Duncan Sheik to Tour in Concert of Songs from His New Musical Whisper House

Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik has scheduled concert dates in six cities to perform songs from his new musical Whisper House, which is set to debut at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre beginning January 13. Sheik will also give a benefit performance of the score at the Old Globe on January 11, with proceeds going to the company’s educational activities.

As previously announced, Mare Winningham will lead the cast in Peter Askin’s world premiere production of Whisper House, featuring a book and additional lyrics by Kyle Jarrow. Opening night will be January 21. Sheik released a solo CD of the score last year.

The follow-up to Sheik's Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit Spring Awakening, Whisper House follows Christopher, an 11-year-old living with his Aunt Lilly in a haunted New England lighthouse during World War II following the death of his father. The songs weave together to tell the story of a child’s grief and spinster’s longing as seen through the eyes of the ghosts that haunt the lighthouse.

Sheik wrote most of the music during a retreat on an island near Charleston, SC. “Charleston has this history of ghost stories, a southern tradition that I kind of grew up with,” he said in a statement. “I reconnected with it in some way and used that to write the lyrics to these songs. Having this narrative was so much more rich and vital, and it was so much more fun to write from the persona of these ghosts, these dead people, and the whimsical malevolence I could articulate through their voices.”

Thus far, Sheik has booked concert dates in South Orange, NJ (March 18), Arden, DE (March 19), Port Washington, NY (March 20), Orlando, FL (March 25), Tampa, FL (March 26) and Jupiter, FL (March 29).