full-length musicals
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tame the noise
book, music, & lyrics by benjamin walton. an adhd folk allegory. a boy is sent on a quest when a phenomenon called the noise plagues a town past their point of comfort.
finalist - new musical project 2026
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i'm in love with bigfoot
book & lyrics by timothy thomas leech, music by benjamin walton. a folk musical comedy that explores the big question. can grassroots activism save the environment from the ravages of late-stage capitalism? can traditionally monogamous couples introduce non-monogamy in an ethical way? and most importantly…is bigfoot hot?
semi-finalist - syracuse’s new works/new voices 2026
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monster
story by hannah z. morley & benjamin walton, book by hannah z. morley, music & lyrics by benjamin walton. a musical loosely based off of mary shelley’s frankenstein. developed as a thesis for nyu’s graduate musical theatre writing program, evie creates an ai mimicking the consciousness of her ancestor mary shelley to write new stories to save her family’s failing publishing business and to win the attention of her mom.
finalist - pegasus playlab 2025
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dog for mayor
book, music, & lyrics by benjamin walton. an absurdist living room musical drama that follows a family with differing political beliefs as a dog is voted mayor of the town.
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half-hangit maggie
book, music, & lyrics by benjamin walton. a folk musical based off the story of margaret dickson, a woman who survived being hanged after trialed for adultery in edinburgh in 1721. though that’s only the story’s start.
ten to twenty-minute musicals
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folktail
book & lyrics by sravya saraswatula, music by benjamin walton. a twenty-minute folk musical written by sravya saraswatula and benjamin walton. originally written for nyu’s graduate musical theatre writing program, folktail tells the story of ahalya, a pati-vrata snake wife and her husband sad owl boy, who spends most of his time peeping at the local birdbath. they are both wading through their unhappy relationship until bougudugada, the dingo witch, falls in love with ahalya and decides to disguise herself as sad owl boy to cause some trouble. a consolidation of five different folktales from around the world, this musical explores love and where does it fit into our expectations of the roles we play.
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dive in
book & lyrics by timothy thomas leech, music by benjamin walton. a twenty-minute musical. ashton and emily have been best friends forever. looking at three pivotal moments in their lives together, this show looks at a determined relationship that grows and changes over time.
developmental production - project spotlight at the university of central florida 2024 (image from production)
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the hands that planted
libretto by zoe ray prawda, music by benjamin walton. a fifteen-minute opera written for the nyu opera lab in association with the american opera project and the hudson guild. it is about three members of a community who share what they think should be done with their beloved tree which is overrun with ivy.
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swamp show
book by cameron reese, lyrics by rj christian, music by benjamin walton. a twenty-minute musical.this show and team are a product of the across a crowded room program through the new york public library. this piece focuses on grace, who makes a deal with an otherworldly creature to provide everything she and her daughter need. ten years later, the debt comes due and grace fights to keep everything she has together.
concert reading - across a crowded room 2023
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the cryptogram
book by divya mangwani, music & lyrics by benjamin walton. an absurdist twenty-minute musical. this show and team are a product of the across a crowded room program through the new york public library. this piece follows our version of aso-neith cochran, an occultist from the early 1900s, as she deals with a power struggle of her sect of the baha’i faith, as she introduces the father of the radio, lee de forest, to her way of seeing the world.
concert reading - across a crowded room 2024
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the stripper index
book & lyrics by ann p. meredith, adrien radke, & benjamin walton, music by benjamin walton. a twenty-minute dark musical comedy about government incompetence and the under observed stripper index. this show and team are a product of the across a crowded room program through the new york public library.
concert reading - across a crowded room 2025
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rats in polyester pants
book, music, & lyrics by benjamin walton. an absurd ten-minute musical loosely, loosely based off the study by ahmed shafik.
family musicals
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music in the park
book & lyrics by kate rankine, music by benjamin walton. a family musical about a pigeon who dreams of being a city park busker.
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five little peppers
book & lyrics by zoe howard, music by benjamin walton. a family musical based off the characters of the public domain book series, five little peppers by margaret sidney. follow the peppers as they prepare for mamsie’s birthday, even though things keep getting in the way.
one act plays
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playground
a one-act play by benjamin walton. it follows kai, a 6 year-old, as they push through their manifested mental illness to try and find their place in a new school.
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mark; or just beyond pluto
a one-act play by benjamin walton. what happens when space programs detect a unobservable celestial body directly past pluto, and when they finally send a manned ship to retrieve information, instead they find mark floating in space.
assorted songs
here’s a collection of standalone assorted songs!
‘anything but crazy: how american musical theatre can change societal stigmas against mental illnesses’
“abstract
there is a societal stigma that villainizes or degrades anyone diagnosed or associated with any mental illness. while many different forms of media have attempted to destroy this stigma through psycho-centric narratives, i wanted to argue that musical theatre has the greatest potential as a live entertainment source to deconstruct and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. for my research, i theorized that musical theatre can most effectively change societal stigma about mental illness by communicating a clear understanding of the disease through music, and achieving popularity in the public eye longer than other live forms of theatre. i chose to focus on four of those musicals: lady in the dark by moss hart, kurt weill, and ira gershwin which talks about depression and anxiety in the 1940s; spring awakening, adapted from frank wedekind's original play by steven sater and duncan sheik, which discusses depression and suicidal tendencies, specifically in students; next to normal by brian yorkey and tom kitt which revolves around bipolar disorder; and dear evan hansen by steven levenson, benj pasek, and justin paul which talks about the prevalence of anxiety disorders in society.
with this thesis i wanted to further the progression of destigmatizating mental illnesses through the medium of musical theatre. through an analysis of these well-known musicals that focus on mental illnesses and the psychological research that follows, i proposed a short song cycle that continues this evolution of mental illness musicals. through this process, i theorized that musical theatre will decrease the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and will promote treatment and care when dealing with mental illnesses.”