‘Spring Awakening’ flowers into greatness.
I can’t think of a more electrifying, more erotic musical than Duncan Sheik and Steven Slater’s “Spring Awakening,” which is on stage through Theatre Under The Stars at the Hobby Center through Sunday.
It begins, after all, with a teenage girl in a nightgown fondling herself, running her hands from her breasts, to her waist, and down to her crotch. This image is, of course, uncomfortable for anyone. But that’s not because there’s anything inherently wrong with it. We squirm only because sexuality of teens remains, in society and art, largely taboo.
But why should it be? That’s the inherent question posed by “Spring Awakening,” a beautiful expression of the emotional, sexual and political complexity of youth, which sees an energetic production directed by Taibi Magar.
Wendla (a terrific Sophia Introna), a teenage girl who lives in a religious-conservative German town in the 1800s, is curious about sex, but her mother refuses to tell her about the mechanics of intercourse and pregnancy. Why? Because her mother feels shame around the topic of sex.
The various teenage characters in the musical bump against this very obstacle, the shame of adults. The adults discipline them, repeatedly and harshly, for speaking their mind, for thinking for themselves, for attempting to make love, for expressing any form of individuality or freedom of self-expression — because any deviations from the status quo would bring shame to their parents.
This ravishing musical allows the teenagers to fight back onstage by singing rock anthem after rock anthem. The music, directed here by Alex Navarro, symbolizes the interior lives of these children, who in the story are unable to express their anger, desire and confusion. The lyrics drip with longing.
TUTS has assembled an animated and diverse cast of actors whose stage presence is electric. The singing is not always on par with that of “A Chorus Line,” TUTS’ previous production. But the message of youthful rebellion comes across loud and clear.
Grayson Samuels was excellent as Georg, singing with a sharp and precise tone that’s fit for any 2000s era emo band. Raven Justine Troup was magnetic as Ilse, a girl who seems to have found a way to escape the oppressive, conformist system of school and church in which she was raised. Intron’s depiction of naïve
horniness as Wendla was never cheap, never superficial — she makes you feel the girl’s desire, in her singing and speaking and body language.
Speaking of which — those who know this fabulous 2006 Broadway hit of a musical know that there are two scenes involving Wendla that are difficult to stage today, in the post #MeToo era. The first “problematic” scene involves BDSM-esque kink, and the musical still doesn’t find the right vocabulary to talk about Wendla’s perspective in that moment. The second scene is far more difficult to pull off because it lacks a sensitivity regarding consent and how consent is or isn’t established before a sexual act occurs.
So props to director Magar for figuring out the solution, so to speak, which is to have Wendla be obvious in her body language about something that simply doesn’t exist in the script. It was a smart change that first-time viewers would never notice — but let me just say a re-creation of the Broadway production would not have gone well with modern audiences.
That’s the whole beauty of a reproduction. Magar finds what still speaks to us today — which, considering youth protests regarding climate change and gun control, is a whole lot — and repurposes the parts that haven’t aged well.
“Spring Awakening” doesn’t feel like a 13-yearold musical. It still feels ahead of its time — despite the clear Yellowcard/Fall Out Boy sound of its music — because it so clearly shows teenage sexuality like no other musical has before. And it has a roaring message about why we must always value, and never repress, the human spirit.