WHISPER HOUSE: Kyle's Blog - 'The Gamble Game'

Grammy and Tony award-winning songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik returns with his new album WHISPER HOUSE, which hit stores on January 27 from Victor Records/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. The idea for WHISPER HOUSE came about when actor Keith Powell (30 Rock) approached Sheik about developing a musical theatre piece with him.

Following a trip Powell took to New England, a story began to emerge centered around a lighthouse, and up-and-coming young playwright Kyle Jarrow, already an Obie winner for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, signed on to create the book. BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you Kyle's exclusive WHISPER HOUSE Blog following the show from it's inception through the tentatively scheduled Broadway Production in 2010, now continue the journey with Kyle to WHISPER HOUSE!

This week, I'm up at the Williamstown Theatre Festival working on two different shows-Caroline in Jersey, a comedy by Melinda Lopez that I wrote music for; and The Consequences, a new musical I wrote with Nathan Leigh. It's been a lot of work, rehearsing two shows at once, and I find myself deliriously tired at the moment. As I struggle by on just a few hours of sleep, I ask myself: Why do I do it? Why do I put in so much time and sweat and tears working on theater projects for very little money?

Part of the answer is: because I love it. Which is the answer for just about everyone who works in the theater. Butt another part of the answer is: because, down the line, if one of these projects finds real success, then I WILL make some money.

That got me thinking about the business structure of the theater industry, as it relates to WHISPER HOUSE and other projects too. So I thought I'd write about that in today's blog. (Maybe it's because I'm deliriously tired that I think this is a good idea. Please forgive me.)
You've probably heard the old saying about the theater: "you can't make a living but you can make a killing." In other words, most people in the theater make almost nothing. But if you have a hit show on Broadway, you rake it in. I personally don't have any experience with the latter (unfortunately), but I do have quite a bit of experience with the former.

The way the theater industry is set up is that a lot of people-actors, directors, writers-put in unpaid work in the Early Stages of developing a show, with the hope that they'll be involved when the show finally has a large scale production and makes some money. I know of no other industry where people are so willing to work for free, or for cheap, so much. There's a wonderful kind of "we're all in this together" feeling to this. But it can also be a real bummer, as I'd guess some 80% of shows in development never see a production at all. But the fact that we all do it-that we all donate our time and effort to this Gamble Game-there's something inspiring about that.

For example, WHISPER HOUSE has had approximately a 2-year development process from pen touching the page until now. That's relatively short for a new musical. And yet, in that time, countless people have given their time for very little money to help it along in its development. I'm very thankful to these people.

At times I wish the theater industry was built along a different business model, something more like film and TV where there's sizeable money up front. For whatever reason, that's not the case. So I'll keep on playing the Gamble Game-we all will-with fingers crossed.

Kyle - Whisper House Blog 8-03-09

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