Act 34: Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening is a musical that takes place in Germany at the turn of the 20^th century and follows the relationships of a group of young students.  It won several Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2007 (I think) and I’ve heard awesome things about it so when I heard it was playing in Platteville, I jumped at the chance to go.  It was also an excuse to see some friends up there that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Steve, Kate, and I drove up to Platteville after work one night to meet some friends for dinner (Uno’s Pizza… yum!) and then Kate and I met up with her sister to go to the show while Steve hung back for some quality guy time.

I had heard that the musical was gritty and sexual in nature but I was unprepared for there to be a warning sign outside the theater stating that the show was for mature audiences only due to nudity, etc.  That made me a little nervous.  And though there were some blatantly sexual parts (like a scene with some obvious, vigorous, under-his-nightgown masturbation) and a lot of sexual references, it was not as bad as that sign made me think it was going to be.

The basic premise of the play is that a young idealist who despises convention falls in love with a naïve girl.  They want to be together but for various reasons that I won’t spoil for you, they can’t.  There are side stories, but this is the main one and the ending is pretty tragic.  Think Romeo and Juliet only less rhyme and more sex. 

This similarity prompted a pretty interesting discussion on the way home about how this kind of story could be written today as easily as it was 100 years ago or, in Shakespeare’s case, 400 years ago.  Some things never change.  People don’t seem to learn.  Which led us to the question of the night… why does love have to be so tragic?  Many of the best love stories in history are just sad.  No wonder people like movies with happy endings!

Deeper ponderings aside, the musical was very good.  The thing that kept it from being great or phenomenal for me is that it didn’t grab me from the beginning.  I didn’t feel invested in the characters and what was happening to them, which is probably the most important factor in a successful show (ask any TV writer/producer).  At the end of the first act, I wasn’t even sure where it was going or how I felt about it.  The second half did grab me more and I ended up liking it, but it was a little late.  That said, the songs were pretty cool (LOTS of rock influence) and everything was extremely well done, including the acting.

I’m glad to know that Platteville has touring musicals a few times each year also.  It’s an easy drive and provides me another location to see shows besides Chicago.  I’ll be heading back up there for Into the Woods next April; it’s one of my favorites!