David James (1946–2026)
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of David James, founder and Artistic Director of BOOK Music & Lyrics, who passed away on 5 October 2026, aged 80.
David was a unique and original presence, in life and at BML, and his devotion to all the participants who have come through BML over the past 15 years was extraordinary. He followed their progress unfailingly, attending as many of their productions as he could.
His commitment to developing new musical theatre remained as strong as ever. It is thanks to his energy, passion and persistence in attracting exceptional facilitators and guest speakers, securing funding and finding studios and venues that BML has become such an important organisation for developing musical theatre writers.
David will be hugely missed by everyone at BML and the wider musical theatre community.
BML's programmes will continue, and we remain committed to carrying forward David's extraordinary legacy.
The BML Board
The UK’s only professional development programme for emerging musical theatre writers.
We are here to nurture the development of musical theatre excellence through weekly collaborative workshops for librettists, composers and lyricists. Led by established professionals, our workshops offer a practical, structured environment to learn from tradition while advancing the form.