Picking Spring Storm as the image for my review of Spring Awakening was a pretty obvious choice. Yes, the colors are a bit bright for a show as dark as this one (but more on that later) but the general "sturm and drang" feelings comes through pretty well I think. So--on with the review!-
To me, the most interesting aspect of Spring Awakening is the backstory: written in 1893 the play was so shocking that it was only allowed one performance--and not performed again until 1917. After a very short run the play mostly faded into obscurity into a musical version was brought to Broadway and won several Tony Awards in 2007. I think Spring Awakening is still running in NYC and I finally saw the first National Tour on Saturday November 28.
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I won't really get into the plot of the show (because there really isn't that much to it) but I will tell you Spring Awakening explores themes of sexual awakening, child abuse, "throwaway children", CYA schools and "shift the blame" parents. All the characters are, in one way or another, flawed--whether through fault of their own or as products of their upbringing. The whole story is soaked in teen angst and melodrama that I've seen a million times before. Still, judging by the reaction of most of the audience maybe I'm the one out-of-step: I DEFINITELY am not the target audience for this show.
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Maybe I was grumpy at the PAC who brought new highs (lows) to Customer DISservice or maybe I couldn't get past the technical problems of the show. (A couple of the leads were badly miked so I found it difficult to understand a lot of what they were saying.) Add that most of the male cast was wearing identical uniforms and I found I couldn't tell the Players without a Score Card (but that's my vision issue and I can't fault the show for that.) The music, partially penned by "one hit wonder" Duncan Sheik (himself the son of "one hit wonder Jonathan Edwards) was serviceable rock anthems that failed to stir my soul.
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In the end I can honestly say I'm glad I saw the show but can't really say I enjoyed it. I'm simply going to have to accept that shows like Spring Awakening are the future of Broadway. Lush, "happily-ever-after" musicals a la Rogers and Hammerstein don't fly with the younger generation and big-budget spectacles like the epics created by Andrew Lloyd Webber simply can't get staged for economic reasons. For the theater to flourish it needs to adapt and change with the times: that means more "cross branding" (the endless Disney musicals and "juke box" spectaculars) or shows that cost less to produce.
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FINAL GRADE: B-
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