This is one of those posts that is all about me.
I know I talk a lot about my love of musical theatre. I’ve talked about different musicals, my opinions, and what different musicals mean to me. So this is a post about my favorite musical of all time, Spring Awakening. It’s a pretty well known musical…it won a whole lot of Tony’s in 2007, and had a pretty big following from the start. I wouldn’t say it’s as huge as some other musicals that have come out in the past decade or so, but it definitely means a lot, to a lot of people…myself included.
Part of what makes this show so interesting, at least to me, is it’s source material. Spring Awakening was originally a play by German playwright Frank Wedekind, written in 1891. Due to many controversial issues, it didn’t last long at any theatre it played in. It was constantly banned and censored because of issues like teenage sex, abortion and suicide. Even in our modern times these are controversial issues, but even more so when the play was first written. Wedekind had a very different perspective on life. He was unafraid to tackle these subjects…and this is our basis for the musical.
As these things tend to go, the musical does stray from the play in many ways. But you can definitely see what Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater were working with when they wrote this musical. In some ways, it reaches out to us in modern times in a way it wouldn’t necessarily have if they completely stuck to the source material. But even for a play written over a hundred years ago, these issues still ring true to us. I think that’s one of the reasons why Spring Awakening means so much to so many people.
Throughout the show, we see a lot of taboo issues. We see a lot of things that make us uncomfortable. Something I absolutely love about Spring Awakening is that it dares to go there. There’s so much in the show that sort of makes you shift nervously in your seat. From a scene where a young girl begs to be whipped by a stick so she can feel something, to a suicide, to a dangerous abortion that ends up killing a teenage girl, it’s hard to properly swallow it all. Of course, it’s all set to rock music and laid out beautifully.
I honestly don’t remember when I fell in love with Spring Awakening. I think I heard about it as a new musical and bought the soundtrack. I was hooked from the start. I absolutely love the music, I love the story and the daring of what Sheik and Sater had done. Turning something like this into a musical was definitely a risky thing to do. Although we talk about these things more now than they did when the play was written, things like abuse and abortion are still subjects that are difficult to experience. But I think what they did, and what the actors did, brought something new to the stage. Even just listening to the music was captivating.
Spring Awakening launched a lot of careers. So many people have heard of Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff thanks to this show. I was lucky enough to have seen most of the original cast on Broadway, and it was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. Lea Michele had been a part of the cast since the show’s workshop start, and obviously worked through it’s Broadway premiere and a couple years into the run. You could always see how passionate the cast was, even as the original cast started to leave and new actors came in. This is a show that means something to people, including the actors. It’s a show you have to believe in.
Something super cool about Spring Awakening is that they do onstage seating. There are seats on either side of the stage, and the actors often dance and jump around, and in, the onstage seating. Also- spoiler alert, there are cast members dressed as ordinary people and pull out microphones during certain songs as ensemble members. It was definitely an experience…I knew there would be actors dressed in regular clothes, but I didn’t know which ones it would be. And the actors jumping around was a bit scary, but a lot of fun, too.
There’s a lot in Spring Awakening that can bring out so many emotions. I can remember so many parts of the show that I sobbed through. I know I can’t identify with everything happening in the show, but I can definitely identify with a lot of it in different ways. I think that’s part of why this show means so much to me. I’m seeing things that evoke so much in me, which is something I always want in a show. And yeah, that’s something that Spring Awakening does for me.
I’ve seen Spring Awakening six times now, and it’s a number I hope will grow in the future. This is a show that’s been in my life for almost twenty years. I will still always sing to it, I will always still think about what I take away from it. Spring Awakening will always hit something deep inside of me. I have multiple tattoos from the show, something I definitely wouldn’t have done if it didn’t mean so much to me. Spring Awakening will always be my favorite musical. I’m so grateful it came into my life and is here to stay.
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