Deaf West's Spring Awakening Broadway Previews- Page 8

[Testing1232]

Posted: 9/15/15 at 8:37pm

Yes, Andy is wonderful and Arden's staging of the masterbation scene is utter genius.  >>

this !! That scene is done incredibly well !!

[macnyc]

Posted: 9/15/15 at 9:17pm

Is is true: I can't imagine this show being done any other way. 

[rdsport323]

Posted: 9/15/15 at 11:49pm

I loved the "i'm ****ed" scene. 

It's the one sign thats known universally, by anyone and everyone... the middle finger!  :)

 

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 9:07am

Saw this last night and enjoyed it pretty thoroughly.  I'm sure they're still ironing out some rough spots, and those projections need to be handled in such a way that EVERYBODY IN THE THEATER CAN SEE THEM, GODDAMMIT.  The cast is able, the musical itself works (or not as you like, but it has always blown me away) and there's no reason not to go see this.  Just make VERY SURE INDEED that you get seats as close to the middle of the auditorium as you can.  Seriously.  

My one quibble is about one piece of casting.  I mean no disrespect to the actor in question, who does very good work indeed, he's admirable in every way.  I just think that casting the dashing and sexy Mr. Durant as the helpless neurotic Moritz is a mistake.  Moritz isn't supposed to be hotter than Melchior.  It's like casting Marlon Brando as Charlie Brown.  That scene of all the girls sitting around swooning over how hot Melchior is, and then getting all "ewwww!" when one of them brings up Moritz almost got laughs -- I was reminded of that revival of 110 IN THE SHADE where a man had to tell Audra McDonald to her face that she was plain.

More than a quibble, really, but less than a significant complaint.  I was carried along by the show, and got damp-eyed and wobble-voiced by that Song Of Purple Summer, as usual.

 

Updated On: 9/16/15 at 09:07 AM

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 9:52am

Roscoe, sure Audra was so so so...plain, but the one that really got me was sitting through 3 hours of people constantly saying how dull and plain Jessica Chastain was.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 12:49pm

I think Durant is handsome, as well, but I do think McKenzie is pretty much generically teen idol good-looking, which helps for Melchior. 

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 12:49pm

nasty_khakis: YES! I forgot about that! Hahahaha! That was so ridiculous. 3 hours of every person on stage just looking Jessica Chasten in the face and saying, "Jeez, you're just so boring and unattractive and uninteresting. Pity the man who has to marry you." Oh, man - that was just silly.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 6:38pm

Boy, are you missing the point about Durant and his character.  He is an outsider, a disrupter, a "dummy" to the other students.  It has NOTHING to do with "looks".  If you don't get that, you are not really understanding the play.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 7:14pm

Can you elaborate on the projections needing work/not being seen by everyone? Why sit as close to the middle of center orchestra? What's the difference between that vantage point and say, the mezzanine?

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 9/16/15 at 10:04pm

Two questions; one regarding the show, one the production. 1) In “Whispering”, who is Wendla referring to here: Herself? Her mother? See the father bent in grief (Melchior? Her father? Moritz’s father at the funeral?) The mother dressed in mourning (Herself? Her mother?) I always assumed Melchior and he mother, just because it made the most sense to me but really I have no idea. Anyone? 2) How do we think Moritz and Wendla will be ruled re: Tony nominations? I would assume they would be considered under one nomination. Thoughts?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/17/15 at 9:29am

LimelightMike said: "Can you elaborate on the projections needing work/not being seen by everyone? Why sit as close to the middle of center orchestra? What's the difference between that vantage point and say, the mezzanine?"

 

Not so much orchestra vs. mezzanine, more a matter of not being off to the side in the orchestra: I'm sure someone in the front or rear mezz would have a clearer view than I did of certain events.  I had side orchestra seats, a few seats off the aisle, and found that way too many of the titles projected on the blackboard during the classroom scenes were blocked by the teacher.  The coffin was blocked by mourners on chairs, and Moritz' entrance to the graveyard scene was obscured also.

 

If you're sitting in the orchestra -- go for the center, or as near the aisle as you can manage.

Updated On: 9/17/15 at 09:29 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/17/15 at 9:42am

CurtainPullDowner said: "Boy, are you missing the point about Durant and his character.  He is an outsider, a disrupter, a "dummy" to the other students.  It has NOTHING to do with "looks".  If you don't get that, you are not really understanding the play."

I certainly understand the play -- I'm complaining about more than looks, but I can see how it might seem that way.  I always saw Moritz as being the absolute bottom of the food chain in that school, he's a total loser, neurotic and going through a more than usually tortured adolescence, obsessed with his own body and what's going on with it while having to learn sixty lines of Homer and all those damned quadratic equations.  Mr. Durant's Moritz was, to my mind at least and certainly there's room for disagreement, more the romantic "outsider, disrupter, trouble maker" than anything else -- those enraged glares he keeps directing, his open pugnacity just didn't seem right for the character.  Durant's Moritz is far more the rock star, and it has always seemed to me that the point of the character is that Moritz is very much NOT a rock star until those songs, delivered to the audience, prove otherwise.

Which probably also just means that Mr. Durant is playing the role differently than Mr. Gallagher played the role originally.  Gallagher's Moritz was a walking open wound, really coming apart at the seams during that "And Then There Were None" number in ways that made Mr. Durant's performance of the song seem more like a mere temper tantrum in comparison.  Opinions are gonna differ, of course.

Updated On: 9/17/15 at 09:42 AM

[NJ_BroadwayGirl]

Posted: 9/17/15 at 10:30am

I was in the third row of the center mezzanine, and besides the girl in front of me leaning forward, I can't imagine better seats than center mezz for this. And I often prefer the orchestra. There's a lot of action on the front of the stage, including people lying down on it, that I think you'd miss the full effect of from anywhere in the orchestra! 
 

Between the signing plus singing, characters often voiced by another actor (sometimes far away), and the two floors of action there is A LOT to take in with this production. I think the mezzanine seating really allows you to see it all. I was actually somewhat tired by the end because I was trying so hard to watch all the areas of the stage. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/17/15 at 11:59pm

I went tonight, and I'm 90% sure I saw Michael Arden watching the show from the rear center mezz. We were on the left mezz, and the first word on the top projections was almost always cut off somehow. I've seen the show before, so I knew what I was missing, but I'm not sure how well other people could piece it together.

Anyway, I loved this production. I'm really glad it's here and we're so fortunate to have it. I was blown away at having the headmaster be an awful person in an oralist school, without any changes to the text. It just totally worked. And there were other things that needed no changes to the text -- just changes in emphasis or in staging. Like, of course Moritz would be friends with Melchior's deaf mom. In other productions, he latches onto her because she's what he doesn't have at home, but here it's something even deeper. And the scene with Moritz and his father struck me as deeper, too -- his parents are deaf and want him to rise above what they've been able to accomplish as deaf adults, but he doesn't, and he's even more of a failure.

[Fan123]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 5:57am

I wish I could see this.

Just to add another great thing about this production, according to this article Ali Stroker ("Anna") is the first wheelchair-using person to perform on Broadway, at least according to available records. I'm surprised by this if it's true, would have hoped it had happened before now.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 7:23am

It's sad, but I does seem true. Was Ali on the glee project?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 8:09am

Yes.

http://bfy.tw/1rIz

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 1:42pm

Saw this last night. I LOVED it. I didn't think I was going to as I really don't like Arden's acting work but man, this production far exceeds the 2006 production. I don't need to waste anyone's time going into further detail (unless you have a specific question) but I highly recommend this one.

 

There are obviously some problems with the book that even this problem couldn't resolve but this is a very, very strong show. The cast and musicians are uniformly great and worked together as a cohesive group. The 2006 cast played as a bunch of individuals and while it helped their careers it did not help the storytelling. Here they all shine together.

 

The show was far from perfect and there are some things I would have liked to have been done differently but no point in being a downer.

 

Just get tickets and go.

 

For the record, I sat in the rear side balcony and I could see everything just fine.

[stargazer2]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 4:14pm

How is the stage height for this production?  How many rows back in the center orchestra would you all recommend to fully see the entire stage?

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 6:27pm

I would recommend sitting in the mezzo. There's a lot going on all over the place. Distance is wise.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/18/15 at 6:44pm

I had no problem sitting in the front row (lotto seats), and neither did my short friends. Yes, there's a lot going on, but I was fine.

[little_sally]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 11:54am

Saw this last night, and thought it was great overall. Admittedly, Spring Awakening is one of my favorite musicals,and the original production was very special to me. There were times last night where I did think Arden's direction was a little heavy-handed but I also think the whole thing was way more seamless than the original. It had a better flow to it, and scenes that dragged for me in the original production (i.e. "The Word of Your Body (Reprise)" worked better for me this time around. The cast is uniformly great (with a special shout out to Treshelle Edmond as Marta) and the four adult actors were all miles above their predecessors in the original. Those adults didn't even register for me but Camryn Manheim, Patrick Page, Marlee Matlin, and Russell Harvard were all fantastic.

[juice23]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 1:31pm

I saw this last week and enjoyed it, but had one question about staging. 

All of the deaf actors had a voice counterpart that were in modern dress EXCEPT for Amelia who played Thea. Her voice was Lauren luiz, who also had a role in the ensemble as melitta. I was confused as to why you would have Lauren voicing two characters inside the action as opposed to how they handled Martha and the others. 

[little_sally]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 1:44pm

juice23 said: "I saw this last week and enjoyed it, but had one question about staging. 

 

All of the deaf actors had a voice counterpart that were in modern dress EXCEPT for Amelia who played Thea. Her voice was Lauren luiz, who also had a role in the ensemble as melitta. I was confused as to why you would have Lauren voicing two characters inside the action as opposed to how they handled Martha and the others. 

 

I thought this was odd as well. 

 

[Buddy Plummer2]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 1:59pm

I noticed this too- I wonder if someone dropped out of the cast last minute and they had her do double duty.