Sheik: Here's the thing: On a very basic level, when I’m working with
Steven, he writes the book and the lyrics. In this instance, I wrote
the lyrics of the show and I would send them to Kyle and some of
those things he tweaked and adjusted because he’s an excellent
lyricist and songwriter himself. In a certain way, we were operating
in more separate universes. I think that working with Steven, Steven
has such a particular lyrical aesthetic. When I work with him, he
starts with the lyrics and he sends me the lyric and I set that to
music. Whereas, working with Kyle, it's kind of the opposite. I
would write the song – write the music and write lyrics – and then
Kyle would respond to that and it would be adjusted from there. In
some ways it’s the opposite kind of process. But they're both very
smart guys with very good ideas. Frankly they have a different
aesthetic and that’s cool, because it’s what makes the world go
round. [laughs]
Chronogram: What did you learn from the creation and execution of
"Spring Awakening" that you either tried to impart to this project or
tried to avoid?
Sheik: In some ways, we were trying to push the envelope further away
from traditional musical theatre even than "Spring Awakening." Kyle
writes musicals and he’s worked in musical theater, but he’s a young
progressive kid from Yale. He is someone who has dealt mainly with
straight plays. First of all, this idea that the actors who are in
the scenes of the play, they're never singing he songs – this is
already a pretty big break from traditional musical theater. There’s
this idea of having a play and within the midst of this play there’s
also a rock concert that happens. And there are two different
universes. There’s definitely an overlap with "Spring Awakening" in
that respect.
Chronogram: Your work in theater has taken us time-traveling, from
19th century Vienna to 1940s coastal Maine. In what era would Duncan
Sheik the singer-songwriter like to spend some time?
Sheik: [laughs] I’ve been in Europe for a few weeks and I spent a
little time in Italy while I was here, specifically in Florence and
then in Venice. I was there for Bienniale. I love the idea,
especially in Florence, of hanging out with Medicis and the Pittis
[wealthy Florentine merchant family]. As a musician, you'd have no
money and you’d ask these people to be your patrons and they’d just
pay you to write songs for them. [laughs] I love that idea.
Chronogram: Where is the musical "The Nightingale" right now?
Sheik: It's very exciting. It's also been a long, winding road,
finally we’ve penciled in a slot at ACT in San Francisco. James
Lapine is directing. Artistic director is very excited. Working with
The Dodgers, who are great producers. We're all assuming this is
going to come together 18 months from now. We’re trying to put
together one more workshop before then. The main thing is we want to
get the show up in that 2010-11 season in San Francisco. I’m just
going to operate as if that’s going to happen. And we’ll see how it
goes.
