At the 7:30 PM concert, he will be joined by Keith White (Jersey Boys) and Michelle Nikoomanesh with special guest appearances by his sisters, Kasie and Chloe Gasparini, and The (M)orons — Broadway actors Alex Brightman (School of Rock), F. Michael Haynie (Wicked) and Andrew Kober (Les Misérables).
"This will not be the typical show you're used to from me," Gasparini told Playbill.com. "Some people know this, but not all do… I was a touring singer-songwriter before I was a professional composer. For the last several years, I've been looking for the right time to step out as a solo act, and now's the moment. My career as a composer is at an all-time high. I'm signed with Razor and Tie/Sh-K-Boom Publishing, which allows me to continue writing a healthy combo of theatre, pop/rock, hip hop, folk and jazz. It is time to step back out there and do my thing."
The show at Webster Hall is "meant to commemorate and celebrate a new stage in [Gasparini's] evolution" as an artist.
Along with pop music, he's at work on a musical adaptation commissioned by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, an adaptation of the Newberry Award-winning children's book "The Whipping Boy" (with a book by School of Rock's Alex Brightman) and #UntitledPopMusical (with a book by Michael Kimmel).
"I've always been a believer that music is music is music," said Gasparini about fusing the worlds of pop and musical theatre in his writing. "Sure there are pop influences in some of my theatre music, and some of my pop music is a little theatrical for the typical 'pop audience,' but what excites me isn't bringing the sounds together, it's bringing the two musical worlds together. For the theatre kid who never listens to pop, or the non-theatre kid who'd never go see a musical, I like to know that there is something in my music that is relatable to both sets of ears. Theatre music and pop music used to be the same thing! Gershwin, Cole Porter, even Sondheim all had mega hits on the radio. Let's keep bridging that gap!" Check out Gasparini and his sisters performing a cover of Major Lazer and DJ snake's pop hit "Lean On":
The Marlin Room at Webster Hall is located at 125 East 11th Street. Tickets cost $22.50 and are available at WebsterHall.com.
