Duncan Sheik at Café Carlyle: No Exit for Confessional Rock

Duncan Sheik, composer of the musical, Spring Awakening, a huge hit on Broadway in 2007, takes the Café Carlyle stage this week for a brief run of his original songs. You may remember, the musical is based on a 19th century play about teens discovering their sexuality, portraying rape, suicide and abortion. “If you think it gets more happy and exciting than this,” he said at the opening, after singing some rather eh, moody songs about “losses I must bear,” “don’t hold your breath.” He thanked the audience, including a friend who was celebrating his birthday, for allowing him to test this material, and never thinking he’d be nostalgic for the “halcyon days of the George W. Bush years,” he became political with “Star Field on Red Lines.”

The set was not without romance: Sheik’s “Memento” mentions a girl who “shines like gold,” and in “For You,” he sings, “You are a beautiful girl and I want you to know it.” Backed by a band that includes Jason Hart on piano, harmonium and glockenspiel, and Doug Yowell on drums, he brought Kathryn Gallagher up to the mike with him, accompanying her vocals on guitar. They reminisced a bit about a time in California when they were rehearsing and she was 16, and still a high schooler. Among other songs, she sang a lovely “Afternoon” from Alice by Heart, and  “This is Not an Exit” from American Psycho, which despite a successful 2016 Broadway run, they are still working on, and hoping to revive in London.

He claimed to get the prize for having the most guitars on stage, seven at my count, although he only used three. Of course a great joy of being at the Carlyle is the intimacy of the room, very well suited to Sheik’s confessional rock sound. A guitar fell onto a water glass on a table at stage right. Talk about opening night jitters. When asked whether his guitar was okay, he said sure, “it may have some chocolate cake on it though.”

“Okay, then maybe you’ll get some licks.” He appreciated the joke.

Regina Weinreich

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