Drew Gasparini and Alex Brightman's IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY to Have Industry Reading This Week

Drew Gasparini and Alex Brightman’s new musical, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, is coming to New York for a special industry presentation on Thursday February 26, as the project continues its path toward full production, presented by Lisa Dozier Shacket. The production will be directed by Sarna Lapine, with music direction by Alex 'Goldie' Golden

After nearly stepping off the Brooklyn Bridge, 17-year-old Craig Gilner makes a life-altering choice: he checks himself into Six North, the adult psychiatric ward of a city hospital. There, he’s stripped of his phone, his carefully constructed expectations, and the relentless pressure to be perfect. What he finds instead is an unlikely community of fellow patients whose humor, insight, and vulnerability challenge everything Craig believes about strength, sanity, and what it means to be “okay.”

Based on Ned Vizzini’s acclaimed novel (also adapted into a Universal Pictures film), It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a raw, funny, and compassionate new musical about mental health, identity, and human connection—asking the essential question: Is it alright not to be all right?

The presentation features Ren Cementina (Off Broadway: Spring Awakening), Colin Donnell (Ragtime), Isabella Esler (Beetlejuice), Abe Goldfarb (Beetlejuice), Pooya Mohseni (English), Jim Poulos (Rent), Jayae Riley Jr. (Off Broadway: Suffs), Happy McPartlin (Floyd Collins), Matt Saldívar (Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet.  “RENT: Live”) and introducing Jackson Chase as Craig. 

Blending pop-rock energy with musical theater storytelling, the score balances emotional honesty with wit and warmth, creating a hopeful, uplifting exploration of depression, anxiety, and recovery—one that never preaches, and always listens.

The presentation is cast by Jenny Ravitz. General Manager is LDK Productions/Michael Shannon. Logan DeWitt is the associate producer, Howie Tilkin is the production stage manager.  Based on the Focus Features film written and directed by Anna Bodin and Ryan Fleck, and the book by Ned Vizzini. 

This invite-only industry showing marks a key developmental milestone as the creative team moves the musical toward its next chapter.

Center Stage Records recently released three songs from the show, including  “Where I’m At” performed by Casey Likes, “What They Get “performed by James Monroe Iglehart, and “The Question Game" performed by Isabella Esler and Jackson Chase - click here to listen.

The show had a public reading as part of Powerhouse's 2025 season.