December 20, 2006

'Spring Awakening': Rockin' with Victorian German kids

NewYorkology contributor Alexandra Farkas today weighs in with a review of "Spring Awakening," Broadway's much talked about new rock musical. Hoping to appeal to more than the usual gray-haired Broadway stalwarts, the show has made some of its tunes free for iPod downloads and is selling seats to each performance that are actually on stage -- for only $31.25. Those seats are currently sold out through December. Alexandra's review:

Who would have thought a pop singer/songwriter would make his Broadway with the Sturm und Drang, not to mention repression, of 19th century Germany? A story of young people on the losing end of 19th century ideology and manners, no less? While watching teenagers battle their hormones and the social mores of their time might seem trying, "Spring Awakening" is more like "Rent" meets Degrassi High, than some tedious afternoon special.

Composer Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, who wrote the book and lyrics, have left the show in its original place and time, but have updated it with thoroughly contemporary pop songs of various genres. Numbers like "Totally Fucked " and "The Bitch of Living" allow the characters to express themselves in the parlance of modern-day teen angst. With or without songs that use swear words, the show is explicit. There isn't really a taboo that isn't touched upon. Teen intercourse? Check. Masturbation? Check. Homosexuality, suicide, abortion? Check, check and check. And it's not like they talk about it on stage and then go do the bad things off-stage, in the ancient Greek tradition. It's all on display front and center.

The show, which opened December 10 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, was originally a play by Frank Wedekind that was far too racy to see the light of day. Back then it took 15 years for the public to see its graphic depiction of the trials and tribulations of adolescent sexuality. Today, it is tripping over itself to be seen. Debuting earlier this year at the venerable Atlantic Theater Company with a star-studded production team, including director Michael Mayer, choreographer Bill T. Jones, and among its producers Tom Hulce (of "Amadeus," "Animal House," and this year's "Stranger Than Fiction" fame,) the show was front-loaded for success. Add to that list Sheik, who is best known for his 1996 hit song "Barely Breathing," and it doesn't matter that the kids on stage are all unknowns getting the break of their lives.

Curiously, the set looks like the designer asked the theater's previous tenants, "Sweeney Todd," to leave the bones of their stage standing. The show certainly doesn't suffer for it, though the few hi-tech touches –- part of the floor flies up at the end of Act I -– are more clumsy than cool. The staging flows well, giving the dramatic scenes plenty of room, while still making the musical numbers feel exciting, but appropriate. While the general choreography is great, Jones seemed unable to resist the opportunity to add gestural flourishes that seem tacked on and forced.

Among the cast, John Gallagher Jr. as Moritz, the misunderstood kid who is failing his classes because he is wrestling with his overwhelming erotic fantasies, is a stand out. Switching seamlessly from lip-biting pupil humiliated by his teacher to punk rock kid pounding through numbers that are better than most of what's on MTV, he is equally good at taking center stage and sharing a scene. Unfortunately, the other two leads, Jonathan Groff as Melchior and Lea Michele as his ill-fated girlfriend Wendla, aren't as strong. More "American Idol" singers than Broadway triple threat material, neither of them has the gravitas that the better actors do, even at their ages. Lauren Pritchard is underutilized as Ilse, the girl gone bad. Her soulful voice is haunting, and every moment she's on stage is better for it. Jonathan B. Wright plays Hanschen, a perfect specimen of the Aryan race, who flips a schoolmate's fumbling efforts at seduction to his own advantage in a wonderfully discomforting scene. He also has the dubious distinction of masturbating his way through an entire number, which is at first startling, and then just plain funny. Joining the young actors are theater veterans Stephen Spinella, whom I would watch do his laundry, and Christine Estabrook, as the various adults in these mixed-up teenagers lives.

Musicals often struggle with the bizarre conceit that when someone is really feeling something, a song is required. The real feat of "Spring Awakening" is that by making that transition even more abrupt with formal dialogue interrupted by driving rock songs, it all fits together far better than usual.

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'Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me' a comedic feast

December 20, 2006 04:12 PM in Broadway

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