Spring Awakening

‘Spring Awakening’ is a tale of a group of teenagers and their change to adulthood. It was written by highly praised German playwright, Frank Wedekind in 1891, the outcry at the obscene content was such that the play was banned for about 100 years. About ten years ago Duncan Sheik composed the music for the Steven Sater book and lyrics.

This rock musical is now a smash-hit on Broadway, having won eight Tony Awards for excellence in Musical Theatre, including Best Musical, book and score.

This groundbreaking two hour musical is being performed by the WAAPA, 2^nd Year Music Theatre students In the Roundhouse Theatre, Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford Street, Mount Lawley at 7.30 pm. until Saturday 20^th October, one matinee on this Saturday at 2.00 pm.

         It is a small town in Germany around 1900. A massive leafless, oak tree (set designer Daniel Ampuero) stands in the corner of the stage – spring is on the way. 

        Dressed in only her underwear, a young girl, Wendla (Libby Asciak) sits on the ground beneath the tree caressing herself and asking God to help her control these strange feelings. Her mother, Frau Bergman (Jessica Van Wyk) comes out of the house and tells her to get dressed because she is now ‘in bloom’ and must be modest. The girl asks her mother what the feelings are, but is nervously brushed off with a general comment about ‘love’.

       In the boys’ school down the road, headmaster Knochenbruch (Henry Moss) is testing the language skills of his class. One dozy larrikin, Moritz Stiefel (Ben Nicholson) is nodding off to sleep, the head is livid. Moritz’s intelligent and good-looking friend, Melchior Gabor (Jack O’Riley) sticks up for his pal against the teacher, receiving a beating instead. The head teachers (Julia Dray, Joel Paszkowski) at the girls’ school are equally stern.

       Moritz explains to Melchior that he is tired because last night he had a most vivid dream and awoke wet. Melchior was called away, but in parting promised to write an explanation for Moritz – with drawings – of what was going on ‘down below’ and explained how he wasn’t alone in his feelings. That night, their handsome school friend, Hanschen (Clay Roberts) discovered the success of rubbing himself, and later, what it is to bond with his friend Ernst (David Ouch). There follows a beautiful dream sequence with all of the youngsters becoming aroused in their sleep.

      When Moritz gets home, his domineering father (Riley Sutton) is furious at his son’s pathetic school marks. Moritz runs away and meets with his only real female friend, Ilse (Bobbie-Jean Henning) who professes her love for him, but he misses his chance.     

      Melchior leaves his two friends, Otto (Sean Moore) and Georg (Ross Chisari) making an excuse to meet Wendla. They meet in a hayloft, kiss and immediately they both find that the numb feeling that has gripped them for months, rapidly disappears. A few days later Martha (Emily Hart) talks of her unhappy home life, her friends are horrified and Anna (Mikaila Briggs) and Thea (Melanie Cornell) console her.

      It is not long before Melchior brings a major upset to his loving mother, Frau Gabor (Laura Johnston).

How will life turn out for all of these very different youngsters?

The names of the characters in this play are wonderfully descriptive in the German and Dutch language, with the teachers being called ‘bat’s dick, broken bones and big bra’. This play has comedy moments, but it is mainly the serious and tragic story of the sexual changes in the lives of a set of teenagers. The full sexual range of experiences is considered. There is no nudity, but there are highly graphic, simulated sexual acts. The brave and inventive director (Crispin Taylor) has led his team through a challenging script and demanded and achieved the best.

The inspired and bold dance sequences (choreographer Henry Moss) included several genres from ballet, through stomp to a highly energised robotics sequence. Often the whole cast would fill the stage in a dance sequence, crisscrossing and interweaving, making their entrances and exits by the two stage wings and two audience entrances; this naturally led to the audience feeling much more involved with the story. The costumes (designer Daniel Ampuero, supervisor Osha Shealey) were typical of 1900 Germany, from the harsh long black dresses, right down to the leather footwear.

The musical director (Derek Bond) also tested out the skills of this wonderful second year team by having soft solos, heavy metal belt outs and ending with a beautiful madrigal style. Derek on keyboard led his band, situated at the rear of the stage, consisting of another keyboard (David King), two guitars (Jackson Venables, Matthew Keesing), bass (Ashley de Neef) and percussion (Alex Reid). They had just the right tempo and volume for each singer. It was good to see headsets that worked, although I suspect that often the microphones were not turned on and the singers went ‘live’. With song titles like ‘Touch Me’ and ‘Totally Fucked’ Madonna hasn’t a look in. These numbers were sexy and fun-filled and won a Grammy for best musical album.

The lighting (designer Dana Ioppolo) was colourful and matched the large varieties of tempos and moods perfectly.

The whole cast moved beautifully, even in very energetic arrangements they never missed a beat. Some beautiful singing, an exceptionally high standard for a second year class. Congratulations on succeeding with such a daring, fresh and new show, coupled with a truly difficult challenge.