So this is why it won the Tony...
I originally borrowed this CD from a friend and played it in the car on the way to work... then again and again... Reading the liner notes, I got the plot of the play down and could put the songs in context. But most of them stand on their own, as passionate pop-play songs, with interesting melodies, empassioned vocals, and that all-important factor: sing-along-bility.
I've since purchased my own copy and love it. The play is coming to my town next month and I cannot wait to it and experience the songs in their true context.

The awakening of songwriter Duncan Sheik
The awakening of songwriter Duncan Sheik
by Jason W. Lloren
(Published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 9, 2007)

Duncan Sheik walks into a Starbucks in Menlo Park and instead of a coffee he grabs two bottles, a sparkling mineral water and a mixed juice. He settles down at a table and mixes the two into a plastic cup.

"I think I have the market cornered on Pellegrino and Odwalla," jokes Sheik, taking a short break from a recent theater workshop a few blocks away in Palo Alto.

It's the kind of creative alchemy that has worked successfully for the 37-year-old New York singer-songwriter.

In the past decade, Sheik, a practicing Buddhist, has released a string of pop-rock albums that combine brittle balladry ("She Runs Away") with literate optimism ("On a High"); scored films, including 2004's "A Home at the End of the World" with Colin Farrell; and written a diverse range of music for the stage.

Now he can add a new title to his name: Broadway composer.

In November, "Spring Awakening," a collaboration with writer-lyricist Steven Sater, premiered at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre to critical praise. Merging power-chord anthems and gentle rock monologues with a 1891 German play about youthful sexual discovery and frustration, "Spring Awakening" stands out among the recent "jukebox musicals" and adaptations that have hit the stage, such as "Jersey Boys," "Legally Blonde," "Movin' Out" and "High Fidelity."

And with such provocative song titles as "Totally F -- " and "The Bitch of Living," the musical is not standard Broadway fare. Nonetheless, Sheik says, everyone from "15-year-old girls and 75-year-old couples" have been attending the show. "So I know that ... something's happening there that's relatively universal."

"Spring Awakening" is not the only stage project keeping Sheik busy. He and Sater participated in the TheatreWorks workshop to fine-tune their adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's short story "The Nightingale." Unlike "Spring Awakening," it's not a rock musical.

Rather, Sheik says, it's a "really elegant chamber piece" with a string quartet, woodwinds and harp. "So from the standpoint of instrumentation, it might be more traditional than 'Spring Awakening,' " he says.

"The Nightingale" is the third theater collaboration Sheik and Sater have developed sporadically over the past half-decade. Last spring, their work "Nero (Another Golden Rome)" was staged at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco.

Unlike either "Spring Awakening" or "The Nightingale," "Nero" is "more of a play with music" than a full-blown musical, Sheik says.

The one constant through these three collaborations, he says, is how he and Sater work together -- by working separately.

"Our collaborative process is probably a little bit odd and eccentric," Sheik says. "Steven sits in his room and writes lyrics and writes the book. And I sit in my room, and I take a lyric that he sent me and I set it to music. And we're never in the same room together until we were at the theater."

For the Grammy-nominated singer, who's perhaps more widely known for his solo work starting with his breakout 1996 hit "Barely Breathing," bringing his music sensibility to the stage has met some hurdles.

"What's really a challenge is to make guitars and drums work onstage," he says, "because the nature of rock music is that it's meant to be really loud and visceral. And the nature of theater, especially Broadway kind of theater and musicals, is that you're meant to hear every word. ... So you have to balance these two demands."

In addition, as a solo artist, he also had to adjust to the collaborative nature of theater -- dealing with the "really intense visions," he says, of the director, the choreographer, the actors, even the lighting director.

"It was kinda like, 'Well, this is my music and this is my song and this is how I want it to sound and I could care less what you think,' " Sheik says. "And I learned really quickly that that approach doesn't work in the theater."

Despite some of the difficulty involved in putting together a Broadway show, Sheik says it has produced great personal rewards for him.

"It's the most fulfilling creative experience of my entire life," he says. "I love this idea of telling a great story and then using music to help the narrative expand ... in its emotional depth."

Outside of his stage work, 2006 was already a busy year for Sheik. He started the year by releasing his fifth CD, "White Limousine" and ended it by putting out "Brighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology," which includes his best-of and other rarities, like a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark."

Somewhere in there, he and his band found time to tour.

"We did 150 shows over the course of about 15 months. ... It was too much," he says wearily. Then he laughs: "I was over it."

The forthcoming year promises to keep Sheik on a busy schedule. He'll continue to promote "Spring Awakening," including a Feb. 21 appearance with the show's cast on thee "Late Show With David Letterman."

His next film work includes scoring actress Mary Stuart Materson's directorial debut "The Cake Eaters." Sheik believes the film will make the indie-film circuit later this year.

He also continues to focus some of his energy on solo work. He plans a much smaller tour -- probably 20 shows this year -- and a covers album with a personal twist. It'll be an album of '80s songs from what he calls "English art-pop bands," like the Cure, the Smiths, Tears for Fears and Psychedelic Furs. His plan is to make "morose, sad, melancholic versions" of their songs.

[...]

"Not that they're not already morose in their own way," he jokes. "I'm gonna really bring it down."

###

Don't judge till you have seen the show!!
I have read many of the reviews of SA here and I must say...to all those who have ripped apart an absolutely amazing show...get off your couch and go see it before you say it is garbage or trash or asking what has Broadway become...you are the same people who ripped apart another amazing and Tony winning show..In the Heights....If you actually do a little research, you would learn that SA the Musical is based on a German play from 1892...A time in which sex and talking about sex was taboo...This is the same time period in which Ibsen wrote a Doll's House and Chekhov wrote Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard...this is the time period during and coming out of the Victorian age...Now...I have seen the show on Broadway...and sat in the onstage seats...and I will also say that those are the best seats in the house...the actors sitting within a few feet of you...you can see the emotion on their faces....This show takes the story of 1892...and juxtaposes it with the modern rock style music of today....It connects teens and adults alike to the story....The topic of teens coming into their sexual awakening is just as prevalent today as it was over 100 years ago... I have taught the play version of Spring Awakening and the musical version alike to college students...and the overwhelmingly positive response speaks for itself...The music is moving and the lyrics are catchy...So, if you haven't had a chance to see this really great show...it is touring...starting in January...or better yet...GO SEE IT ON BROADWAY!! And to those who believe that this is crap and that Rodgers and Hammerstein are the gods of theatre....even R&H were at one time considered to be controversial and taboo...they wrote about controversial topics in turbulent times...just look at The King and I or South Pacific... In closing, I hope this review opened some of your eyes to the touching and heartfelt world of Spring Awakening!!!

Not Just for Youth
I have yet to see the musical SPRING AWAKENING (but am planning to see it February 2009 when it comes to the Fox in St. Louis). However, I have a friend whose favorite musical is SPRING AWAKENING and he recently gave me the soundtrack to listen to. I have to admit that I really enjoy it. The songs are sung in a variety of genres, but mainly have a pop-rock ballad feel to them. Many of the songs are very moving and have an emotional depth beyond just the context of the show for which they were written. My favorites include

#1 "Mamma Who Bore Me"--a bluesy folk song of remembrance. Many of my female friends have cited this as their favorite song on the album.

#3 "All That's Known"--a moving song of hopeful ambition. It sums up a young person's desire to learn, explore, and change the world.

#4 "The B*tch of Living"--a rock song that has clear references to pleasuring oneself. However, the song also is about the frustrations everyone feels in life of being in a place or position and not being able to do anything to change it.

#5 "My Junk"--a beautiful pop ballad about the love between two people.

#11 "I Believe"--an optimistic chorus of hope

#16 "Totally F*cked"--a pop-rock anthem embodying the disillusionment that happens when blind optimism meets with the harsh realities of life.

#19 "Those You've Known"--this song reflects what happens to a person after they've gone through the first major disillusionments of their life and what it takes to keep moving forward.

I'm sure most of those who have seen the show will enjoy the album, but it's also a good album if you just enjoy good music.

Eep!!!
So basically there are too many reviews for me to actually make a substantial comment about this CD that other people haven't.

I've seen the show around 10 times in the last 2 months. Enough said. As a 19 year old it is something wonderful and fresh for me to watch. The show and the score have a message to deliver - every single time you click play on this CD you can delve further into it uncovering themes and messages you may have missed the past 201392 times you listened to it. In an age where the stage is dominated by MTV's Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and happy [sometimes meaningless] scores - this is a diamond in the rough.

As the Original Broadway Cast is now... ::sniff:: gone, this little gem is something to hold onto forever.

However one comment must be made about this CD. While it is absolutely fantastic - it is in NO WAY a replacement for seeing the show. The Song of Purple Summer has been drastically re-written that delivers a harmony this CD cannot possibly provide. Many songs have been altered and, to be completely honest - though it is rare to find now-a-days - the singers are two thousand times more incredible live than they are on this recording. Some of the belting and harmonies just cannot do justice by listening to the CD. So make sure to see the show.