Next up in our NYMF interview series is Drew Gasparini and Louis Sacco's Crazy, Just Like Me. Drew and this show has been mentionedhere on the blog before, and Crazy, Just Like Me will start its NYMF performances on Tuesday, September 27th. For a live preview of the music, you can check out the show's free event at New World Stages' TONY Lounge on Sunday, 9/11 at 9:30 pm, but in the meantime, Drew offered to answer his 5 questions about this NYMF production:
(Drew Gasparini singing "In Love With Crazy"
from Crazy, Just Like Me)
Me: How would you describe your show in one sentence?
Drew Gasparini: Really f***ing awesome.
Me: You guys have worked on a few projects together. How did you guys start collaborating?
Drew: I wrote the show in 2006, then met Louis Sacco in 2009. We met through mutual friends and he saw that Crazy, Just Like Me (which had already been produced a few times at that point) had more potential. We worked together on making the book for the show better and then started pushing the show as a team. He had great business sense, and I did not.But since then it’s been billed as “MUSIC AND LYRICS BY DREW GASPARINI” and “BOOK BY DREW GASPARINI AND LOUIS SACCO.”
Me: What inspired Crazy, Just Like Me?
Drew: Not to sound like a total cliché or a bore, but what inspired Crazy, Just Like Me was a really rough break up with my ex-girlfriend. And it all started when I was 19 which is a very impressionable age. I was so sad all the time I started writing songs to not only get me through my emotions, but also songs to make myself laugh… I mean… why else would anyone write a song called “Funky Fried Piece of Man Meat”. Haha. Obviously the show has different meaning now. As I’ve gotten older and grown with the show, I’ve learned a lot and have re-written the show to seem more relatable and really worked on voicing the characters of the piece.
(Keith White and John Krause perform
"Funky Fried Piece of Man Meat")
Drew: Before NYMF, this show was (kinda still is) the little show that could. There was always enough people to like it for it to open regionally in San Francisco, L.A., Dallas, Nebraska, and even Australia…. But a New York audience is something very different and I’m happy that the show is finally in a place where we are accepted into the New York Musical Theatre festival. Before this it has opened in MANY cities. Been performed as a concert in Australia. Was featured in NAMT (National Alliance of Musical Theatre) songwriter showcase, was in the San Francisco Theater Festival, and has been a reading starring Matt Doyle in NYC. But now we are in NYMF… we could do well or NOT so well… but I think we’re in good shape.
Drew: I’m just looking forward to working with the amazing team we have. We’ve all become fast friends and we are getting WORK DONE!!!! It’s exciting to get along with people who take the job seriously and really look out for the shows best interest. Our creative/production teams are stellar and the cast is remarkable. And Stephen Agosto (our director) has found a really great way to communicate with everyone which is making this process not seem like work, which is the ultimate goal. We’re having a blast. I’m also looking forward to seeing some other NYMF shows.
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