Accessibility links
Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Duncan Sheik

Can Pop Musicals Bring New Audiences To Broadway?

Pop singer Sara Bareilles (right) shares a moment with Jessie Mueller, star of the new Broadway musical Waitress, for which Bareilles wrote the score. Pamela Hanson /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Pamela Hanson /Courtesy of the artist

Music News

Can Pop Musicals Bring New Audiences To Broadway?

It's not just Hamilton: Some of the season's biggest shows feature original pop scores, including two written by real-life pop stars Sara Bareilles and Duncan Sheik.

Can Pop Musicals Bring New Audiences To Broadway?

Listen · 5:50
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/474857169/475773313" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Eclectic World Of Duncan Sheik, From Billboard To Broadway

Duncan Sheik's new album, Legerdemain, comes out Oct. 9th. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

The Eclectic World Of Duncan Sheik, From Billboard To Broadway

A one-time pop sensation, the singer and composer made a deft pivot to theater with his Tony-winning music for Spring Awakening. These days, he's exploring the electronic music of his youth.

The Eclectic World Of Duncan Sheik, From Billboard To Broadway

Listen · 7:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/444779540/445751227" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Music Interviews

Duncan Sheik: A Troubadour Turns To Theater

He didn't see it coming when his sensitive crooning launched him to pop fame in 1996. But with one Tony Award-winning musical in the books and another production on the way, his work as a stage composer has put him in the spotlight again.

Duncan Sheik: A Troubadour Turns To Theater

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/99841339/99844580" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World Cafe

The 'White Limousine' from Duncan Sheik

XPN

Widely known for his chart-topping hit "Barely Breathing," Duncan Sheik traverses new ground with White Limousine. Among his most ambitious work to date, the album is innovative in both content and design.

Duncan Sheik in Studio on World Cafe - 01/27/2006

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5175461/5175468" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Duncan Sheik In Concert

Duncan Sheik will perform from the World Cafe Live stage today at noon ET. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

Concerts

Duncan Sheik In Concert

XPN

It's been 15 years since "Barely Breathing," and Sheik hasn't really slowed down. Hear the songwriter and Broadway composer take the Kimmel Center stage in Philadelphia at for a live concert.

Duncan Sheik In Concert

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135808694/135840347" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Duncan Sheik On Mountain Stage

Duncan Sheik and his band. Brian Blauser hide caption

toggle caption
Brian Blauser

Mountain Stage

Duncan Sheik On Mountain Stage

The singer-songwriter first visited Mountain Stage just before the release of "Barely Breathing," his 1996 hit. More than a decade later, he's branched out into chamber-pop and composing for musical theater. He performs songs from his latest, Whisper House.

Duncan Sheik in Concert on Mountain Stage - 04/28/2009

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/103566679/103493021" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Performing Arts

'Spring Awakening' Brings Teen Angst to Broadway

Spring Awakening is winning critical praise as a fresh interpretation of the Broadway musical. Based on a 19th-century play, the angst-ridden teen musical defies convention by dealing with tough topics and raw adolescent feelings.

'Spring Awakening' Brings Teen Angst to Broadway

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7032516/7045592" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Arts & Life

Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik burst onto the music scene in 1997 with his hit single "Barely Breathing," and garnered rave reviews for his own brand of folk-tinged pop music. For his fourth record, Daylight, New York-based Sheik — singer, songwriter, composer, producer and guitarist — dares to rock out a little more than usual. He talks to NPR's Jacki Lyden.

Listen Now

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/860073/99842110" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org