PAUL KOLNIK
"Spring Awakening" is written from a teenage point of view, the girls tormented by longing, abus- ive fathers, romantic daydreams; the boys also tormented, and with more brutal inclinations.
Youthful sexual yearning, with songs
Frank Wedekind must be laughing in his grave. Before there was anything called musical theater, or teenagers, or rock-and-roll - which is to say, in 1891 - Wedekind wrote a scandalous tragedy called Spring Awakening about young people discovering the thrills and grief of puberty, that hormonal tyranny called sex. And the musical version of his play - a surprising hit on Broadway, winning eight Tonys in 2007 - has arrived during its national tour at the Academy of Music to wow us. The opening-night audience, many already devoted and savvy young fans (are there Springheads, like Rentheads?), clearly was thrilled.
Five girls and six boys, all 14 years old, living in a repressive 19th-century German town under the close supervision of parents who range from clueless to cruel, going to strict schools and strict church, discover sex.
Lovely Wendla (Christy Altomare) begs her mother for information about where babies come from and learns nothing. Moritz (Blake Bashoff) is haunted by erotic nightmares and terrified of failing his exams; his goofy hair looks as if it might jump off his head. Melchior (Kyle Riabko) is the rebel heartthrob whose love affair with Wendla will have disastrous consequences. The adults - teachers, parents, ministers, doctors - are all played by Angela Reed and Henry Stram as grotesque cartoons: Spring Awakening is written entirely from a teenage point of view.
The girls (Sarah Hunt, Gabrielle Garza, Kimiko Glenn, and Steffi D as the wild, wrecked Ilse) are tormented by longing, by their abusive fathers, by romantic daydreams. The boys (Anthony Lee Medina, Ben Moss, Matt Shingledecker, and Andy Mientus as the sleek, blond proto-Nazi opportunist) are all also tormented by longing and romantic daydreams, but their inclinations are more brutal and their self-discoveries more central to the plot.
The songs have interesting, contemporary lyrics by Steven Sater - "window by window you try to look into the brave new you you are." Duncan Sheik's sometimes odd, always melodic music is played by an excellent onstage band. Handheld mikes are kept in the pockets of old-fashioned school uniforms, to be plucked out as needed. The choreography, by Bill T. Jones, is fierce and full of desperate energy, while Kevin Adams' lighting creates transformative wonder - "The Mirror Blue Night" is especially gorgeous. Michael Mayer's direction is pitch-perfect.
This is not a musical for children: There are fairly graphic sex scenes, one masturbation scene, and a homosexual seduction, but more important, the issues are suicide and abortion and incest and sadomasochism and raw, intolerable rage. It was ever thus, of course: Imagine an eroticized Romeo and Juliet without the adults, and without much plot. It's just angst and yearning and misunderstanding and constraint and the whole damn thing.
Spring Awakening
Through Sunday at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Tickets $25-$80. Information: 215-731-3333 or www. kimmelcenter.org/broadway.
