We’re all inundated by email. It’s a veritable avalanche that never lets up from the moment we get up until we go back to sleep. To stay on top of it completely would be a full time job. But I have noticed that one of the few commonalities among the most successful theater professionals I’ve […]
The post The Importance of Answering Email appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I’m sure I’m the only one out there that needs a kick in the inspirational pants from time to time. No one else ever needs a trick or two to get the creative juices flowing. But just in case you have a friend who might need a little help, here are three of my quick […]
The post Getting Unstuck appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I love buttons. For the uninitiated, the “button” is that little bump on the end of a song that tells the audience it’s over and prompts them to clap. Left to my own devices, I would button everything. Actually, I’d triple-button everything: music button, movement button, and lighting button. I have a collaborator who hates this. He’s viscerally opposed […]
The post To Button, Or Not To Button appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
It’s a LOVELY autumn day out today. Birds are chirping. People are out jogging to enjoy the brisk air. And the homeless men on my block aren’t waving their dicks at traffic as angrily as they normally do. All in all, a new standard of pleasant has been created today on this loveliest of days… and where am […]
The post I’ll Show You My “Thing” If You Show Me Yours appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I’ve never done the experiment, but I wonder what would happen if you filled a room with theater professionals – writers, actors, designers, producers, etc., and asked them each to list songs currently in the Top 40. What would the median number of right answers would be? Ten? Five? Two? (If you want to try this yourself, you can […]
The post Reasons to Steal Your 15-Year-Old Niece’s iPod appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
We’ve all dreamed about that one moment that changes everything. Audra McDonald hears you sing karaoke at your mutual friend’s birthday party and asks if you’d be interested in singing a duet with her on her next album. Or you send a draft of your latest show to one of your former professors, who thinks […]
The post Be Prepared appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
This blog was inspired by a tweet that read: “I wish I could move to NYC to be a super famous composer like @DrewGasparini” I laughed… Here are some truths. I don’t feel like sugar-coating too much, so I will just lay it out. For some reason, sometimes people see what I do, some become familiar […]
The post Boobs, A Starbucks Bathroom, and A Bank Teller appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I love “I Dreamed a Dream.” I have an embarrassing number of versions of it in my iTunes. I mentioned it in my first blog post. It’s a bit of a problem. Call the lyrics cliché, call the orchestration overwrought, but somehow it just sort of works. Now that we have that out of the way (did I […]
The post I Dreamed a Dream: Of Good Vowels On High Notes appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Hello theater geeks, performers, fellow writers, and parents of the theater geeks, performers, and writers who are reading these blogs as to further understand why their child is “the way they are.” Today I wanted to tackle a subject that comes as an occupational hazard… writer’s block. This blog may seem to be catered to strictly composers and writers, […]
The post Drew Gasparini’s Guide To Saying “F*** You” To Writer’s Block appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Every time I have performed an evening of my music, I am inevitably asked the same questions: “What is that from?” “Why did you write that song?” “What did you write first, the music or the lyrics?” “What’s your bank account number?” Well, the last one only happened once…… But the point is…people ask questions. So, it […]
The post THE WRITER’S BLOCK: More Than Just Sundays appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
There’s an old theater adage that “no one leaves humming the set.” I contend it’s equally true that “no one leaves humming the syncopated, accidental-filled, sixteenth-note-y vamp.” As more new musical theater is being written by amazingly talented, expert pianists (who are often non-singers), increasing attention is being paid to the accompaniment figure, which is being written first, at […]
The post Melody Matters appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Can I tell you a Story? In an ideal world, that question is what I use to maintain my laser-like focus every moment of the ten hours each day as I write a great piece of new musical theatre. In reality, it’s a bit more like: What kind of song does this character need… Should I have […]
The post My Writing Process appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I’ve got this duality to my career that has provided me with some pretty helpful insight. I spend a big part of my professional time writing music and lyrics for songs and shows, but I also spend a big part of that time music directing, teaching, and coaching singers. One of the most important things […]
The post Writing Actable Songs appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
A little over a year and a half ago I was somewhere… don’t remember where… doesn’t matter where. When you are a writer in New York, there are only a handful of places you can be, really… so anyway, I was in this place and I was drinking my white chocolate mocha when I… STARBUCKS!!! … I was […]
The post Three Shit-Talkers appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I’ve been a devotee of “Project Runway” since day one; Austin Scarlett made a ball gown out of day-old corn husks and I was on board. Let’s be honest, it’s great TV – it’s got drama, snappy catchphrases, and more surprise twists than a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress. But you know what else? Watching “Project Runway” has […]
The post Making It Work appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
