While I was always aware of the existence of Spring Awakening, I never really knew what it was about, or that it would quickly become on of my favorite new musicals. My personal awakening to this musical was all thanks to another amazing performance by MUSKET. They have consistently been the best events that I have gone to in the past three years and Spring Awakening might be the best work I’ve seen of theirs to date.
The beginning of the show with “Mother Who Bore Me” and the conversation between Wendla and her mother is a perfect encapsulation of what to expect from this show. It’s a mixture of humor, drama, and angst and helps to set us up for a great show that can perfectly mix these elements in a truly engaging show. I have never gotten more goosebumps from a single show than I have gotten from this performance. The music and vocals were powerful, the choreography was understated yet extremely effective, and the acting was impressive to say the least. I felt more for the minor characters in this show than I have for main characters in other performances I have seen.
I would particularly like to zero in on a few aspects that I found stunning. My favorite performance of Act I had to be “The Dark I Know Well”. This song had me on the verge of tears and covered in goosebumps. It’s a powerful song and I am stunned at the actors performances. You could see the tears and despair in Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (Martha) and Jillian Slade (Ilse). Their acting tore at my heart and it was one of the most compelling scenes I’ve ever seen on the Power Center stage. It’s the one part of the musical that I consistently play over and over in my head.
In addition, in Act II, “Totally Fucked” was incredibly entertaining. It provided a lot of much needed comic relief in the super heavy Act II. The choreography was fun, the lyrics were hilarious, and the singing was perfect. It was a great performance by everyone involved. The surprise of the opening song, mixed with the light atmosphere really helped to break up the intense emotion that was covering all of Act II while still maintaining a serious tone.
Furthermore, I have to commend all the actors. Never before have I wanted to delve into the character as much as I have wanted to for this show and I must thank the actors for that. I would give anything to see a further continuation of the stories of any of the other characters. Does Martha ever escape from her family? Does Ilse survive the artists commune? Do Hanschen and Ernst continue their relationship? I would love to find these answers and find out more about these characters in general.
Of course, there are a few problems with the show as well. In the beginning, the ensemble of the female actors were a much stronger group of singers than the ensemble of the male actors. This seemed to get better throughout the show and I never saw any inconsistencies past the first few scenes. The only other major problem I have is the reprisal of “The Word of Your Body”. While appreciate the company for trying to provide more comic relief, it’s unfortunate that it comes again at the expense of the gay couple. Every other relationship is dealt seriously and with respect in the musical except the homosexual one. While I find great fault with this, I cannot say it is a strong enough negative to outweigh the overwhelming positives of the show.
I fell in love with this show after MUSKET’s performance. It is probably one of my favorite musicals now and I couldn’t think of a better introduction to it (save Broadway, of course). MUSKET knocked another one out of the park and I cannot wait to see what they do with Big Fish in the Spring.
