Rebellion, sexual exploration, pregnancy and dying are all important ingredients of adolescence, and “Spring Awakening” drives this point home throughout its duration with emotional scenes and musical numbers.
Being that the Broadway production was a huge success, earning eight Tony Awards, the stakes for the University Players interpretation is high. It would appear that an “alternative rock musical” with such a large following would be an easy hit.
Unfortunately, this tale comes across as overly-familiar, not making a lasting impression on college audiences who have undoubtedly been exposed to numerous films, TV shows and other theatre productions with similar storylines.
The story chronicles the lives of roughly two dozen high-school-aged kids who are just beginning to come to terms with the realities of life beyond the protective shields of their parents’ teachings. Their strict upbringings have understandably driven them to yearn for experimentation and freedom from the status quo, which they do so in a myriad of reckless ways.
Through songs, they lament their confusion with conception and physical relationships among other forbidden topics. Cute, naive Wendla Bergman, played by Jessica Louise Garcia, amounts to the lead character in her girls-only school. Despite her desperate attempts to learn about womanhood from her mother, she is pushed away, leaving her no other option but to embark on her own coming-of-age journey.
Opposite of the giddy school girls are the boys of the town, who attend their own institution with overzealous instructors and a rigid set of expectations that set the boys up for failure on top of all of the other life difficulties they face.
Melchior (Daniel Rever) takes the lead of the guys and becomes something of an idol for being strikingly intelligent in his academics, yet, not caring. He sparks a new way of thinking with the boys and a new way of dreaming for the girls, who love his badass demeanor and philosophy of “not believing in anything.”
The cast of actors commit to their designated roles, but did not bring much dimension to the fairly basic people of whom they portray. What you see is what you get here, and many of the major plot elements are predictable.
The pacing could best be summed up as disjointed, with some areas of the two-plus hour production feeling slow, while at other times, major occurrences feel mulled over or rushed, not allowing sufficient time for the severity of each turning point to sink in.
Music was certainly not neglected in this show, and many of the numbers gave necessary passion at times when the story lacked it. Conductor/pianist Jarod Sheahan gave commendable emotion throughout, and heightened the mood in each scene perfectly.
Spring Awakening gave undeniable effort and should be praised as such. Showings continue Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday.