emmagrant01: (Spring Awakening)
[personal profile] emmagrant01
I saw Spring Awakening last night, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I've seen so, so many musicals in the last few years, and it's been a long time since I've walked into a theatre and not known anything about what I was about to see. And then was blown away. I mean seriously, OMG. I'd heard a little buzz that the soundtrack was awesome and that this was the new Rent, but it affected me much more than I expected it to.

Spring Awakening was a play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891, and it focused on teen angst in a small German town in the late 19th century. And perhaps not surprisingly, the angst in the play is utterly and completely relevant to the 21st century. So they took this play and set it to a pop-rock score, and the result is this fantastic musical. The energy of the songs and the cast has this feeling of being barely-contained, like they're all so full of life and excitement (and hormones) that they just might burst. And oh it blew me away! It affected me so much that I couldn't stop thinking about it, and even dreamed about it last night.

The rest is spoilery, just to warn you. I mean seriously -- SPOILERS!

One of the big themes seemed to be that of schools teaching kids fairly useless information, while the adults in their lives withhold the information they really need to know, particularly about sexuality. The one who knows the truth about sexuality is Melchior, the main character, but his attempts to share what he knows end in tragedy -- though not before truly spectacular sex scenes, heh. But that whole idea was really mesmerizing to me, especially when his distraught mother said she couldn't bring herself to punish her son for speaking the truth.

Wendla was heartbreaking in so many ways. The actress who plays her is beautiful, sort of an amalgam of Natalie Portman and Idina Menzel, and her first appearance on stage in a see-through white frock was visually enthralling. She was so incredibly fragile too, and walked this perfect line between being a child and being a woman. All of the actors in the show looked so young that it was nearly shocking at times, but the characters they're portraying are supposed to be mid-teens, so it makes sense.

I was fascinated that the show played with so many themes that the characters themselves didn't know what to do with, like kink, homosexuality, and masturbation. Except for Melchior, none of them quite knew what they were doing, but they were doing what felt good to them. That idea, that without all the trappings of a culture that would simultaneously grant and deny teens access to sexuality, teens would find their own way innocently to the things that work for them. Only Melchior knew that what they were doing was considered "wrong", and that knowledge brought him guilt and sorrow. Of course, it brought some of the others death, so maybe he came out the better for it anyway. The power and importance of knowledge was a big theme, though, and in Wendla's case was brought home almost too strongly.

The sex scene between Melchior and Wendla was incredibly sexy for all of its adolescent fumbling and innocence ,accented by its taking place on what seemed to be a large playground swing, pushed by the other kids. I loved the fact that the second act started with it again, right under the minister's sermon. It had the effect of making us watch it again and think about what it really meant the second time, since the first time we were all distracted by the sight of Melchior's bare ass. (Or I was, anyway.)

Moritz was so nearly paralyzed by everything he was feeling that it was comical, but also a great metaphor for damage the lack of information can actually do. It was really telling that the adults in his life plotted to abandon him and then chose to pin his suicide on Melchior, who was an easy target. Though I have to say the song in that scene, "Totally fucked", was one of the most perfectly placed songs in the show. All of the songs were amazing that way, how they captured anger and energy and hopefulness and despair, and were delivered as if the kids were fronting a punk band in a dingy dive somewhere, just happening to be wearing 19th century clothing. Gah, amazing!

The songs in the first half felt stronger than those in the second, but the story took such a dark turn in the second half that it could just be that I was more distracted by the story then. I loved the fact that a single man and woman played all of the adult characters in the show, as if all adults, regardless of what they say and do, are the same for teenagers.

I have so much more I could say, but I don't have much time. I just felt the need to squee about it a little! And I'm going to buy the soundtrack next chance I get. :-D

Date: 2007-04-16 01:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dorrie6.livejournal.com
This question might seem kind of random, but my mom has a student who is going to auditions for this show, and is looking for something appropriate to sing. I haven't heard the score, so I'm not sure what to suggest. Are there particular songs or artists that strike you as having songs/styles similar to the score?

Date: 2007-04-16 02:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dorrie6.livejournal.com
You know, you don't need to answer this, because I just followed the link to the website that you so helpfully provided, and that plus the iTunes store has given me a very good idea of it. :)

Date: 2007-04-16 02:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emmagrant01.livejournal.com
It's very edgy stuff, like neo-punk pop-rock fare. My impression was that the cast sounded very fresh and young, and had voices not unlike the ones you hear on underground radio. Honestly, I think kids in the age range they're looking for (16-21) would probably have a better idea of what would be that current-sounding. But I'll take a stab at it anyway, heh.

For girls: Some Fiona Apple or Michelle Branch ("Everywhere" is a great example), some Avril Levinge (sp?), maybe a little like Gwen Stefani. There are slow, soulful songs and upbeat songs, so it would probably be wise to choose a song that shows both.

For boys: It struck me as Green Day (like that song they do about masturbation, the name of which I can't recall), but newer than that, if that makes sense. Again, picking something that shows they can do both slow and up-tempo stuff would be good.

In both cases, the kids wailed like they were fronting a band in a punk dive while singing those songs, and most of them were done with mic stands or hand-held wireless mics, rock star-style.

And LOL, I just saw your last comment, but I'd already typed this up. ;-)

Date: 2007-04-16 02:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dorrie6.livejournal.com
Well, I'm glad to have the response anyway, because you thought of artists I might not have, and I'm going to pass all this along. I'm only hearing clips anyway, and you've seen the actual show, so you have not just a feel for the music, but for the atmosphere surrounding it too. Thank you!!!

Date: 2007-04-16 02:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emmagrant01.livejournal.com
Awesome! I saw that they were having an open casting call, so I hope your mom's student does well! If s/he hasn't seen it yet, they should really try to do so. Like with Rent, they have same-day student rush tickets, which makes it a lot cheaper.

Date: 2007-04-16 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dorrie6.livejournal.com
(The real challenge of course is finding songs for which she--the student--can actually find sheet music. That's why I'm extra glad for your suggestions. The people I tend to listen to who would be in the right category are not well known enough for that.)

Date: 2007-04-16 01:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] paranoidgrl.livejournal.com
I'm so glad that you posted this. I'm going to be in NY this fall, and was talking to someone yesterday who lives there about shows to see, and she was adamant that I go to this one. I'm definitely going to check it out!

Date: 2007-04-16 02:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emmagrant01.livejournal.com
YES!! It's amazing, really. I can't recommend it strongly enough!

See if you can get stage seats, btw. I think those are the day-of rush tickets, but sitting on the stage would be awesome, as the cast sits with you when they're not on.

Date: 2007-04-16 01:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phaballa.livejournal.com
That sounds *amazing*. I really need to see more musicals. Alter Boyz was the first I'd seen since, god, probably I went to see Chicago my third year of college.

I loved the fact that a single man and woman played all of the adult characters in the show, as if all adults, regardless of what they say and do, are the same for teenagers.

It's like Charlie Brown! Or uh, weirdly, Cow and Chicken, if you ever watched that, where the adults were just LEGS and you didn't realize that until, at the end, the scene panned away and it's just the lower halves of bodies.

Date: 2007-04-16 02:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emmagrant01.livejournal.com
I really, really think you would fucking love it. It's amazing!

Date: 2007-04-16 03:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] forevertime.livejournal.com
This is currently my favorite play. I saw it last month for the first time but I knew about it before hand and was (pretty much) obsessed with it. It's such an emotional play and it just reaches out to you so perfectly. I loved every moment of it and really want to see it again soon!

The soundtrack is just the best thing to rock out to! I love it! I've been listening to it non-stop since I've seen it and I haven't gotten sick of it yet!

Date: 2007-04-16 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emmagrant01.livejournal.com
Oh, icon love!!

Are there any LJ comms for it that you'd recommend?

Date: 2007-04-16 03:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] forevertime.livejournal.com
Thanks! The community that I think is the most active is [livejournal.com profile] safans. It was actually linked by their official myspace so I think it might be the closest in terms of their official lj community if they had one!

Date: 2007-04-16 09:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esalare.livejournal.com
I can't wait to go see that in a month! My friend Johnny Gallagher stars as Moritz. Was he as amazing as I think he's going to be?

Date: 2007-04-16 10:47 pm (UTC)
ext_1059: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shezan.livejournal.com
They make musicals from Wedekind? Yayyyyy!!!!

Date: 2007-04-17 06:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carnimiriel.livejournal.com
That's my favorite musical this season. I'm always happy to see more positive buzz on it.

All of the actors in the show looked so young that it was nearly shocking at times, but the characters they're portraying are supposed to be mid-teens, so it makes sense.

The cast (not including the adult character actors of course) range in ages from 15 to 23 years. So it truly is a very young cast.

The MySpace site tends to have the most information on the show and other publicity events like tv appearances, etc.

Date: 2007-04-17 11:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eloiselovelace.livejournal.com
OMG, I read this play in high school!!! With a totally ancient German teacher who I swear was a slasher because roughly half of our books had explicit gay content, and she just LOVED to analyze the "Catholic schoolboys tying each other up and sodomizing each other in the attic" scenes in great depth. The other half had other explicit sexuality, often BDSM-flavored.

Fruehlingserwachen was one of the first things we read, and it set the tone! Best class ever for a freshman to take, though I wonder if the syllabus was tailored to me at all because I was the only student after one other person dropped out after her description of breasts bursting out of a bodice with "brutal lust". :)

Seriously, though, I really hope that Fraulein T____ knows about this musical, because I bet it would make her happy! Maybe I should write her... I bet that would make her happy, too. And I can divulge all kinds of slashy details that would be TMI with any other teacher. :D

Anyway, the play is recommended, highly! And thanks for prompting me to write one of my favorite teachers!

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