Interview: Justin Guarini is Warming Up His Vocal Chords for CELEBRITY KARAOKE!
By: Nicole Rosky Oct. 03, 2015
Broadway rockers Justin Guarini, Deborah Cox, Alex Brightman, and Tony Vincent, are set to rock out at Clear Channel Spectacolor's annual "Celebrity Karaoke: A Epic Evening with the Stars" on Monday, October 5, 2015 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) at Hard Rock Cafe New York in Times Square (1501 Broadway). Hosted and co-produced by Guarini, "Celebrity Karaoke" will kick off New York Comic Con's New York Super Week and gives fans the opportunity to perform with a live karaoke band alongside Broadway's brightest stars.
Tickets are $40 for VIP floor seats and $25 for general admission, and are now on sale via TicketWeb here.
Guarini, recently checked in with BroadwayWorld about the upcoming event and you can check out the full interview below!
Was this your idea? How did you become involved?
Well, I had a production deal with Clear Channel Spectacolor. And I really have to hand the idea and the concept of it to Michelle Henning who is... awesome. She is head of business development at Clear Channel Spectacolor and is just brilliant with strategy. And she really wanted to find a way to bring together the Broadway community, Comic Con, Clear Channel, Hard Rock Cafe... all these wonderful people that we get to work with via Clear Channel. So she approached me with the idea and we started just throwing out things and eventually we came up with it. It took awhile to find a name, but we said, "What's the best way we can get this across? It's Celebrity Karaoke."
But we didn't want to do karaoke like someone up there just playing CDs and MP3s. We want it to be a special experience. This is Comic Con; this is Clear Channel; this is Broadway. We want it to really have a performance aspect to it. So we said we should have a live karaoke band. So Rock Star Karaoke in New York in New York is a great band that does just that. So we partnered with Hard Rock Cafe and partnered with Comic Con to be a part of their Super Week, which is the week leading up to New York Comic Con. So Celebrity Karaoke was born.
So how do things usually go down on the day-of?
It is really...it's something else. There's a lot of moving parts. We have to load in for the band for sure and then we're sound checking. We are making sure that our guest list is right. There's a red carpet that we have there, so we're making sure the red carpet get's set up. So it is a really big process getting everything together, and of course we have our talent coming in. We have Deborah Cox this year. We have Alex Brightman, who is going to be starring in School of Rock. There's Tony Vincent from The Voice. There are some really great people and not only that, but we have winners from the BroadwayWorld.com contest. It is just audience members can get up and sing in front of some pretty high-powered producers in the Broadway world, including Jayne Baron Sherman, who produced Hedwig and the Angry Inch... and Carl Levin of Rock of Ages. There's some really great folks who are going to be there watching and some really great talent that we have on stage. But it's a PROCESS.
And the prize package is pretty awesome, right? I saw that one of the things is a voice lesson with you!
[Laughs] This is one of those things that we really wanted to engage the Broadway community because the Broadway community is so passionate. We, as performers in the Broadway community, love when we have the chance to... whether it's just after the show singing autographs and taking pictures or to put on an event like this, it's really to say "thank you." We only get a chance to say thank you, but there's never a time, or rarely a time, when we say "Hey, come join us. Come up on the same stage that we're on and sing with us."
So that's what I think is really one of my favorite things about this is that people who love Broadway, and even if you just like theatre in general, you can come to this event and you can have the opportunity to get up and sing. Not only just in front of some people that you may know and love in the Broadway community, but in front of high-powered producers, in front of executives, in front of same tastemakers... and if you win you have the opportunity to sit down and have a voice lesson, have a headshot session. I mean, there's a chance to actually have your talent recognized. As opposed to just coming and sitting and seeing other folks sing, you have the opportunity now to have your talent recognized. So, I think that's a really awesome opportunity for folks who might not have had the chance to do that.
I have to ask, what is your go-to karaoke song?
Oh, man. I LOVE two songs, very different songs, but "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John, an awesome song. And then I have a really kind of obscure one, but I really love singing it because it's just awesome, and it's called "This Masquerade" by George Benson. Everyone knows George Benson for the song "Broadway," that's the one everyone knows George Benson from. But he did this other song called "This Masquerade," which is cool because it's very jazzy and R&B. It's just fun for me to sing because it's a challenge.
So, are you in Dallas right now, right?
I'm currently in Dallas doing Moonshine! It's awesome! I mean it's so much fun. It's an honor to get to be a part of a new musical. We're very lucky in the sense that our creative team is just an awesome grouping of people. If you look at the credentials theses people have, it is a powerhouse creative team. There's a powerhouse production team as well. So, when you get to collaborate, ultimately they make the final decisions, but when you get to collaborate or they get to tailor these roles to you, as performer that is a huge honor.
For me, this has been a really wonderful experience. This is the second time I've gotten to be a part of a brand new...to originate a role like this is pretty awesome. I hope it has another life in New York, and I hope I get to be a part of it.
Yeah, I think we all do. And how are the audiences in Texas?
The audiences are great! This is a great show for a southern audience, and it's really funny because it is loosely based on Hee-Haw, the TV show, but it is definitely irreverent and certainly a little naughty but never right on the nose. So it's interesting to see the audience's reaction and to some of the things we do in the show because I think it's unexpected. It's very unexpected, but they ultimately get a kick out of it.
Cool. I hope we get to see it in New York!
You and me both.
So we're just a few days out from Celebrity Karaoke now. What're you most looking forward to for the big night?
The best thing about this year's event, as opposed to last year's, is we have partnered with randomacts.org. That's a global non-profit, and this year we're going to benefit the community soup kitchen outreach center. So we're also accepting non-perishable food donations as well. If you come, bring a little can of something because the ultimate goal of is to help support this charity, which is doing so much for people...not only keeping people fed but also keeping them clothed. So, that's a really really big thing we're proud of this year.
So, looking ahead beyond this I am working on a project in LA, currently. And then I just feel really fortunate that a lot of work has come my way in the theatre, and I'm also going to be putting out a new recording project. Yeah, I'm working on a project for that now. It's exciting. There's a lot going on. I'm trying to cram in a lot, but I'm just very happy to be working. I'm very happy continue the path that I've been on in the theatre, and I'd like to put a little cherry on top of that with some more music because it's been a long time. In 2016, I'm looking forward to continuing on with my love of theatre and reinvesting in music.
Wonderful...thank you for taking the time today, Justin.
Thank you for taking the time to promote this. It's really a wonderful thing, and it's benefiting a great cause. So it's a win-win all around.
Justin Guarini took second place in the first season of "American Idol" before launching a career in music, television, and Broadway. Currently starring in Dallas Theatre Center's Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical, Guarini made his Broadway debut in 2011 in American Idiot followed by Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Romeo & Juliet, and Wicked.
Videos