Spring Awakening - Budapest

[candy]

No, I passed on it last time I had a chance in favor of another show (not sure if you're aware, but the show played in Thalia theater, which is this tiny little theater, rather than their main theater, so it usually played simultaneously with something else, and we were interested in seeing everything), which I now regret since I'd have loved to see Máté or Dávid as Moritz and now I don't think I'll be able to again.  Anyhow, my friend actually came back with a very positive review, and she typed up her thoughts too if you want me to go copy and paste them.

[Jen]

A review would be amazing!

[candy]

She had seen Spring Awakening on B'way before, except she had really disliked her Moritz.  In any case, she saw both Vienna and Budapest's Spring Awakening this last May (yeah, I skipped out on going to Vienna too).
Spring Awakening Review - Vienna and Budapest.

There's not much to say about the Vienna version - it was very good, but pretty exactly the same as the broadway version.  Rasmus was awesome, and managed to age down perfectly.  

The Hungarian one was different.  If you're a Spring Awakening fan, see this production if you can; it's a different take and really really interesting, with a very solid cast.  The whole vibe of the beginning is different - it's lighter, at first very funny and enjoyable, not immediately ominous.  I liked that.  Some other differences:

The set:  the stage is a giant black box, rather than that like brick classroomy setup.  There are no bleachers onstage, and the only furniture is these transparent colored plastic box-things that get stacked up into chairs and tables and whatever.  They don't have the blue lights for I Believe, they do something with buckets of water instead.  They don't have the plants and open grave for Moritz, they do something with candles instead.

The characters:
Lots of the characters are interpreted differently.  For starters, the adults are actual characters, with personalities, rather than just The Teacher or The Parent or whatever.  The schoolmistress has a giant crush on her colleague, Moritz's dad is a sweet guy and kind of a dreamer, that kind of thing.  For the first 30 seconds after I realized they were doing it that way, I worried it was going to distract from the main plot and be annoying, but it turned out to be a really good idea instead.  It made the story seem more real and more easy to relate to.  Melchior is young and sort of naive - bright and idealistic still, but here you're more inclined to roll your eyes and sigh "Ah, youth!" when he talks, rather than plan to like enlist under his banner with the idea that he might actually make a difference someday.  Moritz is NOT an angsty, anxious fuckup who is constantly incompetent at life.  Rather, he's an overexcited and lovable puppy, who has an extremely sunny (if loopy) outlook on life at the beginning.  If you've ever read that kids book The Giver... he reminded me a lot of Asher.  Ilse looks like a homeless person, and looks haunted and crazy.  This makes her make more sense - her character has always seemed sort of random to me in the past, but in this production she's developed as like the Outsider - the one who lives outside of everything and isn't walking any of the possible paths that were open to her.  Her suffering has given her an empathetic, almost maternal attitude, and she's constantly showing up to offer others a way out when their situations have become intolerable.  No one follows her though, which is understandable given what a mess she is.  She serves as living proof that living outside the system isn't exactly an option, so it helps drive home how trapped the other characters are.

 Some scenes that were really different:  The school scene at the beginning is fucking hilarious.  The teacher is an awesome sarcastic jerk who flashes this oooh-boy-you're-in-trouble smile and reminds me a bit of Snape from the harry potter books (not the movie Snape, the book Snape).  He definitely takes pleasure in scaring the daylights out of Moritz.

The Dark I Know Well has Martha by herself writhing on a bed-thing, with a giant creepy shadow-silhouette of a man on the wall that makes caressy gestures and eventually begins to strip.  Ilse comes in with a knife and offers it to Martha. Together they murder a pillow, which bleeds everywhere.  

Touch Me... Moritz and Melchior's exploding sexuality kind of spills over onto each other in this scene; Melchior's giving Moritz a shoulder rub that they're both, separately, experiencing in a very sexual way.  Quite hot if I may say so.

For the scene with the switch... Wendla's not a such hapless clueless thing here.  She's simply aware that there's some experience she hasn't had, bad but powerful, and it makes her crazy not to know about it.  She already has the switch with her; she's been looking for Melchior, planning this.  Melchior is taken aback by her request and a tad freaked, but not so deeply troubled as in other versions. (In Vienna, Rasmus looked almost tortured there, really dreading it.  Like, "Melchior, would you put these hornets down your pants for me please?"  and he thinks it over and imagines what hell it's going to be, then braces up and decides he can endure it and nods.)  Here, he understands the need to understand - it's a drive he shares too.  And when she flips her skirt up, he's shocked but also delighted - by her daring, I think, not just by her butt.  He doesn't end up punching her, which is good because that's never made sense to me.  Guys rarely punch girls; when they lose control with a chick they're more apt generally to slap or shake or shove her.  But anyway.  Here, he's so frustrated that he can't make her feel, that he flings her down and whales crazily on her with the switch while she shrieks.  Afterwards, he runs away and she picks herself up slowly and walks off.  She's shaken and in pain, but also pensive.  Like "Oh, *that's* what it's like."

Moritz's breakdown was done amazingly well - it interested me in a way it usually doesn't, because Moritz usually comes across as a born victim who just never had a shot.  From the very first scene, the first time I saw the show on broadway and knew nothing about it, I was like "wow, that guy is totally going to off himself at some point."  But this time it was different.  You see that any neglect Moritz has experienced at home isn't the result of the father being a cold SOB, but the result of him being totally in love with the mother and just never able to pay Moritz any attention as a result.  When Moritz finally gets his attention away from mom to confess that he's failed, mom starts crying and the father suddenly has everything crashing down; the nice little successful life he thought they had going on is destroyed.  He takes off his belt but then can't bring himself to use it - he's shellshocked really, not angry.  You see why Moritz is so devastated to have disappointed him like this.  And Moritz is really desperate for absolution - he tries to hand him the belt again, but the father just stumbles off.  Moritz's letter to Melchior's mom is like a kid writing to Santa Claus - like he's crossing his fingers that it will work, but it's a farfetched and crazy idea.  That fails, and the friends show him zero sympathy, and then he's alone.  When Ilse comes to him he shows her the gun and she makes extreme efforts to connect with him - she holds him, they hook up, she pets his hair.  He's really tempted by her caring, but the life she offers is bizarre and he can't cope.  She eventually stumbles off knowing what he's about to do, and then once he does she comes back and they're spotlighted for a second in like a Mary-and-dead-Jesus pose.

Be warned: instead of just tormenting Melchior with Wendla's letter, the boys gang-rape him.  It's got a strobe light, but it's still sort of graphic, especially given details like the way he's limping afterwards, and the way one of the boys slaps his (bare) ass while he's lying curled up on the ground.

The graveyard scene is similar at first, but at the end Melchior strips down and then (a pregnant and not so homeless-looking) Ilse comes and covers him with a sheet.  For the finale, the boys and girls are also nudie (man-thongs and panties, actually), clutching sheets for cover.

Casting
Quick word on casting in case you didn't know how this works:  Instead of having one actor per role and understudies for when they're unavailable, what they do over there is have two different sets of actors for the leads - first cast and second cast.  They usually alternate every other day, and you might want to like plan tickets based on who you want to see.  I saw both casts, except one Moritz was out and so I saw the other twice.  Pirgel David is the one I saw, and he was awesome.  The guy I didn't see, Kerenyi Miklos Mate, has rocked the pants off every other role I've seen him in, so I'd totally recommend him too.  For Wendla, Zsuzsi has a better voice but her Wendla seems a little bit older, almost mischevious or a tad wicked.  The other girl's interpretation is probably a little closer to the broadway version, if that's what you're looking for.  The Melchiors were both good, and had similar takes on the role.

SECOND REVIEW REMOVED at request of author.  Sorry, guys.

[karebear88]

hey guys...we gotta get moving on the budapest script!

if we finish it...i PROMISE to type it up into a word document libretto that we can all print out

http://forum.theguiltyones.org/index.php/topic,15340.0.html

[wisdomsomehow]

hmm it all makes a lot more sense now, and those interpretations sound interesting, even if I don't think I agree with them.

[Rhi@nn0n]

Oh my god, after 48 pages of interpreting what Spring Awakening Budapest would actually be like, we finally know! THANK YOU!!!!   

[RaspberrySparkles]

Thank you! Part of the first review made me laugh haha =) It was good, thanks for letting us know! =)

[Dutch]

Thank you from me too, Candy, for both reviews.  There were very interesting to read.      Was  about Moritz parents though.  If they were constantly all over each other, how come Moritz would still need Melchoir's essay   

[maynotbecool]

I just posted in it! Come on guys, lets at finish the first act

[candy]

Thank you from me too, Candy, for both reviews.  There were very interesting to read.      Was  about Moritz parents though.  If they were constantly all over each other, how come Moritz would still need Melchoir's essay  

I doubt they discussed the actual mechanics of their, erm, closeness with him.  The parents seemed old-fashioned and formal - when he came to tell them he'd failed, they were sitting on separate chairs (those colored boxes, actually, since they don't have chairs onstage hehe) and dad was leaning towards her holding both her hands, like staring into her eyes.  He gave her a necklace, was hanging it around her neck and she was totally melted by what a sweetie he was, and that's what Moritz walked in on.  He was trying to get their attention, but at first the dad only glanced up and said "Moritz..." and gestured back and forth btwn himself and mom like "can't you see you're interrupting??"  When Moritz persisted, dad finally gave him his full attention... but only sort of.  He still had his body oriented towards mom and still was holding her hand, as if "as soon as I listen to whatever he's saying we'll pick up right where we left off, I promise."  You can see dad is actually a nice guy, and when Moritz started stuttering and couldn't confess right away, dad prompts him in a way that's encouraging (rather than ominous like some other versions).  Liking the parents actually made me hurt more for Moritz - you can't even tell yourself, "Ah screw them dude, they're assholes and nothing would ever be good enough for them anyway."  Here, they really are trying.  But he's clearly neglected anyway.
- person who wrote that review

[Dutch]

^^  Wow, that is a great and clear explanation,  i can picture that scene, as sad as it is      Thank you and the person who wrote that review   

[Jo$h]

Candy, can you elaborate a bit on the script? I don't speak a word of Hungarian, but after watching this production (yeah, no comment ) I realized that I could follow the dialog almost down to the specific line because of the way it was acted/the responses, etc. Do you know if the script was basically a direct translation or if they took liberties with it? And also with the songs?

[candy]

Candy, can you elaborate a bit on the script? I don't speak a word of Hungarian, but after watching this production (yeah, no comment ) I realized that I could follow the dialog almost down to the specific line because of the way it was acted/the responses, etc. Do you know if the script was basically a direct translation or if they took liberties with it? And also with the songs?

I didn't happen to notice any lyrics being different during the dialogs... but on the other hand, my hungarian and german are both bad, and while I know the english version pretty well I don't watch it enough to have memorized it all word for word.  Let me think about it more, though... I know there was a line in the Ilse/Moritz conversation that surprised me, but I don't remember if it was "Hey, they don't say that in the english version" or just "Wow, this never comes across that way in the english version".  Some of the lyrics are up here http://www.zeneszoveg.hu/egyuttes/3209/tavasz-ebredese-(musical)-dalszovegei.html but I don't think it's all of them.  And they're not in song-order, they're in alphabetical order, which is damn annoying.

[Dutch]

Could you write down the Hungarian titles of the songs in song order please, Carly ?   

[Jo$h]

Google Translate did a pretty bad job of making sense out of those lyrics, but I can tell a couple of em are really interesting. For example, Whispering is translated as "A Thousand Shadows". A lot of the songs seem to be pretty similar. Fascinating!

[Kate.]

I love that SOPS is "Amazing Magenta"

[we played pirates]

Continuing the Budapest love with a ton of photos I found... (not sure if this was posted... kind of too lazy to flip through 49 pages.)
http://www.gbfoto.hu/fotoalbum.php?a=2009-02-07_tavaszebredes_elso

[andulin]

This was a completely non-copy rights production at Budapest,actually a fantastic,strong and beautiful  one. Original creatives also liked it,as I know.The best thing  in theater is that plays can be interpreted in so many different ways.There is no Lawbook,or a Bible to stage "Spring".Imagine Hamlet staged always as Shakespeare did in his own time. If an original-cast actor was born blond or with curly hair,why should all the laters try to look the same,when they can all  have their personal look built from their own style.That goes for a whole interpretation,too.
I believed people who like this musical to be open-minded, as the piece itself. So don't be square-heads. Be happy Your fav raises different ideas and and solutions at different places.Some might work better than the"original" there,because people and cultures are different,too.In a theatrically more advanced country ,where the original Wedekind-play (have You read it yet?) is part of the theatrical culture,"Spring" might need more to it,as the (otherwise awesome,except for the mics) "original",the first interpretation.Maybe then it won't sadly be taken off in some weeks,as it happened in most european countries.I personally never favoured "copy" productions,an invention from the eighties (Cameron Macintosh,Webber productions).These are all about money for all kind of rights for the creatives.

So See first, Judge after.

[Kate.]

We're not judging! We love it!

[Alyce]

The only information we really had about the production was pictures, which were terribly far from the original version. In October someone who had actually SEEN the show gave a review and it all made much more sense, and I think everyone appreciated the explanation.

[janeanne]

I have to post this hear, because I have a feeling more people would be reading this thread than the Australian thread.  From an interview with the director of the Aussie production:

This production has been billed as a ‘non-replica’ production. Why did you choose to make this a non-replica production and how have you aimed to bring a ‘new aesthetic’ to the show?  Were you at all influenced by the non-Replica Hungary version?

I think it is a wonderful opportunity to give the show a strong Australian stamp. I also think it speaks to how confident Steven and Duncan are in the piece they’ve created that they were open to the idea of non replica. My experience is predominantly in text based theatre where I suppose almost all productions would be considered non replica. To be perfectly honest I probably wouldn’t have been that interested in the project if all I was doing was recreating someone else’s work. In regards to creating the aesthetic for the production I‘ve approached it as I would any other musical or play, I haven’t consciously tried to make it new or different, just to find the best and most powerful way to present the material.

In terms of the Hungarian production, I haven’t heard much about it except that they used disco cubes. We aren’t using disco cubes.

[RaspberrySparkles]

Love it.

[Kate.]

OH MY GOD.

That is fucking brilliant.

[Alyce]

They don't know what they're missing.

[maynotbecool]

OH MY DAMN!
THAT JUST MADE MY DAY!!!!