#1
Posted: 12/1/06 at 8:30am
I was hoping to catch Spring Awakening off-Broadway but I didn't get a chance to, so I was happy to hear about the transfer because I got a chance to see it. I'm also a fan of Duncan Sheik and more acoustic/string-heavy rock.
This show is enjoyable, but it does have a lot of problems that I think may be partially because it's a smaller show in a large space. I liked it, didn't love it, but I'm unsure if it's going to be able to find a big enough audience to make it. I have no doubt it will have a very dedicated following of those who do love it, I just don't know if that group will be big enough to keep it open without rave reviews from the critics. And since that's pretty much in line with a lot of the opinions I've been reading, I'll actually move on to specifics.
The good:
The score is gorgeous! The music to this is beautiful, and I'm still trying to decide if it is strong enough to carry the show through its problems. Lea Michele sounds wonderful and is captivating every time she sings this music. I think the general opinion that her performance has been "iffy" in the transfer comes from the fact that she's so great to watch when she sings, but her acting was far less impressive. She took my breath away in her opening number, and then underwhelmed me until her next song.
Jonathan Groff seemed a little iffy in act one, but in act two he came to life and his singing and acting were spot on. That's about the time I started getting engrossed in the characters as well. The adults were well done. Jonathan Wright is very good, very funny and interesting in his delivery. The cast as a whole is really good, especially considering how young everyone is.
The audience I saw the show with was very mixed in terms of how old people were, and the reception seemed surprisingly good across the board. People cheered and many stood at the end of the show. There were two elderly ladies sitting in front of me who I thought would have been cringing, but they were laughing near the end of the show. It may have been in a, "oh, youth" kind of eye-rolley way or out of enjoyment, I'm not sure, but either way it was a positive reaction. This show is very different from most of the work on Broadway right now, in a smaller, grittier less commercial riskier NY theater kind of way (which is very good!), but I wasn't sure how that would be received if people weren't fairly sure of what they were getting into when they got tickets.
The-- stuff I liked less:
The space may be too big for the show. I feel like there was stage movement added in to try to keep the stage occupied and the characters involved with the audience. A lot of the songs had uninvolved characters randomly walk across the stage. The show works best when the action is centralized or the characters are sitting near the end of the stage, and I think some of the personalities are getting lost in the big space between the stage, the ceiling, and the rear mezz (I was in the rear orchestra).
The score is so great, but the lyrics and book were a lot less great. I felt like the dialogue was going in and out of archaic sentence structure, and it didn't work well for me. I wanted either the whole play to be in older vernacular or to be in modern language (even with the late 1890s fashions and set up, I think all modern language still would have worked better than the mix), but it going back and forth depending on the character was eh for me. I'm also not sure the transitions between songs and unsung plot were great in a lot of places.
I never thought I'd prefer obvious head mics a la Rent and Brooklyn, but I think they would be much better in this show. The sound mixing was okay considering all the different mics they use, though some of the lyrics were a little muddled. From what I've read, it seems the sound aspect has much improved.
Sorry, I know a lot of people like him and some have been saying Tony-nom, but John Gallagher Jr.'s character bugged the heck out of me. I wasn't sympathetic to him because his character was so frenetic. Of course the idea of his story line was affecting, but I didn't feel like I connected to his character at all and that he was the weak link of the main cast. But he is definitely working his butt off, and maybe he just had an off night, so I'm glad other people are more appreciative of his performance than I was.
The stuff I didn't like at all:
The choreography actually made me laugh inappropriately. Dancing isn't central to this show by any means, but the bits of choreography that were in there I really didn't enjoy at all. I think maybe they were going for a very raw, confused, even trance-like state at points, but I did not think this worked at all. Every time there was an ensemble dancing number, I cringed inwardly.
The worst moment of the show for me was the second half of Totally F*****. Some may think singing "blah blah blah" over and over is edgy, I thought it was lazy. A part where everyone lines up and does the one thematic dance looked so sloppy and spastic rather than free and young. None of it worked for me at all.
So, in summary, I wanted to like this show more than I did, but I'd still recommend it for the score and for people who like different theater that isn't a BROADWAY SPECTACLE and may require an open mind. I wouldn't recommend this show for anyone easily offended or who loves only traditional musical theater.
Also, I now want Lea Michele to record an entire album of Duncan Sheik's music. That would be so great.
This show is enjoyable, but it does have a lot of problems that I think may be partially because it's a smaller show in a large space. I liked it, didn't love it, but I'm unsure if it's going to be able to find a big enough audience to make it. I have no doubt it will have a very dedicated following of those who do love it, I just don't know if that group will be big enough to keep it open without rave reviews from the critics. And since that's pretty much in line with a lot of the opinions I've been reading, I'll actually move on to specifics.
The good:
The score is gorgeous! The music to this is beautiful, and I'm still trying to decide if it is strong enough to carry the show through its problems. Lea Michele sounds wonderful and is captivating every time she sings this music. I think the general opinion that her performance has been "iffy" in the transfer comes from the fact that she's so great to watch when she sings, but her acting was far less impressive. She took my breath away in her opening number, and then underwhelmed me until her next song.
Jonathan Groff seemed a little iffy in act one, but in act two he came to life and his singing and acting were spot on. That's about the time I started getting engrossed in the characters as well. The adults were well done. Jonathan Wright is very good, very funny and interesting in his delivery. The cast as a whole is really good, especially considering how young everyone is.
The audience I saw the show with was very mixed in terms of how old people were, and the reception seemed surprisingly good across the board. People cheered and many stood at the end of the show. There were two elderly ladies sitting in front of me who I thought would have been cringing, but they were laughing near the end of the show. It may have been in a, "oh, youth" kind of eye-rolley way or out of enjoyment, I'm not sure, but either way it was a positive reaction. This show is very different from most of the work on Broadway right now, in a smaller, grittier less commercial riskier NY theater kind of way (which is very good!), but I wasn't sure how that would be received if people weren't fairly sure of what they were getting into when they got tickets.
The-- stuff I liked less:
The space may be too big for the show. I feel like there was stage movement added in to try to keep the stage occupied and the characters involved with the audience. A lot of the songs had uninvolved characters randomly walk across the stage. The show works best when the action is centralized or the characters are sitting near the end of the stage, and I think some of the personalities are getting lost in the big space between the stage, the ceiling, and the rear mezz (I was in the rear orchestra).
The score is so great, but the lyrics and book were a lot less great. I felt like the dialogue was going in and out of archaic sentence structure, and it didn't work well for me. I wanted either the whole play to be in older vernacular or to be in modern language (even with the late 1890s fashions and set up, I think all modern language still would have worked better than the mix), but it going back and forth depending on the character was eh for me. I'm also not sure the transitions between songs and unsung plot were great in a lot of places.
I never thought I'd prefer obvious head mics a la Rent and Brooklyn, but I think they would be much better in this show. The sound mixing was okay considering all the different mics they use, though some of the lyrics were a little muddled. From what I've read, it seems the sound aspect has much improved.
Sorry, I know a lot of people like him and some have been saying Tony-nom, but John Gallagher Jr.'s character bugged the heck out of me. I wasn't sympathetic to him because his character was so frenetic. Of course the idea of his story line was affecting, but I didn't feel like I connected to his character at all and that he was the weak link of the main cast. But he is definitely working his butt off, and maybe he just had an off night, so I'm glad other people are more appreciative of his performance than I was.
The stuff I didn't like at all:
The choreography actually made me laugh inappropriately. Dancing isn't central to this show by any means, but the bits of choreography that were in there I really didn't enjoy at all. I think maybe they were going for a very raw, confused, even trance-like state at points, but I did not think this worked at all. Every time there was an ensemble dancing number, I cringed inwardly.
The worst moment of the show for me was the second half of Totally F*****. Some may think singing "blah blah blah" over and over is edgy, I thought it was lazy. A part where everyone lines up and does the one thematic dance looked so sloppy and spastic rather than free and young. None of it worked for me at all.
So, in summary, I wanted to like this show more than I did, but I'd still recommend it for the score and for people who like different theater that isn't a BROADWAY SPECTACLE and may require an open mind. I wouldn't recommend this show for anyone easily offended or who loves only traditional musical theater.
Also, I now want Lea Michele to record an entire album of Duncan Sheik's music. That would be so great.
"I thought that that was just going to be a like one shot deal for me, you know, but they kept talking about it like, 'when we do the production, when we do the production', and I was like, 'yes, yes, when you do the production, cool, I will come and see it'". - John Gallagher Jr. on SA
