#1
Posted: 2/20/07 at 12:38am
I have absolutely no idea how so much praise has been heaped upon this musical. Even if I disagree with popular or critical opinion, I can generally see where it is coming from (e.g. High Fidelity, for one). I cannot fathom how, in general, people seem to think this show functions as, well, a show. It suffers from underdeveloped characters, pathetic comedic moments, a general melodramatic feeling that made me laugh more than the actual comedic moments, manufactured angst, a lack of emotional connection with the audience, a feeling of forcing a pop/rock score upon a period piece, and a rushed second act.
My main question is why exactly this show exists when it could have been released as a My Chemical Romance album. The book scenes feel so rushed and so undeveloped that I felt no real emotional attachment to any of the characters, save for maybe Moritz. All of the characters are frightfully underdeveloped, especially the girls, and I don't see any reason why some of their subplots exist other than to fulfill certain teen angst requirements. On top of that, I felt that the writers had absolutely no clue how to write about teenage emotion. I was literally disgusted at the way that Melchior expressed his anger about feeling like a social outcast due to his intelligence. I've been in that position before in middle school, I've felt that emotion, and you don't just dismiss it by singing an upbeat song whining about how "nothing is okay unless it's scripted in their Bible!" Many songs seem to fall into this trap of simply expressing superficial emotion or a general mood rather than expressing true and realistic feelings and function independently from the book scenes rather than enhancing them.
Along with containing little emotional depth, I didn't find the songs themselves to be particularly good. "Totally F*cked" had me until it somehow turned into a chorus of "blah blah blah blah" - it's a song that either suffers from extreme laziness on the part of the composer or suffered the fate of the composer believing that it's somehow "modern" and "trendy" to use that "phrase" in a song. "Touch Me" was completely unnecessary and the same result could have been established by one of the characters simply uttering the phrase. The staging was unimaginative as well - the performers running around feeling up their own bodies. That's, uh, really descriptive. Now I really understand what the song is about! I felt like I should be smoking a joint during the song ending act one; it sounded like it was taken straight from the 60s, along with the finale of "The Song of Purple Summer." I was waiting for everyone to start engaging in hair braiding and strumming acoustic guitars. The other songs are unremarkable, except for "The Bitch of Living," "Don't Do Sadness," and "The Dark I Know So Well." These three are truly great songs that I could imagine listening to on my iPod while walking around the city. "The Dark I Know So Well" is a truly magnificent song and actually seemed infused with a bit of - gasp - emotion, but unfortunately, the subplot surrounding the song is pointless and fizzles quickly.
The truly horrendous part of the score is the repeated "I'm going to be bruised/wounded" lines. They fall into the same problem of being extremely melodramatic with no real emotional attachment from the audience to the characters to show for it. The last time the theme is repeated, it's by a pair of gay lovers, and I honestly had no idea whether they were singing it as a tongue-in-cheek mockery of the melodrama surrounding the musical theme in the first act or if they were truly speaking the lines to one another. Turns out that they were actually saying that they were going to be each other's bruises... I think? Of course, how could I be expected to know when both the characters involved in the scene are completely underdeveloped? The scene also suffers from a pathetic attempt at comedy before they sing, making the transition into the "bruise" theme even worse. I was left genuinely confused and horrified that a line such as "I'm going to be your bruise" was somehow allowed into a musical at least ten times. Again, that belongs on a My Chemical Romance album, not in a musical... but then, the creators of Spring Awakening obviously think that bands such as that express and/or connect to teenagers and convey their true emotion.
The second act is even more flawed from the first - a litany of bad events occur to all of the characters with little emotional depth or reflection between scenes. I found myself asking, "well, what's next?" rather than actually caring for any of the characters. Suicide, the guys trying to beat Melchior, Wendla's pregnant, Wendla's dead, Melchior is going to be sent away, Melchior is going to kill himself... bam, bam, bam. The scenes surrounding Wendla's pregnancy and death in particular are not handled with any sense of care. I also found it completely unbelievable that Wendla would have no idea about how pregnancy occurs or that Melchior, who obviously did, wouldn't take any precautions whatsoever. Additionally, Michele's acting made me believe that she really did know the details surrounding sex when she asked her about it in the opening scene. The scene with the ghosts of Wendla and Moritz is ineffective and overly, again, melodramatic. The final song ("The Song of Purple Summer") left me cold.
Lastly, what exactly is the POINT of the setting juxtaposed against pop/rock music laden with modern-day colloquialisms?! WHY was this even necessary? The transitions between the book scenes and the musical numbers are often not smooth at all. This technique has always struck me as completely pretentious when not executed well.
I didn't feel that anyone's acting was particularly superb other than Gallagher Jr., although I'll blame a lot of that on the weak, underwritten characters. I have no idea why anyone would feel Groff stands a chance against someone like Raul Esparza. Michelle had good stage presence and a clear voice, but I didn't find anything too remarkable about her performance. I didn't feel the scenes that were supposed to be humorous were actually funny; I laughed a hell of a lot more at any of the "I'm going to be wouuuuuunded! I'm going to be your bruuuuuuise!" numbers than the actual jokes. The lighting was done well, and about 10% of the staging was spot on ("The Bitch of Living" being a prime example).
Some middle-aged UN ambassador sat next to me, hated the show, and asked me out for drinks afterward, and despite the sketchiness of the entire situation, I wish I would have taken him up on that offer. My feeling by the end of the show was that I really could have used one. Or two.
My main question is why exactly this show exists when it could have been released as a My Chemical Romance album. The book scenes feel so rushed and so undeveloped that I felt no real emotional attachment to any of the characters, save for maybe Moritz. All of the characters are frightfully underdeveloped, especially the girls, and I don't see any reason why some of their subplots exist other than to fulfill certain teen angst requirements. On top of that, I felt that the writers had absolutely no clue how to write about teenage emotion. I was literally disgusted at the way that Melchior expressed his anger about feeling like a social outcast due to his intelligence. I've been in that position before in middle school, I've felt that emotion, and you don't just dismiss it by singing an upbeat song whining about how "nothing is okay unless it's scripted in their Bible!" Many songs seem to fall into this trap of simply expressing superficial emotion or a general mood rather than expressing true and realistic feelings and function independently from the book scenes rather than enhancing them.
Along with containing little emotional depth, I didn't find the songs themselves to be particularly good. "Totally F*cked" had me until it somehow turned into a chorus of "blah blah blah blah" - it's a song that either suffers from extreme laziness on the part of the composer or suffered the fate of the composer believing that it's somehow "modern" and "trendy" to use that "phrase" in a song. "Touch Me" was completely unnecessary and the same result could have been established by one of the characters simply uttering the phrase. The staging was unimaginative as well - the performers running around feeling up their own bodies. That's, uh, really descriptive. Now I really understand what the song is about! I felt like I should be smoking a joint during the song ending act one; it sounded like it was taken straight from the 60s, along with the finale of "The Song of Purple Summer." I was waiting for everyone to start engaging in hair braiding and strumming acoustic guitars. The other songs are unremarkable, except for "The Bitch of Living," "Don't Do Sadness," and "The Dark I Know So Well." These three are truly great songs that I could imagine listening to on my iPod while walking around the city. "The Dark I Know So Well" is a truly magnificent song and actually seemed infused with a bit of - gasp - emotion, but unfortunately, the subplot surrounding the song is pointless and fizzles quickly.
The truly horrendous part of the score is the repeated "I'm going to be bruised/wounded" lines. They fall into the same problem of being extremely melodramatic with no real emotional attachment from the audience to the characters to show for it. The last time the theme is repeated, it's by a pair of gay lovers, and I honestly had no idea whether they were singing it as a tongue-in-cheek mockery of the melodrama surrounding the musical theme in the first act or if they were truly speaking the lines to one another. Turns out that they were actually saying that they were going to be each other's bruises... I think? Of course, how could I be expected to know when both the characters involved in the scene are completely underdeveloped? The scene also suffers from a pathetic attempt at comedy before they sing, making the transition into the "bruise" theme even worse. I was left genuinely confused and horrified that a line such as "I'm going to be your bruise" was somehow allowed into a musical at least ten times. Again, that belongs on a My Chemical Romance album, not in a musical... but then, the creators of Spring Awakening obviously think that bands such as that express and/or connect to teenagers and convey their true emotion.
The second act is even more flawed from the first - a litany of bad events occur to all of the characters with little emotional depth or reflection between scenes. I found myself asking, "well, what's next?" rather than actually caring for any of the characters. Suicide, the guys trying to beat Melchior, Wendla's pregnant, Wendla's dead, Melchior is going to be sent away, Melchior is going to kill himself... bam, bam, bam. The scenes surrounding Wendla's pregnancy and death in particular are not handled with any sense of care. I also found it completely unbelievable that Wendla would have no idea about how pregnancy occurs or that Melchior, who obviously did, wouldn't take any precautions whatsoever. Additionally, Michele's acting made me believe that she really did know the details surrounding sex when she asked her about it in the opening scene. The scene with the ghosts of Wendla and Moritz is ineffective and overly, again, melodramatic. The final song ("The Song of Purple Summer") left me cold.
Lastly, what exactly is the POINT of the setting juxtaposed against pop/rock music laden with modern-day colloquialisms?! WHY was this even necessary? The transitions between the book scenes and the musical numbers are often not smooth at all. This technique has always struck me as completely pretentious when not executed well.
I didn't feel that anyone's acting was particularly superb other than Gallagher Jr., although I'll blame a lot of that on the weak, underwritten characters. I have no idea why anyone would feel Groff stands a chance against someone like Raul Esparza. Michelle had good stage presence and a clear voice, but I didn't find anything too remarkable about her performance. I didn't feel the scenes that were supposed to be humorous were actually funny; I laughed a hell of a lot more at any of the "I'm going to be wouuuuuunded! I'm going to be your bruuuuuuise!" numbers than the actual jokes. The lighting was done well, and about 10% of the staging was spot on ("The Bitch of Living" being a prime example).
Some middle-aged UN ambassador sat next to me, hated the show, and asked me out for drinks afterward, and despite the sketchiness of the entire situation, I wish I would have taken him up on that offer. My feeling by the end of the show was that I really could have used one. Or two.
Updated On: 2/20/07 at 12:38 AM
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