Melchior- the Breakdown

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:27am

Okay, I've never seen Spring Awakening, though I might go for my birthday. And on every thread I've read I've heard about Melchior's grand breakdown in TYK. What's it like? Is it really so heartwrenching as everybody cracks it up to be? Does he really scream all that loud? And, this might be a little off-topic, but I read the play, and it says Melchior doesn't believe in love, only lust. If he supposedly doen't believe in love why does he care so much about Wendla, and have such a meltdown when she dies?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:45am

'Cuz he wuz the baby daddy

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 3:20am

I enjoyed SA, but found it a very flawed piece, the number you mention in particular. Wasn't the fault of the actor, who was excellent, but of the book, which mostly seems to say "kids good, adults bad".

Melchior's "breakdown" isn't about Wendla's dying, but about how her death affects him. It's all about him. He's a very selfish, and IMO, unsympathetic, nearly unlikable character. She dies as a result of his actions. He knows full well what could happen as a result of his coercing her into having sex, but she's innocent of same. He knows that, but just doesn't care about anything but his needs at that moment. He's in love with his own ideas. And yes, lust.

The choreography is laughable, for the most part (and I mean that quite literally), the book makes little to no sense, but the music and the performances all around are quite compelling.

It's an interesting piece of theater, but not, IMO, the great ground-breaking piece that others have made it out to be. Worth seeing, sure, but if you were considering something else? Maybe see something else.
Updated On: 7/30/07 at 03:20 AM

[j'aime_le_theatre]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 3:33am

well congrats.........for almost a year now i have avoided most SA threads not wanting to give too much of the show away for myself, as i hope to see it one day.

she dies, huh...


well there's $110 saved.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 3:55am

Uhm, so, you opened the one thread that clearly would have had something to do with major spoilers from the show?

[j'aime_le_theatre]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 4:01am

i thought the thread meant it was about the breakdown of the character description, not the actual character's emotional breakdown.

[j'aime_le_theatre]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 4:02am

double Updated On: 7/30/07 at 04:02 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 7:21am

Life's a b*tch sometimes, huh.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 7:53am

Well, it is a play that's been around for quite awhile before being made into a musical.

[jg4892]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 10:04am

Ghostlight, I disagree. I think it is the actor's fault, in this case. Groff sounds like santa claus while Matt Doyle makes it sound natural and heartbreaking.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 10:08am

"Well, it is a play that's been around for quite awhile before being made into a musical."

Doesn't mean everyone's read it or should know what it's about. In fact, before the musical, I never heard of the play.

People should be a little more careful when posting spoilers!

Updated On: 7/30/07 at 10:08 AM

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 10:12am

The scene was quite moving to me, but I have to admit, jg4892's "Santa Claus" comparison cracked me up.

[My Sobriquet]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 10:26am

Although I, and probably everyone, hates to have plots spoiled, this is one example that once you're into the 2nd act, you can see the death (mentioned above) from a mile away. That's one of my biggest problems with the book. (Otherwise, I was very entertained.) That storyline was too predictable and therefore, not interesting. ANY other outcome would have been more original. Maybe it was interesting in 1891, but not today.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 10:28am

Spoiler Alert:

Santa Claus isn't real...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 11:50am

I must be getting really old, because I saw SPRING AWAKENING for the sixth time last night, and it took me a minute right now to figure out what TYK stands for. And then once I figured it out and read through the thread, it took me another minute to realize that everyone was talking about the Reprise, not the initial song, in which Melchior has no sort of breakdown.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 12:15pm

Hey j'aime_le_theatre,

Hamlet dies.
Godot never comes.
Willie Loman dies.
The Gentleman Caller already has a girlfriend!
Nora leaves the Doll's House.

I just saved you several hundred dollars!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 12:17pm

You monster!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 12:26pm

The salesman in Death of a Salesman dies!? I certainly did not see THAT coming.

[Act0r721]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 12:45pm

Haha, Spork. Me either.

I think everyone is an arse for spoiling. Even if the show has been on Broadway for a long time, doesn't mean everyone has already had the chance to see it. With "Spring Awakening," it is ridiculous to think that everyone has seen it already (not everyone lives in New York) or should know about it because the play is old. Also, not everyone can tell she will die. Maybe they should, but they don't. *More spoilers?* When I saw it, one woman gasped when he read the tombstone. In my head I was thinking. . . really? He's in the cemetary and she's not there? They say a line about poor Melchior, poor Wendla? She was getting an unsafe abortion back in the day? Come on now, lady. Haha, so even if people are kind of dense, who are we to ruin it for them?

I found John's breakdown much more heartwrenching. The part that got me in TYK is when he graps onto Lea and John. Goosebumps!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 12:50pm

The Gentleman Caller is such a dick! Poor Laura.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 1:09pm

actor721: I understand about spoilers, but in this case it's just amusing that she now refuses to see the show because she knows this one plot point ahead of time!

[Anakela]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:13pm

Hamlet dies.

Hee- I think I might've told this story here before, but I went to Shakespeare in the Park a few years back with group that included a lawyer friend, and we're sitting, and watching, and then all of a sudden there's an (*omg spoiler*) "wait- Ophelia DIES??" coming from my friend, and I swear *everyone* around us started laughing, but he truly did not know, had never read it before...I was just surprised that he'd managed to get through enough schooling up to and including law school without ever having to read Hamlet- which I thought everyone knew is subtitled 'they all die.' :)

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:24pm

The breakdown is just "eh" to me. It certainly didn't make me tear though or hit me significantly hard, maybe because of the, IMO terrible book of the show. The only "breakdown" that moved me this season was Raul's. Talk about a scream...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:28pm

"Left Behind" often brings me to tears.

[silversurfer2]

Posted: 7/30/07 at 2:49pm

Yes, "Left behind" is very moving. I saw Matt's "Melchior" and his scene in the cemetary was much more moving that JGroff.
But, it is Gallagher's "Don't do Sadness" that get's me all the time. When Lauren Prtichard is talking about when they were children and his head is bowed down on the Mic...and then he brings his face up, there are always tears in his eyes. He realizes then,he is alone and that was time past and he must do what he came there to do. And then his speech about the stars and so dark, so dark...He is great, always moving. A quiet breakdown if you will.