Review-Spring Awakening (7.20.06)

Spring Awakening (Thursday, 7.20.06)
Atlantic Theatre, New York, NY

By: Duncan Shiek (music), Steven Sater (book, lyrics), Michael Mayer (direction)

Starring: Jonathan Groff (Melchor), Lea Michele (Wendla), John Gallagher, Jr. (Moritz), Mary McCann (adult women), Frank Wood (adult men)

It’s hard to know what to make of Spring Awakening. Wrapped in Duncan Shiek’s pleasant-sounding 90s pop music and telling the story of a controversial 19th century German play, the piece is at once accessible and yet different. One senses it is truly different from the pieces that have preceded it, but it is difficult to identify why.

Certainly, there is nothing groundbreaking today about the show’s story, even if it was controversial more than 100 years ago when it was first written. There is nothing groundbreaking about the music which, while pleasant and hummable, does not differ greatly in form from other music that has been written in the last decade. The story is somewhat fragmented, although its coherence in theme is sufficient to hold it together.

However you characterize Spring Awakening, it does not really matter. What matters is that it is a moving piece, punctuated with both humor and tragedy, and defined by the youth and emotional enthusiasm of its young cast. Each of the young actors seems to want to burst out of their skins. Jonathan Groff embodies this spirit as Melchor. Groff’s Melchor is the handsome charismatic youth, but he is also a volatile bar of dynamite ready to go off at any moment. Matching Groff moment for moment is Lea Michele, whose tragic Wendla is beautiful and fragile.

As for Duncan Shiek’s score, it is generally successful. If there is one fault, it is that several of the numbers feel “unfinished” – this seems in part intentional, and in fact it gives a rawness and roughness to the piece. But it is also extremely frustrating. Songs in a musical have a natural arc, and interfering with this arc is dangerous.The physical production matches the time period well. In the end, this is a very interesting theatrical piece, emotionally rich thanks to the combination of its music-writing and the excellent players performing the pieces. It will be interesting to see how the shows roughness will be dealt with in its transfer to Broadway.