The Other Palace and Mercury Musical Developments present Musical Bites, a lunchtime series of readings that provide new musical theatre writers an opportunity to share a 45-min excerpt of their work in progress in front of supportive audiences.

Eligibility Criteria:

  • New British musical with a completed draft or final script, that can be condensed to a meaningful sharing of no more than 45 min
  • At least half the writing team of the musical must be resident in the UK.
  • The musical can have been commissioned or workshopped already, but it can’t have received a professional production.
  • The piece must be able to be performed by max 4 actors, including musical director/pianist, due to space restrictions.

There is no fee to partake in this rehearsed reading. The writer will be compensated with the event ticket income, with the expectation that they will share fairly amongst all participating.

Submissions are now closed..

Spring-Summer 2025

Deal of the Day

Book: Doug Quinn
Music: Adam O’Connor
Lyrics: Simon May
Cast: Lotti Brogan, Callum Henderson, Doug Quinn, and Joanna Kirkland

A fast-paced musical comedy set in 1990s Pittsburgh, where ambitious Molly fights to save a failing home shopping network and chase her TV dreams. With quirky coworkers, high-stakes sales, and live on-air chaos, it’s a rollercoaster of ambition, romance, and seizing the spotlight.

Can’t Complain

Writer & Composer: Sam Easton
Creative Director: Madison French
Cast: Steffan Eldridge as Tom/Neighbour; Hannah McCoy as Joanna/Neighbour; Megan Keaveny as Helen/Neighbour, and Sam Easton as Narrator

A brand new electropop audiodrama musical that captures a yearlong exploration of grief and loss, love and light, isolation and community seen through the eyes of a makeshift family unit living in the leafy but lifeless British countryside.

Dashing

Book & Lyrics: Will Jackson
Music & Lyrics: Matthew Floyd Jones

A magical snowstorm hits Patterbridge on Christmas Eve. With decoration disasters, runaway robot reindeer, and the town’s only gay bar facing closure, can our lovable townsfolk save Christmas? Or at least fall in love trying?! A queer romp filled with catchy songs – the feel-good festive treat you need this June!

Flyology

Music & Lyrics: Tamiko Dooley
Book & Lyrics: Cathy Farmer
Cast: Megan Abbott as Ada Lovelace; Ashleigh Cassidy as Ethel Smyth; and Beth McKinnon as Emmeline Pankhurst

FLYOLOGY is a defiant new musical where Ada Lovelace, Ethel Smyth, and Emmeline Pankhurst wake in a future that’s deleted them. Trapped in a perfect system with no room for unruly women, they fight back — hacking the code, rewriting the rules, and singing a truth the future can’t erase.

The Stop

Book: Emily Garsin
Music & Lyrics: Anna Shields

When an underground train unexpectedly stops between stations, Jules panics. She’s not been on the tube since the traumatic event that killed her father twenty years ago and now she’s trapped. Who are the strangers sharing this encounter? Can they help Jules confront her past and move beyond this stop?

Previously featured shows

Autumn 2024

Portrait Unknown

Book & Lyrics: Tommy James Green
Music: Thomas Currie
Co-Creator & Producer: Kristie Winsen

Just Be(e)

Book, Music, Lyrics: Carlo Bosticco
Music, Arrangements: Matt Randall

Jilted

Creator/Writer: Lauryn Gaffney
Arranger/Musical Director: Ben Cooper

Instant Luv-noodles

Book: Tsukuri Miyano
Music: Nian Tong
Producer: Mrin Somani

Spring-Summer 2024

Cupids

Writer: Kate O’Conell-Lauder
Lyricist: Harry Baker
Composer: Rebecca Dale
Performers: Darcey Salt, Max Alexander-Taylor, Phoebe Fildes

The Planet Is _____

Writers & Performers: Natasha Pavey and Meg McGrady

Three Kinds Of Normal

Book & Music: Charlie-Jo Simpson
Director: Liberty Clark
Performers: Lana Fowler-Burtwell, Charlie-Jo Simpson, Sam Ellyatt, Pandora Seymour

YOU, ME & the rest of the world

Book, Music & Lyrics: Hollie Cassar
Director: Katherine Hare
Producer: Kai Wright
Performers: Karis Anderson, Daisy Ann Fletcher, Emma Hatton and Liam Tamne

The Sesh

Writers: Rob Gathercole & Rebecca Simmonds
Performers: Shane O’Riordan, Roshani Abbey, Max Alexander-Taylor, Eloise Davies

Raising Gays

Writers: Jordan Paul Clarke and Micha Mirto
Performers: Alex Young, Damian Humbley, Jonathan Andrew Hume, Sarah Ingram

Autumn 2023

Candor

Based on the novel by Pam Bachorz
Book, Music & Lyrics: Sinead Hegarty
Additional Arrangements: Kevin Oliver Jones
Director: Rebeka Dio
Cast: Rhys Whitfield, Sinead Hegarty, Lewis Asquith, Ellie Birch

FLIP

Book, Music & Lyrics: Josh Bird & Giles Fernando
Director: Penny Gkritzapi 
Cast: Amelia Walker, Jade Johnson and Julie Atherton

The Forty Elephants

Book & Lyrics: Sophie Boyce
Music: Einar Adalsteinsson
Cast: Ashlie Kenyon-Evason, Layla Armstrong-Hughes, Ryan Bennett, and Charlotte Webb

Chosen

Writing / Creative team: Taiyo Yoshida & Dominic Varney
Cast: Julie Atherton, Georgina Scott, and Jonathan Bourne

Bette and Joan and Baby Jane

Book: Tracy-Ann Oberman & Shaun McKenna
Music: James Cleeve
Lyrics: Nikki Racklin
Performers: Sophie-Louise Dann, Gillian Kirkpatrick & Jack Reitman 

Ukulele Days

Writer: Amy Clare Tasker
Director: Nicky Allpress
Dramaturg: Tricity Vogue
Musical Director: Tom James McGrath
Cast: Anne-Marie Piazza, Joe da Costa, Toby Bradford, and Lata Nobes

sPRING-Summer 2023

The Highwayman

Book, Music, Lyrics: Kitty Morgan
Producer: Adam Nichols, OVO Theatre
Cast: Adam Morris, Melissa O’Donnell, AJ Deane, Kitty Morgan

The Rise and Fall of Vinnie & Paul

Book, Music & Lyrics: Neil Bastian
Cast: Max Alexander-Taylor, Charlie McCullagh

GRIMM: The Musical

Book & Lyrics: Josh Kemp and Tom Ling
Music: Josh Kemp
Guitar: Josh Kemp
Cast: Tom Ling, Eleanor Cozens, Geddy Stringer, Alice Hoult

Becoming Nigella

Book, Music & Lyrics: Emily Rose Simons
Director: Grace Taylor
Musical Director: David Merriman
Cast: Tanya Truman & Natasha Karp

The Attic: Because a Woman Should Know Her Place

Book & Lyrics: Estee Stimler
Music: Yuval Havkin
Cast: Kaisa Hammarlund, Michael Vinsen, Jade Johnson, Claire Learie

Cliffs

Book, Lyrics & Music: Elan Butler
Associate Artists: Bullet Point Theatre
Cast: Lucinda Coyle, Bradley Luckett, Elan Butler, Rosie Weston

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