Spring Awakening Revisited

If you'll recall in earlier posts, I mentioned a local production of the musical blockbuster Spring Awakening. Being unbiased about this production will not be easy, but in the days following closing night, I find myself feeling strongly about it, so I hope you'll allow me a few brief words.

The fantastic cast and crew I had the pleasure of working with was, of course, stellar. The music was incredible, fast paced when it needed to be and heartfelt when the need arose.

But I feel like there were quite a few things wrong with the script.

The text was adapted from a banned German play of the same name for the same subject matter. The story had a divergence that I'm not sure knew what it was trying to say. The character of Moritz comes to a tragic end after not having much character development in the first place. Melchior preaches about sexual education, but has dubious sexual consent sex in the hayloft with someone he supposedly cares about? Some of the characters on stage had no real storyline, just random bouts of shock value that I just couldn't engage with. The adults seemed like they were an afterthought and I think the decision to make them all played by two actors is a confusing and poor one.

In summary, great production (aside from myself), good music, but woefully poor play constitution.