Having worked with Public Theater founder Joe Papp as well as former artistic director George C. Wolfe, Sperling has been brought on board by current artistic director Oskar Eustis to aid in the institution's expansion and development of new works for the American musical theatre. In a statement Sperling said, "The Public has a remarkable history of producing ground-breaking musicals such as Hair, A Chorus Line, Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, The Wild Party and Caroline, or Change. I look forward to shepherding similarly brave and stimulating pieces through their development and production here."

Sperling, who garnered 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his orchestrations for The Light in the Piazza, made his directorial debut at the Public with Michael John LaChiusa's See What I Wanna See. His first New York engagement as a musical director was the Public's production of William Finn's Romance in Hard Times.

Sperling has musical directed the Broadway productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, My Favorite Year, and will assume the same role for the upcoming revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater. His extensive concert and arranging credits include collaborations with Audra McDonald and Victoria Clark, as well as conducting the scores for the films "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Everything Is Illuminated."