Musicals are the most popular form of stage entertainment today, with the West End and Broadway dominated by numerous long-running hits. They can be gloriously life-affirming spectaculars, swelling both the hearts of audiences, and the wallets of their writers. But for every Wicked or Phantom of the Opera, there are dozens of casualties that didn't fare quite so well. In this book, Julian Woolford explores the musical theatre canon to explain why and how some musicals work, why some don't, and what you should (and shouldn't) do if you're thinking of writing your own.

　　Drawing on his experience as a successful writer and director of musicals, and as a lecturer in writing musicals at the University of London, Woolford outlines every step of the creative process, from hatching the initial idea and developing a structure for the work, through creating the book, the music and the lyrics, and on to the crucial process of rewriting (as Sondheim said, Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten ). He then guides the reader through getting a musical produced, with invaluable advice about generating future productions and sustaining a career.

　　The book includes dozens of exercises to assist the novice writer in developing their craft, and detailed case studies of well-known musicals such as Les Misérables, The Sound of Music, Miss Saigon, Little Shop of Horrors, Godspell and Evita.

　　An essential guide for anyone writing or wanting to write a musical, How Musicals Work is a fascinating insight for anyone interested in the art form or who has ever wondered what it takes to get from first idea to first night.

　　Julian is an author and playwright. His book How Musicals Work is published Nick Hern Books.
　　With composer Richard John he wrote the musicals The Railway Children which premiered at Sevenoaks Playhouse, is published by Samuel French and has had more than 60 productions worldwide. They wrote a new version of Lionel Bart’s Twang!! which premiered at GSA, was subsequently produced at the Union Theatre London and is represented by MTI Europe. They also write The Wind In The Willows (premiered at Sevenoaks Playhouse) and songs for The Importance of Being Earnest at the English Theatre of Hamburg. Their new musical Comrade Rockstar, based on the life and strange death of Dean Reed was presented in concert in 2015 and can be heard on Spotify. Their musical version of The Devil’s Advocate is scheduled to open in Seoul in 2019
　　Julian’s drama adaptation of The Devil’s Advocate toured The Netherlands in 2015 and 2016 (as Advocaat van de Duivel). Other plays and musicals include Liberace, Live From Heaven (Leicester Square Theatre/New Zealand tour/Edinburgh Festival); The Bakewell Bake-Off (Landor Theatre, co-writer, published by Rodgers and Hammerstein Europe); BlueBirds (Cochrane/Kenneth More/Above The Stag); Peter Pan and Cinderella (Lighthouse, Poole); The Snow Queen (Theatre North); Let Him Have Justice (Cochrane/Covent Garden Festival) and Broadway Hall of Fame: Cole Porter and Broadway Hall of Fame: Leonard Bernstein (Palace Theatre London/BBC Radio 3);
　　As a theatre director he directed the first ever commercial musical in Egypt, The Sound of Music, which also toured to Beirut. Julian’s extensive directing credits include work in the West End, Off-Broadway, across Europe and in many regional theatres including six major national tours: Oklahoma! (2010), Carousel (2003), South Pacific (2008) and Fiddler On The Roof (2003 & 2008).
Julian trained at the University of Kent and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He is currently Head of Musical Theatre at Guildford School of Acting (GSA). Previously he was Artistic Director of Sevenoaks Playhouse; Artistic Director of the Global Search for New Musicals at the International Festival of Musical Theatre Cardiff and Associate Director of the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.