WHISPER HOUSE: Kyle's Blog - 'GEARING UP FOR NEW YORK STAGE & FILM'

Grammy and Tony award-winning songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik returns with his new album WHISPER HOUSE, from Sony Music. WHISPER HOUSE marks Sheik's first solo album since 2006's critically-acclaimEd White Limousine and comes on the heels of the success of Spring Awakening. WHISPER HOUSE, which will have its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in January 2010, is a collaboration with up-and-coming young playwright Kyle Jarrow, already an Obie winner for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant.

It's 1942 - at the height of World War II- and Christopher, an imaginative young boy, is sent to live with an aunt he's never met: Lilly, a reclusive woman who serves as the keeper of a remote lighthouse. Not yet comfortable in his surroundings, Christopher begins to hear strange music no one else can hear seeping through the walls. It doesn't take long for him to suspect the lighthouse may be haunted, and these ghosts tell him that Yasujiro, a Japanese worker that Lilly has employed, should not be trusted. Is Christopher's imagination getting the best of him? Or are these ghosts warning Christopher about the very real dangers that lie ahead? Whisper House is a touching and beautiful story about how we should embrace, rather than fear, the unknown.

BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you Kyle's exclusive WHISPER HOUSE Blog!

I'm out in Los Angeles this week*... sorry about the delay in putting up a new posting!

* I just told the friends I'm staying with that I want to go to the beach today and they looked at me like I was crazy. "It's only seventy-five degrees," they said. In this statement lies the fundamental difference between West Coasters and East Coasters. They just don't know how good they have it.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: WHISPER HOUSE. There's actually not a ton of Whisper House stuff going on right at the moment, but there will be soon. In about two weeks, we head up to Vassar to do a workshop of the show at New York Stage & Film. (NYS&F is a summer development festival run by "a company dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film" [that's from their website].) I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work out some of the kinks of the piece and to spend some time buckling down on it with Duncan and Keith. It's NYS&F's 25th Anniversary season, as well, so it should be fun to be a part of that.

The cast we've got assembled for the workshop is pretty damn phenomenal. Here are the actors and their roles:

Deirdre O'Connell (Lilly) - I've had the pleasure of working with Deirdre before and she is not only one of the nicest and most easy-to-work-with actors in the world, she's also one of the smartest.

Matthew Lobenhofer (Christopher) - In addition to having a very cool last name, this young man is an incredibly talented actor. He came into his audition and blew us away. Very excited to work with him.

Arthur Acuna (Yasujiro) - Arthur did the workshop of Whisper House at NYTW back in May 2008. He brings a darkness and a complexity to his performances which can be really electric.

TEd Koch (the Sheriff) - Haven't worked with Ted before, but have heard great things. Looking forward to meeting him.

Gideon Banner (Lieutenant Rando) - A killer actor, this guy. You may know him from MTC's "The Four of Us" as well as a bunch of other work around town. He also, coincidentally, went to college with me.

The Ghosts - David Poe and Holly Brook. Two amazing recording artists and songwriters in their own rights; we're incredibly lucky to have them singing these roles.

Anyway, I'll be blogging from NYS&F and will try to include some pictures and juicy inside-the-rehearsal-room details. In the meantime, I'm off to the beach!

-Kyle Jarrow

Kyle Jarrow is a writer and musician based in New York City. He writes for the stage as well as film and television, and he plays in the bands The Fabulous Entourage and Super Mirage. He won the prestigious OBIE Award at age 24 for his Off-Broadway hit A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which has subsequently been produced all over the country. Kyle's play Armless won the Overall Excellence Award at the New York International Fringe Festival. Other plays include Love Kills, Trigger, President Harding is a Rock Star, Rip Me Open (co-writer), Hostage Song (music & lyrics), Gorilla Man (script available from Samuel French), and the upcoming Big Money (with Nathan Leigh) and Whisper House (with Tony-winner Duncan Sheik, record now available from RCA/Victor).

For more information on Whisper House visit: www.duncansheik.com/whisperhouse

For more information on Kyle visit: www.landoftrust.com

Visit these links for exclusive newsletters:

Whisper House Newsletter: http://www.duncansheik.com/whisperhouse/signup.html

Masterworks Broadway Newsletter: www.masterworksbroadway.com

Photo of Kyle by Sarah Sloboda