Abbreviation MMD Legal status Registered charity | Formation 1992 Headquarters London | |
Motto Nurturing new musical theatre writing Location Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9ND | ||
Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) is a writer-based arts organisation in the United Kingdom dedicated to developing new writing in musical theatre. Founded in 1992 as the Mercury Workshop, it took on its present name when it merged in 1999 with the New Musicals Alliance. It now has over 260 members.
MMD is based at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End. Its Executive Director is Victoria Saxton who succeeded Neil Marcus, previously Artistic Director at the Jermyn Street Theatre, in 2015. Neil Marcus succeeded Georgina Bexon in 2009.
A registered charity, it receives funding from Arts Council England.
History
In 1990 composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim took the Cameron Mackintosh chair in musical theatre at the University of Oxford, and in this capacity ran workshops with promising writers of musicals, including George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Andrew Peggie, Paul James, and Stephen Keeling. These writers jointly set up the Mercury Workshop in 1992, which eventually merged with the New Musicals Alliance to become Mercury Musical Developments. Sondheim continues to be patron.