For the
New York Times, Charles Isherwood writes
"Broadway May Never Be The Same" This brave new musical, haunting and
electrifying by turns, restores the mystery and the thrill to that
shattering transformation that stirs all of our souls"
The singing throughout is impassioned and affecting,
giving powerful voice to the blend of melancholy and hope in the songs."
(The supporting performances have improved too, with Jonathan B. Wright’s
gay seducer Hanschen now stealing all of his scenes with a delicious air of
weary loucheness.)
"Spring Awakening' Best Rock musical Ever"
The
New York Sun Every now and then, critics get a chance for a
do-over. Case in point: "Spring Awakening," the rock-music re-imagining of
Franz Wedekind's 1891 broadside against the sexual hypocrisies of provincial
Germany.
When it opened off-Broadway this summer, I could barely wait to get home and
type the following: "‘Spring Awakening' is the most thrilling rock musical
of the last decade
Michael Criscuolo for
nytheatre.com : The first
of many striking things about the new Broadway musical
Spring Awakening happens right at the
start. Before the show even begins, the cast silently walks on stage to
take their positions—and the entire audience cheers and applauds. They
know what's coming. So do the actors: they enter with the confident
focus of people who know they're about to blow the audience away.
As, indeed, they do. Armed with a hungry, energetic cast of mostly young
upstarts, and a devilishly talented behind-the-scenes creative team,
Spring Awakening ushers in a new era for
the modern rock musical. Like The Who's Tommy
and Hedwig and the Angry Inch,
Spring Awakening delivers what most other
so-called rock musicals only promise: authentic rock 'n' roll attitude.
"Jonathan B. Wright's deadpan Casanova-in-training, Hanschen, is a comic
delight, while Skylar Astin's turn as Georg, a student who lusts after
his piano teacher, generates many laughs of its own".
A Glorious New Awakening:
The Broadway Musical Reborn BY JOHN HEILPERN -
The New York Observer
December 18, 2006 A kind of miracle is
happening at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. With its superb rock score by
Duncan Sheik, and Steven Sater’s fine book and lyrics, this is the show that
changes everything we thought we knew about that once-great invention, the
All-American Musical. But in its refined, imaginative simplicity, it
daringly reverses all the conventional rules by returning the American
musical to an original state of innocence. How it achieves this must be seen
to be believed.
David Rooney in
Variety says "For anyone weary of pedestrian screen-to-stage adaptations
or cut-and-paste jukebox assemblies, the arrival on Broadway of a truly
original new musical like "Spring Awakening" is exhilarating. Seven years
after it was first workshopped, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's artful
reinterpretation of the 1891 German Expressionist drama has deepened
considerably. The show's long evolution and further fine-tuning since its
hit run at Off Broadway's Atlantic Theater early this summer have amplified
its resonance, adding texture and poignancy. It captures the dangerous
anxiety of youth standing on the precipice of adulthood with transfixing
honesty. The peripheral characters have new depth, too, especially the boys. The perilously unbalanced romance between timid, fragile Ernst (Gideon Glick) and arrogant Hanschen
(Jonathan B. Wright) treads a delicate line between comedy and pathos.
Clive Barnes for the
NY Post writes that "THE good is rare enough in the theater, but the
excellent is . . . well, just excellent. And so it was at the Eugene
O'Neill Theatre last night when the gritty, groundbreaking "Spring
Awakening" gave an unexpected jolt of sudden genius to wake up the hidebound
Broadway musical."
Joe Dziemianowicz for the
NY Daily News writes that "Great news for
theatergoers who have craved a new musical with attitude, youthful
exuberance and a fresh, gutsy sound: "Spring Awakening," which opened last
night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, is what they've been seeking."
Linda Winer for
Newsday writes that ""Spring Awakening" did not merely open at the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre last night. The action was more like ripping open,
more like breaking out, more like tearing into the pretend pop and reused
plots that pass for new musicals on Broadway today." "Jonathan
B. Wright has a delightful, leering sensual self-assurance"
Michael Kuchwara for the
Associated Press writes
NEW YORK: A sad, haunting lyric
drifts through "Spring Awakening," a remarkable rock musical that has
transferred from off-Broadway to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre with all
its potent, gutsy theatricality intact. There are also fine cameos by Lilli
Cooper as a girl trapped in an incestuous relationship with her father and
Jonathan B. Wright as a youthful seducer determined to have his way with
another student.
Michael Sommers for
Newark Star-Leger writes NEW YORK -- A gorgeous score. A
passionate story. A charismatic production All that plus a gifted ensemble
of fresh faces (and voices) bursts forth on Broadway in the exciting new
musical drama "Spring Awakening." A dozen young actors touchingly embody the
pains and rages of teen existence. A soul-searching Jonathan Groff and a
plaintive Lea Michele are heartbreaking as virginal sweethearts doomed by
their innocence. Shock-headed John Gallagher Jr.'s anguished misfit, Lauren
Pritchard's rueful outcast and Jonathan B. Wright's predatory schoolboy are
other standout portrayals.
Adam Feldman for
Time Out New York writes "A Thrilling, vital leap forward
for the American Musical" The emotional diffidence of rock music, which
often hides its feelings behind poses of rebellion or nonchalance, gibes
perfectly with the uneasy kids of Spring Awakening—portrayed, with
touching ardor and confusion, by talented actors in their teens and early
twenties. Directed with palpable sympathy by Michael Mayer, they include the
golden Jonathan Groff as Melchior, a local idol impatient with inchoate
radicalism; the dewy Lea Michele as the ripe, erotically naive Wendla; the
perfectly waxy Jonathan B. Wright as the predatory Hanschen; and the
mahogany-voiced Lauren Pritchard as Ilse, a bohemian outcast. As Melchior’s
cloudy-headed, Beavis-haired best friend, Moritz, the exceptional John
Gallagher Jr. contributes much of the musical’s twisted, tormented soul.
Elyse Sommer for
Curtain Up writes "More often than not shows transferring to Broadway from a theater
small enough to establish a close connection between actors and audience,
brings complaints about lost intimacy and, in the case of musicals, harsher
amplification. Not so, Spring Awakening!" All the Boys and Girls who
so vividly evoked the timeless angst, hope, innocence and not to be denied
sexuality of Frank Wedekind's 1891 tragi-comedy are on hand, and better than
ever. The achingly painful innocence of these rigidly raised adolescents and
the cruelty of their elders (no doubt the result of their own dour and
dismal upbringing) could easily come off as quaint and caricaturish. But
these fabulous young performers, Duncan Sheik's stirring rock score and
Steven Sater's on the mark and often poetic lyrics and book thrillingly
connect Wedekind's world with ours. Still, there are still plenty of
knock-out cross cutting scenes — one that comes to mind is the oh so cool
and Aryan-looking Hanschen (the terrific Jonathan Wright)
The Independent "The musicals are a-changin'" whereas the
enraptured preview audience at Spring Awakening leapt to a standing ovation
the split-second that the lights went down on this truly extraordinary show"
Elysa Gardner
USA Today: "Transcendent! SPRING AWAKENING
OFFERS A TRIP UNLIKE ANY OTHER YOU'RE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS SEASON."
John Simon
Bloomberg News: "THIS SPRING AWAKENING MAY WELL BE THE FIRST
TRULY 21ST CENTURY MUSICAL ON BROADWAY"! "Shows can be innovative
without being good or vice versa. But when`Spring Awakening ' a new musical,
is both, it is grounds for cheering. It has been compared to Rent, but
in my view, it is more original and, quite simply, better.
Brian Scott Lipton
Theater Mania: There's no doubt this
innovative, frequently brilliant piece of theater will speak to many young
theatergoers -- and thrill anyone who is willing to meet this work on its
own terms. One aspect of Spring Awakening that has undeniably
deepened is the cast's performances. The brooding, handsome Groff seizes his
moments with gusto; Gallagher is nothing short of galvanic; and the
gorgeous-voiced Michele is absolutely heartbreaking. Of the supporting
players, Wright is not just fearless, but so supremely confident that he
quickly becomes an audience favorite, and Cooper (daughter of Tony Award
winner Chuck Cooper) scores big in her solo "The Dark I Know Well."
Matt Windman
AM-NewYork writes: "When Broadway history
is being made, you can feel it." So said Frank Rich in his review of the
original Broadway production of "Dreamgirls." Now, twenty-five years later,
anyone who enters the Eugene O'Neill Theatre will be privileged to behold
the wonder of theater that is "Spring Awakening," arguably the most
breathtaking American musical since "Rent" or even "Sweeney Todd." Its
small cast of young actors provides performances that are deep, joyful and
ultimately cathartic and unforgettable. Its invigorating energy runs through
you like a bolt of lightning, as if you were watching your favorite rock
star in concert. "Spring Awakening" is a visceral, funny, beautifully
brilliant experience that threatens to change the world and maybe save
musical theater.
Judith Levine
THE NATION writes: As if by contagion,
Broadway tends to banalize almost anything challenging that makes it above
42nd Street. But I don't think that will happen to Spring Awakening.
Sater, Mayer, Sheik and Jones have given us the play not just exhilaratingly
new. They have given us Wedekind true: tough, brave, enduringly radical.
Howard Shapiro
Philadelphia Inquire writes: "Spring Awakening haunted me for days, both the music
and the idea that a bunch of German kids in the 1890s, when the play is set,
could feel so right about their desires and transformations, and suffer so
much pain for their feelings. For days, whenever I saw teenagers on the
street - or those who live under my roof - I marveled at the concept of
changing bodies and changing minds, at the excitement of endless
possibilities and the danger of countless stumbling blocks along the way".
Or maybe because as a parent, I'm one of the
people Spring Awakening's characters try so hard to
understand. Or maybe it's because when all is considered, we
still live in a world with the same basic demands that the
Victorian-era show is warning us about. Any way you look at
it, being a little uncomfortable felt right".
NewYorkoLogy writes:
"Musicals often struggle with the bizarre conceit that when
someone is really feeling something, a song is required. The
real feat of "Spring Awakening" is that by making that
transition even more abrupt with formal dialogue interrupted
by driving rock songs, it all fits together far better than
usual".
"Jonathan B. Wright plays Hanschen, a perfect specimen of
the Aryan race, who flips a schoolmate's fumbling efforts at
seduction to his own advantage in a wonderfully
discomforting scene".
Peter Marks
Washington Post writes "THE IMAGINATIVE
BOOST THAT THE AMERICAN MUSICAL SO DESPERATELY NEEDS!
It's clear from the achievement
of "Spring Awakening" that Sheik and Sater are a
team to keep rooting for. Here's to the wish
that the show be merely an opening act.
Off Broadway
