Spring Awakening Reviews- Page 4

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:45pm

CPD, the producers don't get paid until everyone else involved in the production is paid. If no money is made, they are the ones who walk away with nothing.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:50pm

Well, if they have to depend on the audiences getting their sh*t together they are up a creek without a paddle.
All I am saying is they could not sell the show to audiences so far, so I hope they come up with a new plan.
Isherwood's review was to be expected so they have work to do..
I guess this means Brantley will review THE APPLE TREE and people will flock to see Paris Hilton, I mean Cheno in THE APPLE TREE, and more interesting Theatre will still have a hard time.

Some "working producers" do get paid it's the backers who wait to see profits. Updated On: 12/10/06 at 10:50 PM

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:52pm

I know it is very early to consider this, but what do y'all think of Spring Awakening's chances at a Tony nod for best musical now that these reviews are out? It seems like it should have a good shot.

[Come Back to Me]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:53pm

I hope so.... and hopefully it's still open in June.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:55pm

That's true, CPD, but the much bigger piece of the budget pie goes toward the cast, crew, staff, press agents, advertising, theater rental, musicians, etc. All 20 producers means is that they each get a smaller piece of the pie than if there were fewer.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:55pm

At this point I think it has an excellent chance at a nom.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:08pm

CurtainPullerDowner always knows a way to bring things down. We're happy here and don't need your crap.

"I guess this means Brantley will review THE APPLE TREE and people will flock to see Paris Hilton, I mean Cheno in THE APPLE TREE, and more interesting Theatre will still have a hard time."

Why the hell are you comparing Paris Hilton to Kristin Chenoweth?

Updated On: 12/10/06 at 11:08 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:19pm

They are both blonde and ditzy! Well Kristin only has a record of playing ditzy characters, but since the trendy opinion is that she just plays herself, she therefore is ditz! Look at me with my logic! Oohhhh.



I'm so happy for SA. W00T.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:21pm

"People wanna see Paris Hilton in the Apple Tree"
"Who wants to see Paris Hilton in The Apple Tree?"
-title of show

Congrats, Spring Awakening!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:26pm

I guess you didn't see or hear the CD of (title of show)
I didn't get the name CPD fer nothing.
I liked SPRING AWAKENING and I hope it runs but I am just a commenter on the the state of Theatre as anyone else hee.

Updated On: 12/10/06 at 11:26 PM

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:31pm

Downer, I'm so glad that you foresaw Isherwood's review as a fait accompli rave. Honestly, I'm glad that all of your resignation to the show actually having a good night with the press across the boards (save Murray's rant) is tied to this one writer. I'd love to know what Brantley thought, regardless of how the editors decided to assign the story.

In other sports news, it is not audiences that need to focus here. It's the producers and the marketing team. Three-page spreads in THE NEW YORK TIMES (or 30-second TV spots here in New York) only work for a certain segment of the buying public. The diversified and highly targeted media channels available today need to be better leveraged to propel the buzz.

They're already doing this with some limited clips on YouTube; those need to be expanded. And, the cast recording is getting special play on college radio stations (see VARIETY story last week). They need to be doing a promotion with moms on iVillage. And, if there is any way to get "Purple Summer" performed on either TODAY or GOOD MORNING, AMERICA sometime in coming weeks -- well, that's a homerun. Despite any interest that Rosie might have to put this on THE VIEW, Barbara Walters would never hear of it. Right now, a morning show won't touch it because the marketing message isn't perfectly clear on what this show wants to be, who it wants to reach. For it to make a weekly magazine cover, it's gotta be pitched alongside a larger story about "teens and sex," which is tough sell. Or, it's gotta go big with awards nominations come spring.
Updated On: 12/10/06 at 11:31 PM

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:32pm

"I guess you didn't see or hear the CD of (title of show)"

Whoops, Sorry. I didn't hear TITLE OF SHOW.

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:01am

I was at the show tonight. It was AMAZING. Extended applauses after 'Bitch of Living' and 'Totally F**ked.' Three or four bows at the end. Packed house full of people loving it and cheering after every song. The entire cast was spot on and fantastic. None of them missed a beat.

I'm really excited that a majority of the reviews are good.

[BitchofaLiving]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:23am

I am sad I missed opening night. Had the chance to see it a week ago and I am seeing it again next Sunday. This show has me distracted from whatever else is happening on Broadway, besides the closing of TWS. I have been telling everyone I know about this show. I'm not one to base an opinion on another's review. I feel as though I must see something for myself in order to judge it. I could care less if others disagree with my liking the show. It entertains me, it moves me and it leaves me an adrenaline high only a select few shows have evoked. It has become my new reason for coming to NYC every other weekend.

PS...I wish they would market broadway shows in Philadelphia. I think people forget house easy it is to hop a train from 30th Street station and connect to NJT via NE Corr at Trenton. I belong to playbill.com and when my mom asked for my Christmas list I decided to browse the Broadway shows and make a list of ones I had not seen yet. Spring Awakening was listed and I had never heard of it, so, I clicked on the link and read up. Then I visited the website. It is all very interesting how I came to find out about this show. It was meant to be though. I fell in love.

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:44am

I agree with Matt Windman. I thought the show (the music and the actors were perfect in every way) It is a brilliant show with gorgeous music. In my opinion it will get many Tony nominations as well as Drama Desk Nominations. It moved me and I am not the target market for this show. Congratulations, Spring Awakening!
Bravo!
PS Corine's Corner is a rave!

The Bitch of Living..... I LOVE THAT SONG!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated On: 12/11/06 at 12:44 AM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:48am

Terrific. Here's to a Best Show Tony. Really, what could compete?

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:51am

Grey Gardens.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:51am

John Simon Raves:

"Shows can be innovative without being good or vice versa. But when ``Spring Awakening,' a new musical, is both, it is grounds for cheering. It has been compared to ``Rent,' but in my view, it is more original and, quite simply, better. This ``Spring Awakening' may well be the first truly 21st-century musical on Broadway.

Based on the 1891 ``children's tragedy' by Frank Wedekind, it was a sensation in its day and periodically has been revived to good effect. Steven Sater, librettist and lyricist, and Duncan Sheik, a pop star and serious composer, began turning it into a musical in 1999. After many workshops, concert performances and delays, ``Spring Awakening' opened last summer at the Atlantic Theater Company and was an instant success.

I feared that something might be lost in the move to Broadway, as so often happens. On the contrary: With considerable rewriting, it is now better than before, having lost none of its immediacy while gaining in impact.

_______________________________________________________________

But what is gained is Sheik's propulsive alternative rock score, which knows when to soften for romantic or wistful numbers. Cannily orchestrated by Sheik, with adroit vocal and additional arrangements by AnnMarie Milazzo and Simon Hale, it achieves a seductive sound that most recent Broadway musicals have lacked.

Sater's verses are nothing if not lyrical, sometimes even a bit too sophisticated for the kids from whom they issue.
________________________________________________________________

Though effective in performance, Sater's book elicits discomfiting second thoughts. There is a basic discrepancy between the plot, names (funny if you know German, albeit mispronounced here) and costumes that are 1890 Germany, and a language that is very American, very now. These talkers sound too emancipated and streetwise for the situations they are in.

There is inventiveness in the alternating use of body, handheld and standing mikes, in the way disparate actions are shown contiguously or in bold crosscutting. Bill T. Jones's youthfully evocative choreography -- it is unlike the dancing anywhere else on Broadway -- is idiosyncratic yet mesmerizing and deserves its own accolades for advancing the form. Kevin Adams's lighting, enhanced by a good deal of neon is, well, electrifying, and Susan Hilferty's period costumes are scrupulously appropriate.
_______________________________________________________________


I could also have wished for a less obviously feelgood ending than one in which the quick and the dead join hands in a hopeful anthem. But enough carping. ``Spring Awakening' strikingly augurs the genre's future.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=akDdcnRDG0LQ&refer=muse

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:57am

Damn! Even John Simon likes it! This is amazing!

Best Score, Best Musical, here we come!

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:02am

What exactly is "Bloomberg"? I've never heard of John Simon.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:18am

Do a search -- Simon has been one of the most famous, provocative and controversial critics of the American theatre for the past 40+ years. He moved over to Bloomberg last year after being fired by New York Magazine after being their main theatre critic since the 1960s. Love him or hate him -- and MANY detest him -- he's always interesting to read.


Newark Star-Ledger is a Rave

" A gorgeous score. A passionate story. A charismatic production.

Everybody weary of jukebox shows, so-what revivals and tuners tepidly derived from movies definitely should grab a ticket for this compelling musical that premiered yesterday at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre after a hit off-Broadway stint.

Bold, brooding "Spring Awakening" may shock ultra-traditionalists, but it's the most explosive new musical since "Rent."
______________________________________________________________

Glowing under bursts of neon, designer Christine Jones' austere environment allows the episodic narrative to roll out fluently.

Driven by the post-modern restlessness of Bill T. Jones' choreography, director Michael Mayer's thoughtful staging vividly compliments the edgy truths expressed by Sater's pointed text and Sheik's haunting music. Sorrowful as it may be, "Spring Awakening" is a remarkable musical that every generation is likely to appreciate now and in years to come."



http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/1165815354294600.xml&coll=1

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:25am

Sorry, I don't know why I just didn't Wikipedia him, but thank you very much for the info Margo.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:41am

NY Sun is a Rave:

"Every now and then, critics get a chance for a do-over. Case in point: "Spring Awakening," the rock-music reimagining of Franz Wedekind's 1891 broadside against the sexual hypocrisies of provincial Germany. When it opened off-Broadway this summer, I could barely wait to get home and type the following:

"‘Spring Awakening' is the most thrilling rock musical of the last decade."

Six months later, as so often happens, passions have simmered. Opinions have deepened and clarified. So allow this cooler head to modify the above sentence. "Spring Awakening" is, in my measured opinion, the most thrilling rock musical ever.

Perhaps not the best rock musical ever: Other works can lay a firmer claim on the grounds of historical significance ("Hair"), stylistic versatility ("Rent"), or iconoclastic muscle ("Hedwig and the Angry Inch"). But until their somewhat muddled ending, veteran pop composer Duncan Sheik ("Barely Breathing") and lyricistbookwriter Steven Sater capture the melancholy and mortification of adolescence with all of the intensity it deserves and none of the condescension it so often receives. They have written at least a dozen sublime pop songs, any one of which would constitute a highlight in most Broadway musicals, and director Michael Mayer has assembled a superb young cast that meets every one of the considerable demands made upon them.

The result is, with apologies to Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson's masterful pas de deux of codependency in "Grey Gardens," the musical event of the year."

http://www.nysun.com/article/44906

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:47am

These reviews are wonderful. I'm so happy for Spring Awakening and everyone involved!!!


(Threadjack- Becoz I knew you 21, get yourself a [title of show] CD!!! Can't recommend it enough]

[McFrenzied]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 2:20am

Congratulations Spring Awakening cast, crew and producers! Well deserved. Some of the best, across the board reviews of any musical in recent memory!