digital presence.

One of the best ways to dive into this world is newmusicaltheatre.com, a website featuring downloadable sheet music by new composers. The user-friendly marketplace allows singers (and/or fans) to legitimately own fresh material while giving writers the opportunity to make some money. (As they say, you can make a killing but not a living in music theater.) The search system is intuitive, the song samples are helpful and the range of material is growing to feature most of the next generation talent out there (Iconis, Friedman and Pasek & Paul are all represented among many others.) And even if you don’t want to buy a song, it’s a great place to get a snapshot of what’s happening in music theater today.

Not sure where to start? Here’s video of the lovely “Alaska” by Adam Gwon, as sung by Nick Blaemire:

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When there’s a month with a fifth Wednesday, I’ll be heading Way-Off-Broadway for a look at theatrical happenings outside New York City. This summer, it’s not just flowers blooming all over the country; it’s musicals…

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Image via theoneill.org.

Keep your sun screen and your pitch pipe handy because it’s time for summer theater development festivals. All across the country,writing teams are converging on bucolic locations to test out new musicals and pretend they’re at summer camp with cute actors. And the great thing is, you can join in (on the musicals and the cute actors). In fact, audience feedback is an essential component (for the musicals and the cute actors).

So let’s take a look (and listen) to some of the best prospects getting workshops this summer…

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