There is simply no replicating Tom Hardy. It is difficult to define exactly what makes him so singular, but the actor possesses a bruising, bizarre magnetism that no other leading man can quite match. Back for the second of three currently approved seasons on Paramount+, Hardy brings his unmistakable gravelly intensity to MobLand, giving the crime drama an edge that feels wholly its own. In other words, dust off that Bane impression and celebrate: HARRY DA SOUZA IS BACK.

Hardy again plays Harry Da Souza, the disheveled-looking yet exceptionally capable fixer employed by the Harrigan crime clan. Calling them a family may be generous at this point, though. Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), the calculating patriarch, remains the official boss following his release from prison in the Season 1 finale. Yet his son Kevin (Paddy Considine), the presumed successor, is quietly positioning himself to seize control. With the support of his politically astute wife, Bella (Lara Pulver), Kevin has had enough of his father’s long history of destructive behavior.

Among Conrad’s many betrayals is the truth about Eddie (Anson Boon), the reckless young criminal whose impulsive decisions fueled much of the first season’s carnage. Eddie is Conrad and Bella’s son, though he was presented as Kevin’s. Currently absent from the wider family operation, Eddie remains under the influence of Maeve (Helen Mirren), Conrad’s volatile and deeply unreliable wife. The series has strongly suggested that Maeve abused Eddie in childhood, alongside the traumas suffered by Kevin at the hands of prison guards and Bella at the hands of her father. MobLand does not shy away from dark territory.

Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon), Conrad’s so-called illegitimate daughter, is also eyeing the top job. This episode finds her joining forces with Kat McAllister (Janet McTeer), a formidable American figure whose influence stretches across legitimate business and organized crime. Seraphina has every reason to trust Kat: McAllister once saved her from a cartel boss armed with a chainsaw, repaying a favor owed to Harry. But when Kat tried to cash in that debt by using Harry to engineer a Harrigan takeover, he refused. That decision has left Kat as a growing danger to everyone involved.

Harry’s personal life is hardly less chaotic. He has recovered from being accidentally stabbed in the chest with a steak knife by his frustrated, estranged wife Jan (Joanne Froggatt). Their daughter Gina (Teddie Allen), however, has struck out on her own and is helping her terrible boyfriend Eddie operate a profitable protection scheme targeting streamers and influencers. Maeve very much objects to Gina being around her beloved Eddie. Now that Harry’s trusted lieutenant Zosia (Jasmine Jobson) has located the pair, it is safe to assume he will have plenty to say about it.

His marriage to Jan appears to be nearing its final collapse, too. Harry seems to be well beyond his last chance when he abandons couples counseling to deal with the Harrigans’ newest disaster. Jan finally reaches her limit and hands him divorce papers. Harry meets the news with the same exhausted, faintly incredulous expression he reserves for every crisis, whether he is trying to repair his marriage or eliminate an inconvenient witness.

Conrad’s latest provocation gives Harry another bloody problem to manage. At a dog track meeting with Turkish business partners, Conrad realizes Kevin has gotten ahead of him. His response is characteristically extreme: with Maeve and his chief enforcer Paul (Emmett J. Scanlan) at his side, he murders the entire group. Paul’s unseasoned nephew Fergus, played by Jack Archer, is intentionally kept away from the violence.

Conrad sees only Kevin’s betrayal, convinced his son undermined him by arranging a meeting with Gakbu (Stewart Scudamore), the Turkish group’s leading figure. Harry, however, recognizes that something larger is at work. He has stayed out of Kevin’s attempt to take power, apparently judging his friend’s connections, assets and likelihood of success with clear-eyed realism—and finding them insufficient.

For someone like Gakbu to partner with an uncertain prospect such as Kevin rather than an established operator like Conrad, Harry concludes, another player must have financed the deal. In his mind, there is only one likely culprit: Kat. As the Harrigans turn their guns toward their own allies instead of focusing on their true adversary, Kat is almost certainly enjoying the chaos.

Even so, Harry does what he always does: he carries out Conrad’s command, killing Gakbu and his men despite believing the move is strategically disastrous. He likely has the right read. Conrad and Kevin need to settle their differences and stand together against Kat, the looming American threat. McAllister now carries the political protection of an American ambassadorship, a position once held by her Irish-American political gangster predecessor Joseph Kennedy. More importantly, she has Seraphina ready to act on her behalf.

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But most importantly, she has the help of the Harrigans’ most dedicated enemy, crooked cop Tattersall (the great Toby Jones). He’s hardly the only dirty badge in play here — Harry’s pet cop Finch (Warren Brown) does most of the mopping up after the dog track massacre, for instance. But even as Harry threatens to kill the bartender who witnessed Conrad’s big shoot-em-up to keep the apparently straight detective Kavanah (Ophelia Lovibond) from coming after the family, Tattersall offers to help Kat find a catspaw through whom she can rule the London underworld. That “paladin,” as Tattersall calls him, comes in the form of Frankie (Johnny Flynn), a family man whose non-threatening nature — he’s grilling wieners, for god’s sake — makes him seem really, really threatening indeed.

Written by Esther Watson and showrunner Jez Butterworth, MobLand’s Season 2 premiere is directed by Guy Ritchie, whose other stylish British gangster thriller, The Gentlemen, just dropped its excellent second season earlier this month. Certain comparisons are therefore unavoidable. MobLand lacks The Gentlemen’s satirical intent, its project of depicting the English aristocracy as gangsterism by another name. It also eschews that show’s emphasis on grand visuals — romantic vistas of the English countryside, screenshot-worthy costuming, gunfights in luscious low light.

Thematically and visually, MobLand is a lower-stakes concern. It’s also less obviously a black comedy, being more of an action thriller drama that’s funny. What it really has going for it is its powerhouse cast, toplined by charisma machines Hardy, Brosnan, and Mirren. You can say whatever you want about Hardy’s mushmouthed machismo, Brosnan’s foul-mouthed Irish gangster caricaturing, and…whatever it is Helen Mirren is doing with that accent. I say to hell with it, and I say the three performances are fun as all get-out. 

Hardy in particular marvelously understates Harry’s menace. He presents abduction, torture, and murder as enormous inconveniences he’s desperate to avoid, rather than grave moral questions he’s fully prepared to answer in the negative. That reaction is both amusing and, when you stop to think about it, terrifying. No wonder this guy’s daughter wished her mom had done a better job stabbing him. 

Now that I think about it, though, I do wonder about the guy. Why does Harry Da Souza prize his loyalty to some idea of the Harrigans above the reality — the backstabbing, the lying, the abuse, the senseless violence he himself helps commit even as he realizes how senseless it is — above his own happiness, and that of the family he supposedly loves more than anything? Why does this man continue serving a system that has done nothing but harm to himself and everyone and everything he cares about?

Huh. Maybe MobLand is asking harder, deeper questions than I thought.

Sean T. Collins (@seantcollins.com on Bluesky and theseantcollins on Patreon) has written about television for The New York Times, Vulture, Rolling Stone, and elsewhere. He is the author of Pain Don’t Hurt: Meditations on Road House. He lives with his family on Long Island.

Iran’s sanctioned Persian Gulf Straits Authority (PGSA) briefly restored secure internet access for four days after a Shanghai-based cybersecurity company issued — and later withdrew — its website credentials, according to global internet monitors. The access allowed Tehran to screen vessels, process Strait of Hormuz tolls and keep maritime operations running despite U.S. digital sanctions.

TrustAsia granted the certificate through an automated domain-validation system, a standard method that confirms a party controls a web domain through server-based checks. The process generally does not require human review, detailed due diligence or background screening.

The episode has raised compliance concerns among U.S. sanctions specialists. Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, said TrustAsia should reassess its compliance safeguards before providing additional services to the maritime authority, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Paner warned the firm to address the issue “before it is too late.”

The PGSA first said its website was disrupted Aug. 10 because of “the enemy’s political influence on the internet service provision systems,” according to a post on X.

NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker told News Media that the PGSA had lost its web-security credentials after being added to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list on May 27.

Without conventional SSL/TLS certificates, the PGSA website could not be reached through ordinary web browsers, Toker said. Shipping companies were instead pushed toward unencrypted connections, potentially exposing their data to interception.

No known data breaches have been tied to those connections, and there have been no reported cases of a shipping company suffering harm after its information was intercepted because the certificate expired. Still, Toker said the loss of secure access pushed users toward what he called “insecure protocols.”

“The digital transparency records are authoritative on this,” he said, arguing that the change forced traffic into a format that could be intercepted with relative ease.

“This is a class of vulnerability open to government exploitation, rather than a corporate breach or personal data leak.”

Toker said the vulnerability could give authorities greater ability to review communications sent through the platform and potentially identify shipping companies working with the PGSA.

“The net result was that the website was more difficult to access, because most web browsers strongly encourage the use of secure HTTPS,” Toker said, adding that any form submissions could have been easily “eavesdropped on because they’re no longer encrypted in transit.” 

“The mentioned issue has been resolved, and the secure domain https://pgsa.ir is now once again available for submitting requests using any browser,” the PGSA said six days later on Aug. 17 and in another post shared on X. 

“If the issue recurs in the future, the HTTP domain will again be temporarily available using the Firefox browser.”

Toker confirmed that Iran had turned to Shanghai-based certificate authority TrustAsia Technologies, which he said issued new digital security credentials to the PGSA despite the U.S. sanctions and restoring secure access to its website. 

“Iran’s IRGC extorts vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz through the so-called Persian Gulf Strait Authority,” the Treasury Department said in May when designating the entity, adding that the PGSA “spearheads an Iranian-controlled scheme that flagrantly violates international law and U.S. sanctions.”

“Anyone cooperating with the so-called strait authority may be providing support to and receiving services from the IRGC, which ultimately benefits from this attempted extortion, and may therefore be exposed to sanctions risk,” the Treasury Department warned.

The Chinese firm bills itself as a “leading and professionally certified certification authority in China with its focus on trusted, secure and cryptographic communications in the digital world.”

Its mission, it says, is to “Build trust everywhere in the digital world.”

“Almost all of these root authorities do business with the U.S., so they tend to comply with U.S. sanctions,” Toker said.

But TrustAsia, he noted, had “gone its own way, building a China-first certificate infrastructure that sidesteps the West.”

Toker said TrustAsia had “simply gone ahead and issued Iran’s PGSA with a new certificate, and Iran was once again collecting revenue from ships passing the Strait via its secure online portal.”

Paner warned that U.S. authorities would have enforcement powers over such actions.

“The U.S. has incredibly broad authority to impose sanctions on non-Iranian companies that provide any sorts of services to sanctioned Iranian companies,” he told News Media.

“Many times, that authority will be abbreviated or explained as being providers of material support to sanctioned Iranian companies. But in fact, any level of services whatsoever could be the basis for the United States imposing sanctions against the company for providing services to Iran.”

“Restoration of the certificate is unequivocally sanctionable,” Paner warned.

“Restoring the certificate is/was a service provided to the PGSA, which can be the basis for imposing sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended.

“That authority does not in any way require that the service be “knowingly” provided to the PGSA. In other words, the automated nature of the service is irrelevant and does not make the service any less sanctionable,” the lawyer added.

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In a statement to News Media on Aug 20, a spokesperson for TrustAsia confirmed that the firm issued a “Domain Validated TLS certificate for pgsa.ir.”

“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention,” the firm said before clarifying that “DV certificates are issued through automated validation of control over the requested domain names.”

“This process does not verify or assert the legal identity, affiliation, or sanctions status of the entity operating or benefiting from the domain.

“As a result, the relationship described in your inquiry was not identified during the automated issuance process.” Following the firm’s review, TrustAsia said it “added the entire pgsa.ir domain namespace to our restricted-issuance list to prevent further issuance or renewal. “

“We also expect to complete revocation of the existing certificate within this week,” the spokesman said on Aug. 20.

These actions are precautionary compliance and risk-control measures. They should not be interpreted as a finding that the certificate was technically misissued, TrustAsia said.

Toker confirmed the TrustAsia certificate’s privilege had been withdrawn on Aug. 21 at 12:15:25 UTC. “This usually means the issuer has taken action,” he said.

The internet expert clarified that the revocation will gradually be coming into effect, with the firm “signaling that the PGSA certificate should no longer be trusted, and they’re distributing this notice that privilege is withdrawn, usually meaning customer misuse or breached terms of use.”

“The secure website will stop working in most browsers, unless the owners can find a certificate authority that’s willing to issue a new certificate,” Toker said.

After reviewing TrustAsia’s statement, Paner also said that OFAC would expect the company to “use the discovery as an opportunity to enhance its compliance program before it is too late.”

The former OFAC official clarified that Iran’s revenue collection in the waterway would likely draw high-level scrutiny in Washington.

“Iran’s attempt to extort the world in the movement of oil through the Strait of Hormuz is of the utmost importance to OFAC, which is the agency that implements and enforces U.S. economic sanctions.

Because major U.S. web browsers currently recognize TrustAsia’s root certificates, American systems would have automatically trusted the sanctioned Iranian portal.

Toker claimed the Treasury Department could have found TrustAsia in violation of sanctions for providing material assistance to a blocked entity, potentially forcing tech giants such as Google and Microsoft to revoke trust in TrustAsia.

There is no evidence that this process had begun or was likely to occur.

“This could have splintered the global chain of trust and potentially render much of the Chinese web inaccessible from the West,” Toker warned.

Paner clarified that the certificates authenticate the site, boosting its credibility, and suggested TrustAsia should have weighed the risks of working with sanctioned entities.

“There’s always reputational risk involved in any company that decides to do business with the IRGC.”

“If I were advising TrustAsia, I would at minimum immediately identify all other IRGC companies receiving services.”

Paner added that this latest situation aligned with broader warnings from administration officials.

“I think this dovetails pretty nicely with Secretary Bessent’s comments about how the coming sanctions are going to be unlike any that has come prior. Sanctions require a careful balancing of the costs and the benefits.

“When it’s a Chinese tech company providing necessary services to the IRGC, I’m confident that the U.S. government is going to forego any sort of balancing in that regard.”

The United States on Aug. 24 had sanctioned nearly 60 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels and expanded the threat of secondary sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. These did not include TrustAsia.

Bessent described the measures as part of an “economic onslaught” targeting Tehran’s global financial networks under “Operation Economic Outcast.” 

A Chinese Embassy spokesperson also said in a statement: “I am not aware of the specifics you mentioned. I have no information to provide.”

News Media reached out to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and The White House for comment.

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik has died at the age of 56, just hours after reports emerged that he had been hospitalized in New York City in critical condition.

Sheik, best known for his 1996 breakthrough single Barely Breathing, died of organ failure on Wednesday, according to a moving statement issued by a spokesman.

The statement said: ‘It is with profound sadness that we confirm the passing of Duncan Sheik.

‘The world has lost a singular talent and a deeply influential voice in music and theater.

‘From his Grammy-nominated hit Barely Breathing to his groundbreaking, Tony and Grammy Award-winning work on Spring Awakening, Duncan’s artistry touched many and leaves an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.

‘Duncan was a father, husband, son, brother, and friend. He will be remembered for the sensitivity, wit, intelligence, and depth of spirit he brought to those who knew and loved him.

‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love from his fans, friends, collaborators, and the artistic community.

‘His musical legacy will continue to inspire generations to come. Duncan passed away last night surrounded by love.’

Sheik is survived by his wife, Nora Ariffin, and their 7-year-old daughter Ines. 

As well as his recording career, Sheik’s adaptation of Spring Awakening racked up a number of Tony Award wins in 2007, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations.

His death comes hours after his team revealed he was in ‘critical but stable condition’ in an Instagram statement.

The statement continued: ‘We kindly ask for privacy during this incredibly difficult time and will provide updates when appropriate. Thank you for the continued love and support.’

It was not clear what specific health issue had caused the performer to be taken in for medical care.  

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Sheik.

Barely Breathing reached the 16th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 55 weeks in a row on the chart. 

The track was from his self-titled debut album, which also featured the singles She Runs Away and Reasons for Living.

Sheik has had a busy career as a solo artist, having put out nine studio albums, as well as a composer.

Sheik penned the score for Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival in 2002, which marked the beginning of his endeavors in composing. 

He won the Grammy in 2008 for Best Musical Show Album for Spring Awakening (along with Steven Sater). 

An off-Broadway production of Spring Awakening is slated to begin running at the venue Studio Seaview in coming months.

Previews for the limited engagement show are slated to commence on November 27, with opening night slated for December 17 and the final show slated for February 14. The production is based on a Manga written by Moyoco Anno. 

Sheik also has worked on an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel and film American Psycho, which debuted in London in 2013 and on Broadway three years later.

Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2016, he spoke about his artistic mentality in adapting the macabre production.

‘There’s a version of American Psycho that you could do that is campy, kitschy and incredibly broad and comic,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t interested in that. I wanted it to be a little deeper and more ambiguous weird and strange and, hopefully, beautiful.’

Sheik spoke about the difference of being a solo artist and musical composer in a 2017 chat with Hartford Stage, saying he was satisfied in blending the ‘ability to make music’ with elements such as ‘set designers, light designers, narrative [and] choreography.’

He added: ‘All these other elements that combine together to make a powerful experience on the stage.

‘As a recording/touring artist, I was never at the place where I could afford to tour with the extra trucks full of stuff. It is great to experience the music with all the trappings.’

Sheik told Local Life SC in 2017 that he felt there are ‘two kinds of happiness.

He said: ‘There’s a surface kind of happiness – ‘Oh, I’ve made a lot of money or I won an award,’ and that’s fine. But I’m always searching for a deeper happiness that’s about creating value, doing something that moves other people and being part of a community. That takes work, and I do my best.’

He added that ‘creating value in the world can help you find a deeper happiness.’

The wife of one of the world’s wealthiest men has emerged as a behind-the-scenes force in Michigan athletics, with her alleged role in the firing of former football coach Sherrone Moore sparking conflicting accounts.

Jolin Ellison, the sixth wife of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, graduated from the Ann Arbor school in 2012 with a degree in international studies. She and her husband are among Michigan’s biggest Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL, contributors, giving roughly $10 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

After Michigan’s 24-22 victory over Northwestern on Nov. 15, Moore told a colleague that athletic director Warde Manuel had informed him Jolin would stop donating unless the coach was fired.

Jolin disputed that claim.

“I was contributing to Michigan athletics at the time and continued afterward, regardless of the change in head coach,” she told the publication. 

Moore was ultimately fired on Dec. 10 over an alleged affair with staffer Paige Shriver. He was later arrested on charges of home invasion, stalking and breaking and entering.

Jolin said she did meet with Manuel weeks before Moore’s dismissal and told him that, if the rumors were confirmed, she did not believe Moore should remain Michigan’s coach.

CBS Sports reported last year that the alleged relationship between Moore and Shriver was considered the “worst-kept secret” within the football program.

Manuel declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal on the allegations.

Moore also told former colleagues that Jolin was unusually involved with the team, alleging that she “frequently called and texted him.”

Ex-staffers told the outlet that Jolin reached out more than any other booster.

Moore reportedly became so miffed by the development that he made one staffer her go-to contact, and she allegedly conversed about the team’s play.

Jolin countered that she sent Moore three texts between September and December of last year: two congratulatory messages after wins and one other unspecified note. She told the outlet she may have called him once.

“I certainly did not question or advise any Michigan coaches about in-game play-calling after every game,” she told the publication.

Jolin’s influence within the football program goes back even further.

Her foray into booster status reportedly began during Michigan’s 2023 champion season when she emailed the school’s NIL group, Champions Circle.

She later received credit for helping flip former No. 1 prospect Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU in 2024 for an NIL deal worth at least $10 million.

The Wall Street Journal said that deal is worth $3 million per season and that recruiting win was considered transformational for the program.

After Michigan landed Underwood, Champions Circle thanked Jolin.

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Michigan is spending roughly $36 million-40 million on its 2026 roster, according to The Athletic, which ranks inside the top 15 in the sport.

“We are very excited to keep Bryce home in Michigan as he continues to build his legacy,” Champions Circle said in a December 2024 statement. “I want to personally thank Larry and his wife Jolin who were instrumental in making this happen by providing Champions Circle with invaluable guidance and financial resources.

“Jolin, a proud Michigan alum, shared ‘I am a big fan of the University of Michigan and Michigan Athletics. We are excited to support our student-athletes, so they can go compete at the highest level in college sports.’”

Jolin has also aided the national-title winning men’s basketball team, reportedly donating $1 million to the team’s approximate $12 million budget last year.

Forrmer coach Dusty May — now the head coach of the Mavericks — told the WSJ that Jolin asked him about recruiting and team development during an event at her family’s Florida estate earlier this year.

Former Michigan staffers told the publication that she helped land other Michigan stars, hosted young players for workout and food and even texted feedback to employees.

“The coaches decide which players they want, how they want to run the team,” Jolin told the Wall Street Journal, “and we as Michigan supporters help support their efforts.”

Champions Circle co-founder and CEO Jared Wangler lauded Jolin for her efforts.

“A woman without a traditional athletics background becoming actively involved in a part of college sports historically dominated by older white men should be celebrated, not viewed with suspicion,” he told the outlet. “I hope her example inspires more people from different backgrounds to get involved.”

Beyond donations to the school’s elite athletic department, Jolin has taken on an important behind-the-scenes roll that has her among the who’s who of Wolverines backers.

Larry, the world’s seventh-richest person with a net worth of $192 billion, per Forbes, reportedly held a May barbecue at his Palm Beach County, Fla. estate that featured prominent Michigan figures.

Jolin hosted a meeting that day that included Larry, Manuel, board of regents members and the school’s top donor, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, per the WSJ.

Regent Michael Behm told the outlet that Jolin proposed creating what the Wall Street Journal described as “a semi-independent entity to pay the university for the use of certain assets, such as premium seating, as a way to raise revenue for athletes.”

They also reportedly discussed placing more premium seating within Michigan Stadium, the home of the football team, and the Crisler Center, the home of the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Behm told the publication that as a public university, though, Michigan does not sell university assets in such manners.

That Jolin would be pitching such ideas shows how fast she has risen in quick time after leaving China to attend the Big Ten school earlier this century.

Jolin told the outlet that sports did not have much of a hold on her in her younger days, but they grew on her after beginning college.

Larry has no known ties to the university aside from his wife, per the outlet.

“I went to my first Michigan football game in Ann Arbor, and for some mysterious reason, I fell in love with it,” she told the WSJ.

She added: “I’m a fan, not a coach or an investor. I support Michigan because I want the team to win—not because I expect anything in return.”

Duncan Sheik, the Tony Award-winning composer of “Spring Awakening” and the singer-songwriter known for the hit “Barely Breathing,” has died at 56, according to a post on his Instagram account.

A statement posted Friday morning said the “father, husband, son, brother, and friend” died Thursday night while “surrounded by love.”

Earlier this week, Sheik’s family shared a message on his Instagram saying that he was receiving medical care and was in critical but stable condition.

“The world has lost a singular talent, and deeply influential voice in music and theater,” Friday’s statement said. “From his Grammy-nominated hit ‘Barely Breathing’ to his groundbreaking, Tony and Grammy Award-winning work on Spring Awakening, Duncan’s artistry touched many and leaves an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.”

Born Nov. 18, 1969, in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheik broke through in 1996 with his self-titled debut album, which featured “Barely Breathing.”

The song reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Sheik a Grammy nomination for best male pop vocal performance.

He followed his debut with the albums “Humming” in 1998, “Phantom Moon” in 2001 and “Daylight” in 2002.

Though “Barely Breathing” made Sheik a prominent singer-songwriter, he later broadened his career into musical theater and found major success as a composer.

Working with lyricist Steven Sater, Sheik composed the music for “Spring Awakening,” which opened on Broadway in 2006.

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In a 2015 interview with Broadcast Music, Inc., Sheik said that while creating the score for “Spring Awakening,” he was not “a huge fan” of the music then being made for Broadway. He said he wanted to create music that could reach an audience “beyond the normal crowd that would go to a Broadway musical.”

The rock musical, based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play and starring Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele and John Gallagher, became a major success. It won eight Tony Awards in 2007, including best musical, best original score and best orchestrations.

He went on to compose music for several other stage productions, including “American Psycho,” “Because of Winn-Dixie” and more. He also collaborated with Sater again on “Alice by Heart” and “The Secret Life of Bees.”

In his interview with Broadcast Music, Inc., he added that working on musical theater has “helped broaden my palette.”

Sheik went on to release several more albums throughout his career, including “White Limousine,” “Whisper House,” “Covers 80s,” “Legerdemain” and “Claptrap.”

In May, it was announced that Sheik’s new musical, “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” would make its off-Broadway debut this fall. The musical is based on Moyoco Anno’s manga graphic novel of the same name.

In a statement shared in a press release, Sheik said he was “a bit flummoxed” about writing the score about a famous manga, but was ultimately “excited to help put this work in front of an audience.“