Performance: Saturday, January 16th @ 8:00pm ,
Location: Aronoff Performing Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
"Once in a generation..." Had any one of you walked out of the theatre this evening after curtain call, you would have only required the hush that surrounded me as review of this haunting musical. Or perhaps foundation fingerprints that cover the front of my Playbill, as a result of wiping tears away multiple times throughout the show would suffice. I am not sure if a musical has ever touched me in quite the same way as Spring Awakening.
Set in a provincial German town in the year 1890, with the budding sexuality and general confusion of adolescence, we are introduced to the young men and women who live there. The original play by Frank Wedekind was written in 1891 and caused such controversy that it was banned for almost 100 years -- and the issues dealt with, some may say, are still controversial today. Sexuality. Teen pregnancy. Abortion. Suicide. Incest. Homosexuality. But what has changed is the offering of hope.
I am one who always likes to know the music before seeing a new show, and this was no exception. What I realized quickly though is that you can't really know the music or the story until you have seen it performed. Bill Jones won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Choreography and it was clear why. The choreography provided soul, poetry, and breath to the story. With a front row, center seat it was easy to forget where I was as I sat face to face with many of the actors and actresses throughout.
I saw the greatest amount of talent I have seen in a touring company in very long while. While a generally young cast, their performances were impeccable. Christy Altomare's (Wendla) performance was a homecoming of sorts, as she was a 2008 graduate of the Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music and touched my heart with her innocence as Wendla. I must
admit that while there were challenges that all of these young men and women faced, I was drawn in the most by Steffi D's performance (seen to the right) as Ilse, a girl cast out by her family to live on the streets and Taylor Trensch's performance as Moritz, who fails out of school. There was an intensity that reverberated through their performances. I felt completely drawn in to the loss and the angst they experienced.As I sit here now I can still feel the music pulsing through my veins, my eyes still burn from the tears shed, and my only regret is that I have to be in Indianapolis by 2:00pm tomorrow and can't buy a ticket to the Sunday matinee performance.
Check to see if Spring Awakening is coming to a city near you.
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