Stream projects that followed for cast of ‘Spring Awakening’
Now streaming on HBO Max is a documentary taking a look at a reunion 15 years in the making.
“Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” follows the reunion concert of the original cast of the eight-time Tony-winning musical “Spring Awakening,” benefiting The Actor’s Fund.
The film, directed by Michael John Warren, gives fans a taste of the concert, but it also dives into the development and production of the show. The challenging and unique piece of work struggled to find its producers — and its audience — before becoming a bona fide cultural phenomenon, thanks in large part to its young, talented cast.
The stars of “Spring Awakening,” many of them teenagers and young adults, were launched into the stratosphere with the success of the show and have become stars in film and TV in their own right in the years since.
Part of the fun of watching the documentary is seeing the “Spring Awakening” stars before they were stars.
Leads Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele will be familiar to anyone who has watched TV over the past decade or so. Michele starred as Rachel Berry in the Ryan Murphy hit sitcom about a show choir, “Glee,” which showcased her incredible pipes, and her former “Spring Awakening” co-stars Groff and Skylar Astin dropped in for guest roles too. All six seasons of the series are available to rent on Amazon or iTunes.
Groff ’s TV work hasn’t featured his singing as much as Michele’s, but he has excelled in highprofile series such as
the underrated Andrew Haigh show “Looking” on HBO Max, about a slice of gay life in San Francisco. Groff also landed the co-lead in David Fincher’s FBI profiling series “Mindhunter” on Netflix, playing a young FBI agent who gets a bit too close to his cases. He also co-starred in “The Matrix Resurrections” last year, which is back on HBO Max and also available to rent.
Fortunately, most of Astin’s major roles after “Spring Awakening” have featured his singing, including in the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, as
Jesse, the lead singer of the a cappella group The Treblemakers. All three “Pitch Perfect” films are available to rent on most major digital platforms. He also sings in the musical sitcom “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” on Peacock and in “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” on Netflix.
John Gallagher Jr., who won a Tony for his performance as the tortured Moritz Stiefel, has had a successful career in dramatic film roles, including the 2013 indie
“Short Term 12,” available to stream on Peacock,
Tubi and available to rent elsewhere. He also had roles in the horror films
“10 Cloverfield Lane” and “Underwater” (both available to rent on all platforms). Also check him out on the Aaron Sorkin series “The Newsroom” on HBO Max.
Other notable cast members include Krysta Rodriguez, who delivered a stunningly pitch perfect performance as Liza Minnelli in the Netflix miniseries “Halston” last year, and Gideon Glick, seen in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” on Amazon Prime Video, and “The Other Two,” on HBO Max.
Lauren Pritchard, who spearheaded the reunion and is also a producer on the documentary, has made a career as a songwriter, and co-wrote the ubiquitous Panic! At the Disco hit “High Hopes.”
After watching “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known,” treat yourself to a spin through the careers of the original Broadway cast courtesy of streaming platforms.