Episode 6 - Drew Gaspirini and the Empathetic Artistry of Musical Theater

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Just a few short days after we recorded this episode, the city of New York asked all of the broadway shows in the city to shut down as parter of broader efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 here in the US and globally. 

While this was certainly the right decision, it does mean that many of those who work on those shows and produce much of the art we all love, are out of work for the foreseeable future. As you will hear later in this episode, we are huge proponents of supporting the arts and the artists, musicians, singers, dancers, creatives and all those who support them behind the scenes. 

As such we encourage you to help if you can in whatever ways you are able. 

Reach out to your creative friends and offer your support. 

Share and donate to their GoFundMe campaigns. 

Buy tickets now to their future and rescheduled shows and encourage your friends to do the same. Buy their art, their music, their merchandise. 

Donate to organizations like musiciansfoundation.org and other organizations. 

If you love their art, if you love art at all, be sure and be there for them now, and it will help make sure that art keeps existing in the future. 

We will make sure to have links to some of these orgs in the show notes. 

In the meantime, enjoy this amazing interview with Drew Gaspirini. - https://www.thedrewgasparini.com/

In the show today Charles Araujo joins us as a Guest host and gives us a little update about what he has been doing since we spoke to him in episode 1 - https://www.charlesaraujo.com/

We speak with our guest Drew Gaspirini about his role as a broadway composer for the upcoming musical rendition of beloved 80s franchise, The Karate Kid. - https://deadline.com/2020/01/karate-kid-broadway-musical-adaptation-screenwriter-robert-mark-kamen-1202837960/ 

Drew promises us that he will treat the subject matter with the reverence it deserves, 

We talk a lot about the level of empathy it requires to connect people with the characters through music and why musicals are an opportunity to connect the audience on a deeper level with those characters.

Drew talks about unexpected ways in which technology has impacted musical theater, like TikTok introducing Beetlejuice the musical to a whole new generation. https://www.papermag.com/beetlejuice-broadway-tiktok-trend-1-2640689936.html

We spend a lot of time talking about not losing yourself in the art you create, while at the same time how your focus changes as you grow in your careers form attention seeking, to legacy building.

Drew gives shoutouts to his bestest friends Alex Brightman who is an amazing writing partner (and currently playing the namesake role of Beetlejuice on Broadway) https://twitter.com/ABrightMonster and F. Michael Haynie who’s is also a bestie and amazing writing partner (and currently playing the role of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen the musical North American tour) https://www.instagram.com/fmichaelhaynie/

Catch Drew at any one of the events he is at, as well as his check out his music in many forms:

Drew Gaspirini and Friends (Monthly show at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC) 

https://www.ticketfly.com/event/1801011-drew-gasparini-friends-new-york/

Music:

Saint Adeline - https://www.saintadelineband.com/

Louis & Drew - http://ww.w.thedrewgasparini.com/work_louis.html

Solo Work - https://open.spotify.com/artist/36Jymo0A3JkHcLvZ9Xt2vB