Spring Awakening Reviewed
The explosive new musical Spring Awakening has set one or two West End pulses racing since it transferred to The Novello last week. We sent one of our writers to see what all the fuss is about.
It's not often that a new musical causes such a stir in the West End. However, since Spring Awakening's electrifying opening on Broadway, and because, among its eight gongs, it picked up the Tony Award for Best Musical, this adaptation of a 19th century German play is somewhat out of the ordinary. In fact, one could say that there's nothing ordinary about it.
Perhaps the rather innocuous title, Spring Awakening, conjures up images of budding flowers, feathery apple blossoms and newborn lambs frolicking all over pea-green pastures. If this is so, be warned: it's not that kind of spring and it is almost certainly not that kind of awakening! This musical is about sex and the rather steamy subject of sexual awareness.
Set in a hybrid atmosphere - part 19th century Bavaria, part emo-tinged rock concert - Spring Awakening looks and feels like nothing in the West End at the moment. The composite set sees high brick walls reach up in gothic arches to the exposed lighting rigs. Strips of neon colours zip around the three walls of the stage and even pop up in the auditorium lighting the ornate gilding of the balconies in vivid reds, oranges and indigos. Sepia photographs of distinguished-looking Victorian gentlemen hang on the cluttered walls alongside hundreds of pieces of bric-a-brac and symbols of spring, like an opening rosebud and the pinned wings of a butterfly, that sort of thing.
The characters continue this hybrid theme by dressing in drab old school uniforms, grey breeches and long socks, but team them with Converse trainers or (outrageously) stylised hairdos. In fact, I must add at this juncture, some of the wacky hairstyles in this musical are among the most amazing I've ever seen - not just in the West End - I mean anywhere, ever, in my whole life. Dazzling. Gravity defying...
Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked, the show opens with the pretty, young Wendla Bergmann (Charlotte Wakefield) standing on a chair and dressing. The first number, Mama Who Bore Me, highlights the struggle of teenage awakening against the oppressive weight of manners, morality and etiquette. Choosing to wear her hair down and dress in a childlike shift, Wendla's mother tells her to change at once because now, being "in bloom", such dresses are inappropriate. The naive teenager complains and then exposes the fact that she still is unaware of the most rudimentary facts of life, like where exactly it is that babies come from. Her obstinately prudish mother cannot bring herself to detail the less-savoury aspects of love (you know, the bit about birds having sex with bees) and so palms her off with some nonsense about husbands and wives who "love each other very much".
So begins the crux of the musical. The world of the ambitious, curious and energetic youth are trapped in a cycle of stuffy Latin classes and regimented piano tuition. The dominant adults, prim, closed-minded and arrogant, rule over the teenagers and are almost constantly giving them a hiding for one misdemeanour or another, with often maniacal ferocity.
The main character, Melchoir (Aneurin Barnard), is a sort of Promethean hero. Caught on the cusp or manhood, the handsome, intelligent, radical Melchoir writes an essay on the intimate workings of the human body and its desires. When he bestows this manual, equipped with several accurate diagrams, upon his best friend Moritz all sexy hell breaks loose.
From here on the play explodes with teenage desire. There's a rather fruity scene with Hanschen (Jamie Blackley) demonstrating what adolescent boys get up to in their free time, and then, of course, there's the bit when two teenagers come across each other alone in the woods. It all gets pretty, well, earthy.
Spring Awakening is certainly an electrifying new musical. With a talented and brave young cast, the whole thing trembles with sexual tension. Super-charged performances and excellent acting, the cast ignite the salacious script and emotive songs with their wit and energy. The stage and lighting effects work supremely well and the score is vibrant and modern while retaining a real sense of musical elegance.
The play is a little too ambitious in parts, as when darker topics like domestic and sexual violence are tackled the script tends to feel a little strained and flimsy. What's more, the writing occasionally suffers because it contains all the frustrated, self-righteous anger of a sulky teenager. However, the show is truly unlike anything in the West End at the moment. Gritty, erotic, eloquent and literary, Spring Awakening is a breath of fresh air.
Not for the faint-hearted, Spring Awakening is definitely a musical for the Skins generation. Daring and decidedly fruity, if you enjoyed Avenue Q you'll love this. It's nothing like anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber and while it might not be something you take your grandmother to see, its fresh, intelligent and undoubtedly worth a look.
Spring Awakening is playing at The Novello Theatre until 31 October.
Published by: Nathan Brooker
