James Monroe Iglehart, Julia Murney and More to Star in IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY

Drew Gasparini and Alex Brightman’s irreverent and heartfelt new musical, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, will get a special workshop presentation at Vassar’s Powerhouse Theatre, directed by Sarna Lapine. Performances will take place on July 18 and 19 at the Martel Theater, located inside the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film.

After nearly stepping off the Brooklyn Bridge, 17-year-old Craig Gilner makes a life-changing decision: he checks himself into Six North, the adult psychiatric ward at a city hospital. Inside, he’s stripped of his phone, his expectations, and the pressure to be perfect—and finds himself surrounded by a cast of fellow patients whose quirks, wisdom, and wounds challenge everything he thought he knew about strength, sanity, and what it means to be “okay.”

Based on Ned Vizzini’s celebrated novel (also adapted into a Universal Pictures film), It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a raw, heartfelt, and unexpectedly hilarious new musical about mental health, identity, and human connection, asking the question, “Is it alright not to be all right?” The film starred Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, and Viola Davis.

This powerful and poignant production features an all-star cast including Jackson Chase (Regional: RENT) as Craig with Isabella Esler (National Tour: Beetlejuice),  Abe Goldfarb (Broadway’s Beetlejuice), Julia Murney  (Broadway’s Wicked), James Monroe Iglehart (Tony nomination for A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical), Jim Poulos (Broadway’s RENT), Mike Nappi (National Tour: Shucked), Jayae Riley Jr. (Off-Broadway: Suffs), Happy McPartlin (Broadway: Floyd Collins). 

Blending pop-rock and musical theater with raw emotional honesty, It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a daring and dynamic exploration of depression, anxiety, and recovery, with a whimsical, uplifting score that asks the big question: “Is it alright to not be all right?”

This presentation is cast by Jenny Ravitz. This developmental production is being presented with special arrangement by Lisa Dozier Shacket.