Youth speaking the words of youth: “Spring Awakening”

Vibrant rock music soared through the air as the cast of “Spring Awakening” sang their hearts out. The musical “Spring Awakening” unfolds the adolescent sexuality followed by terrible consequences. It depicts the confusion and the desperation caused by curiosity that only had ignorance as a teacher. As bold as the musical makes its statement, lamentably, no dramatic impact is left to savor.

Unlike other musicals, “Spring Awakening” was a burst of energy-without any story. Many of cast members are, or they seem like, as young as the actual characters they play: 19th century German schoolboys and schoolgirls. A daring choice of the director, I would say. This emphasized the radical views of Wedekind’s play; however, it also sacrificed the complexity of characters. The liveliness of youth makes it more unsettling to watch the characters chased by their erotic dreams. The limitations of the youth revealed when series of scenes with overlapping emotions occurred. I found that the actors and actresses stomping the Eugene O’Neill stage just could not transfer their emotions to me. Their eyes were sparkling and singing was stable, but they were far below my expectations. Not once a “wow” came out of my mouth throughout the entire musical.

As for the adult characters in this musical, Christine Estabrook and Glenn Fleshler play them all. Two actors acting out several adult characters oversimplified the emotional pallet that “Spring Awakening” could have provided. This also results in portrayal of conflict between generation, not so much a conflict between authority and individual. In an effort to fit the text of Wedekind and the songs into a one play, I felt the loss of intricate analysis of the characters- another color of the emotional pallet.

Problem rested within the music also. The “Spring Awakening” is differentiated from other musicals because the pop music is converted to the theater music. This conversion is a fantastic instrument to evoke a mood or emotions in the audience. As for the other functions that the theater music is supposed to achieve, pop music fails miserably. I do not think any of the rock ‘n roll type of music highlighted the personality of each characters. The music also failed to provide any specific narration. The fast beat with throbbing guitar and drum sounds surely brought excitement, but after it was gone, I could not figure out the role of the music was to the actual plot. Mr. Sater’s artistic lyrics are note worthy, but often they were infused with similar or, even worse, same notes: anger, desire, violence, and curiosity. Later the mood and characters of the show were over shadowed by the constant bombarding of motif from the songs.

At the end of the musical, the audience is left to show sympathy for Melchior who lost Mortiz, a dear friend tortured by the weight of sexual desires and bad grades, and Wendla, a lover whose mother forced an abortion due to ignominy of teenage pregnancy, to a society. When I stepped out of the Eugene O’Neil Theater, I felt sorry that no dramatic impact was made. The only feeling I had was sympathy towards Melchior because he lost two friends at a very young age.