SPRING AWAKENING 2/7 — Page 3

Jennifer was to young to simulate sexual activity on stage in general.

Updated On: 2/11/07 at 11:59 AM

And AMEN Curtainpulldowner!! If the reason some of these kids are missing shows is because of school...well, then I say wait to pursue your career until AFTER you have graduated!! What a cop-out!

I'm not sure if you mean high school or college, but it's good to have actors who are actually the same age as their characters. If they were to wait until after college, you would have 22-23-24 year olds playing 14-15 year olds. So what if they're in school? It's not that big of a problem to have the principle actor for a part out because of school, especially if they have wonderful understudies.

Updated On: 2/10/07 at 08:21 PM

Yup, you've got me there. John Gallagher could pass for 17 in my opinion. But I do like that some of the cast are quite young. I don't know how the show would be if it were cast with all 20-somethings.

I completely agree. I mean, I DO understand the opinion that they might want to go a little more for the college students, or people of that AGE, because they might have more of the time to do it. But at the same time, it's really refreshing to see kids up there who.. ARENT that far from the ages they're supposed to be playing. I have NO problem with Johnny being 22, Jon Groff being 21, etc, because they absolutely look young enough. And they ARE young still. But- and I believe Lauren and Jon mentioned this in one of the interviews they've done- if you got much older, what you'd get is 25 and 26 year olds that might even LOOK the right ages, but that can't relate to the material as well anymore. The way they have it now, what makes it work so well is that they're all still going THROUGH the things they're going through in the play. And if they aren't, it's only been a couple of years since they've grown out of it. And personally, I'd prefer it that way, and risk the acting of the minor characters being a little bit underdeveloped or them being out every once in a while, then to have an older cast but have it not feel as real.

(aaand of course, that being said, I also get very biased and when the current cast gets older and are around 25 or 26, I'll prob be saying that I want them to still be in it despite their ages, just like I was with the RENT obc and the RENT movie, but, you know, thats just my bias haha)

woah, sorry guys, I'm in a MAJOR rambling mood. and I bet NONE of that made any sense. oy.

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umm No one in the cast looks 14 except like Remy and Phoebe and Jenifer. The rest all look 19-22. Which they are. And the show still works brilliantly. MOST people who see the show have NO idea that the characters are suppose to be 14/15 years old. So honestly it does not matter if you have people 19-23 years of age playing the roles. As long as they can pass for 17-21 and who arent actually too old like late 20's as people have said. It still works brilliantly. A lot of people keep saying they should keep actual 14 15 16 years olds in the show because the ones writing those comments are probably that young and see that as chance to be in Spring Awakening. LOL!!! J/K. No but seriously, they need to have older young adults as the leads(Wendla, Melchoir, Moritz, George, and Hanschen) because they are most demanding (acting, vocally) and need a great polished actor/singer who has the experince in performance and life. I am sorry but I can not see a 15 yearold playing Melchoir and carrying a whole show like this. And I dont ever seeing that happening. The Youngest they may get for Melchoir is like 19. Same for wendla and moritz. and plus no one under 18 will ever play Wendla because of the whole nudity/sex thing. But they can mix younger kids in as Thea, Anna, Ernst, Otto, and so on. But Spring Awakening will never be made up of a Cast filled of 14/15 year olds. And they will never find great talend in the late teens early 20's who truly look 14.Lets be real. And they dont need to. As stated before, the show still works with kids who play 17-21. Most people dont know they kids are suppose be 14/15. They probably think 17-21. ok I rambled enough. haha

I TOTALLY agree Lauren. And yeah, when I said they look young, I def didn't mean 14-15. None of the leads look 14-15, mostly because at 14-15 you still are even fully developed- they're still small and going through the "akward stage and everything-, and all of them are out of that stage. haha. But anyway, yeah, you CANNOT have 14-15 year olds playing the lead roles. Not just because they're very demanding- even if you took that factor out, it would still be not okay. I mean, people are making such a big deal out of the sex scene NOW, imagine if they came in and saw 14-15 year olds doing that on stage! I know the characters are supposed to be that age, but I can guarantee that it would make a LOT more people more uncomfortable with the show. That's just too young. But it IS nice to have the ensemble be younger.

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edit: woops, you edited your post! lol

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Updated On: 2/11/07 at 11:25 AM

"But hasn't Lea Michele been playing Wendla since she's been like 14? Sure those were various workshops and such and maybe it's a special case in which she's had the experience since then, but she was very young when first starting out in the role and no one seemed to have a problem with it."

But those were just various workshops and readings, not full blown productions.

"Phoebe Strole is 23 and Johnny Gallagher is 22, and they both play 14 year olds"

yes but they look at least 18....

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He says something that the need to look 14/15. Well you just need to go see the show and see they didnt stick with that idea when the cast the show. lol I said everything in my last post. ^

if they put young kids in the show, they should be the smaller roles def. The 3 leads, George, Hanschen, and Ilse should all be 18-23. And the casting people know this. They are not dumb. Plus, if there is ever a National Tour of Spring Awakening, I HIGHLY doubt minors will be cast. They don't want to be dragging parents and tutors along...and paying for them! lol

Updated On: 2/11/07 at 08:10 PM

can I just say, it amazes me that Lea is only 20. She seriously has ALL the acting chops of a pro, and she is incredible. I think she and Johnny are definitely the ones you can tell have had a lot of stage experience already. Although Jon Groff is really not far behind at ALL- and besides he has such an amazing stage precense that it puts him just as high as them in my book :P Jon Wrights pretty darn far up there too- you can tell he's really well trained both in acting and singing.

aaand I realize now that there wasn't too much of a point to my post.. except just to gush more about how much I love the cast *g*

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