Opera News reviews Spring Awakening!!

[teka21]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 11:10pm

A surprising rave from an unexpected source.
Here's a quote- you must be a subscriber to read the full piece online.
"What gives this hit its twenty-first-century edge? Spring Awakening has a catchy rock score by Duncan Sheik, smartly turned lyrics by Steven Sater, and clean, crisp direction by Michael Mayer- plus a brilliant young cast bursting with energy. It's funny, tender and tough by turns, as many finely crafted musicals are. But the genuine streak of darkness in this piece- the tantalizing, unmistakable dash of world-class imagination that keeps the audience watching and listening comes from Wedekind..."
(F. Paul Driscoll, Opera News, March 2007)

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 11:14pm

Nevermind

Updated On: 2/28/07 at 11:14 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 11:19pm

well i agree with most of it but the "smartly turned lyrics"
maybe he has been listening to Opera in different languages.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 11:25pm

I agree with Curtain on the lyrics. Love the music, don't like those lyrics.

[sfs1414]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 11:37pm

I don't understand how anyone can't like the lyrics. They make perfect sense to me....

[elvisitis1302]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 3:24pm

The rhymes are...well...not there. And it's not like it was intentioned that way, the "rhymes" there are just words that sound similar (and some not so much) to their other part, which pisses a lot of people off (me, included).

[Craww]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 3:30pm

I don't understand how anyone can't like the lyrics. They make perfect sense to me....

They make fine sense to me. It's just that half (or more) of them are absurd, silly, and occasionally just stupid. I don't, however, mind half rhymes like elvisitis1302 does. That's very rock and roll.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 3:34pm

I think a lot of the lyrics are fine and perfectly acceptable in context, I mean these are very confused 14 to 16 year olds singing these songs. While just listening to the CD though, sometimes they don't quite cut it.

[whatever2]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 4:14pm

not to be a hopeless pedant, but that wasn't actually a review in the formal (or even the informal) sense.

it was an observation made be the mag's EIC in his monthly Viewpoint (i.e., "welcome to this issue ... here's what's on my mind") column.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 4:16pm

And it gives most of the credit to Wedekind.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 4:22pm

Opera News doesn't generally "review" Broadway. They did comment kindly on the cast recording of the SWEENEY TODD revival, but only because Sweeney does have a history of being performed as an opera.