WHISPER HOUSE: 83% Sweet – UPDATED

Photos: Top: Holly Brook and David Poe. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

BITTER
Composer Duncan Sheik’s voice, which entered the world of stage tuners with a roar in 2004′s “Spring Awakening,” is reduced to a whisper in “Whisper House,” the somnolent chamber musical now world premiering at the Old Globe. Sheik’s sophomore slump doesn’t mean his vastly popular, Tony-winning debut was a fluke. But it does suggest he needs to peg his distinctive repertoire to a stronger story than the anemic narrative penned by collaborator Kyle Jarrow.
Bob Verini – Variety

SWEET
“Whisper House” moves perilously yet thrillingly to its own unique beat. What excites me about the musical is the way it reaches for poetry. In an age of shamelessly commercial blockbusters, this is every bit as noteworthy as a return from the dead.
Charles McNulty – LA Times

SWEET
The Old Globe in San Diego has a reputation as a hotbed of new musical development and Whisper House, their third ’world premier’ musical in seven months, shows why. The production shines as brightly as the namesake lighthouse in which it is set, although it is in many ways non-traditional. A ghost story musical? A musical with only two singers? A 1940s musical without any swing music? All unusual decisions, yet the pieces come together in rock solid fashion.
Steve Heyl – EdgeLosAngeles

SWEET
Foggiano’s is another credible performance. In his hands, Christopher is neither too brash nor too grown up. A bit more fear at the bumps in the night (to say nothing of aircraft fire) might be in order. The central conceit of Jarrow’s script, of course, suggests that the world is a terrifying place whether you’re out on a vulnerable beach or in the, ahem!, safe haven of a lighthouse. When once helpful ghosts wear out their usefulness, you may simply have to send them away and look to your own devices to get through. In other words, Christopher picked a devil of a time to have to grow up. All of this is, as noted, rather superficially played, but Poe and Brook’s ghosts and the music of Duncan Sheik, make this evening at the very least an entertaining one.
Evan Henerson – CurtainUp (With Additional Thoughts by New York to San Diego Transplanted Critic Jenny Sandman)

SWEET
When Whisper House’s narrative turned to the historical implications of WWII, I was captivated. Because Lilly runs a lighthouse, the government calls on her to turn off the light and endanger approaching enemy U-boats; as Lieutenant Rando proudly explains, war makes us cogs in this “great” American machine. But as Lilly and her nephew learn, this duty to our country often comes to the detriment of personal relationships and humanity itself. This theme, which already has clear contemporary relevance, could be made all the more powerful by linking the ghosts to a historical strand, rather than simply a thwarted personal romance on a superstitious Halloween night. Whisper House has all the necessary ingredients to provoke thought about how the violent spectres of the past continue to haunt us today. With a bit of further development, Kyle Jarrow and Duncan Sheik will have achieved a truly remarkable new piece of musical theater.
Sarah Taylor Ellis – Compositions on Theatre

SWEET
A review can only begin to suggest the eerie enchantment of Whisper House. If those vocalizing ghosts play their cards right, this show could easily go on to become a cult classic. Clearly, Spring Awakening was only the beginning of singer-songwriter Sheik’s theatrical magic.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA