Social media content creator and former Newtowner Brett Boles is continuing to expand his musical influence by launching The M Tea Songwriting Studio in spring 2023.

Boles is an award-winning musical theater composer, lyricist, book writer, and musical director who lived in Newtown for 25 years and graduated from Newtown High School.

“Newtown residents would know me from my work music directing some of Newtown High School’s shows: Peter Pan, City of Angels, Beauty and the Beast, and I conducted the orchestra for Evita,” Boles said. “I also was the Associate Music Director for NewArts’ productions of Seussical, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Associate Director for their production of A Christmas Carol last winter.”

Day to day, Boles can be found shaping young minds as Director of Choir at Hall High School in West Hartford.

A few years ago, he turned to TikTok and Instagram to reach audiences with his short, dynamic videos centered around music. Boles created the name “The M Tea” and has posted more than 470 videos to date.

“Initially, my account was focused solely on Musical Theatre, and the ‘slang’ abbreviation for that is MT, so “M Tea” was a play on that abbreviation and ‘spilling the tea’ on the creation of these songs … I even do [videos on] film scores, so it could stand for “Movie” as well — it’s become versatile!” Boles explained.

He has amassed 350,000 followers on social media and some notable names include Mandy Patinkin, Ben Platt, Jordan Fisher, Joe Iconis, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Boles enjoys creating a community online and continues to be inspired when reading comments from people.

“Watching people realize that the art and language of songwriting can be accessible to anyone with the right teacher has been heartwarming,” he said.

Boles’ positive experiences inspired him to pursue making The M Tea Songwriting Studio.

“So many people out there want to make their voices heard and unlock the creativity within themselves but don’t know quite how to do it. With the global audience that I’ve been able to reach, I see it as part of my mission to help people unlock that part of themselves; this should be accessible to anyone with a desire to learn, regardless of experience level,” he said.

Boles will be offering this service through Zoom so that it is available to anyone, anywhere.

“This is for all ages (high school through adults), for anyone who has ever had the desire to write a song or to learn more about how to write songs (lyrics and music both),” Boles said.

Sessions will be offered through three tiers.

“I’ll be offering one-on-one lessons for those who want individual attention, small group classes for those who feel more comfortable in a group of three to five people, and larger group instruction that focuses more on discussion and analysis than performing for feedback,” he explained.

Boles plans to launch The M Tea Songwriting Studio in Spring of 2023. Those interested in signing up can e-mail themteaseries@gmail.com and fill out a Google form online.

Be sure to check out Boles’ work online by following him on TikTok @brettboles, Instagram @thebrettboles, and Facebook @themteafb. For personal song requests, find him on Cameo at cameo.com/themtea.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.