Career
In 2004, Crom wrote the book, music, and lyrics for NEWSical, and received his first Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Lyrics, with NEWSical picking up a nomination for Outstanding Review. An original cast recording was released on April 5, 2005. Though NEWSical closed in 2005 after 215 performances, a new edition (renamed NEWSICAL the Musical: We Distort, You Decide, and featuring an entirely original book and music) began previews at the 47th Street Theater on November 24, 2009, and opened December 9 of that year.
The 2009-2010 production closed March 21, 2010.
The latest edition of NEWSical the Musical: Full Spin Ahead began previews December 13 of that year and opened on January 9, 2011 at The Kirk at Theatre Row, where it is enjoying an open-ended run. Crom contributed a majority of the topical material featured at the Crystal Palace Theater in Aspen, Colorado from the late 1980s to 2008 (when the venue closed).
A recording of his songs for the Crystal Palace, Who Writes This Stuff? The Songs of Rick Crom, was released in 2008. He currently performs the same function for Laffing Matterz, a dinner theater in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In 2009, Crom composed the score and co-wrote lyrics with Fred M. Caruso for the film The Big Gay Musical.
He also composed the score and wrote the lyrics for Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale, with a book by his Urinetown co-star Hunter Foster. Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale was workshopped in residency at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, through the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation Irving Caesar Fund Fellowship, a Producer-Initiative granted through NAMT, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.