Charlotte 02/06/10 matinee

So, after two years of being obsessed with Spring Awakening, I finally saw the show today. It’s strange, because for so long I’ve felt like the show has described my phase of life. The OCR has been in my car’s CD player more than any other CD, and I already knew most of the lines and blocking (which is kind of pathetic but true). I knew pretty much everything a person could know about the show without actually seeing it. Right now I’m still in kind of a state of shock that it’s actually happened, but I’ll try to express my thoughts as coherently as possible.

Walking into the auditorium and seeing the iconic set for the first time in real life was overwhelming, to say the least. And, as I’m sure most of you veterans know, it’s kind of hilarious to listen to other people’s conversations before the show starts, since many audience members are season ticket holders who don’t know much about SA. But anyway, on with the actual show. . .

General thoughts:

-The lighting, of course, was far more amazing and intricate than I ever imagined. Maybe my favorite lighting of any show I’ve ever seen. I especially loved the colored spotlights that would come down on the actors, like the bluish purple one that comes down on Ilse during Blue Wind. I think my absolute favorite lighting moment, though, is when Frau Bergman and the abortion doctor are standing downstage on opposite sides of the stage. The harsh lights kind of criss-cross to make an X, casting creepy shadows on their faces. (Random: the moon in another scene kind of reminded me of Hair. But I guess Kevin Adams is allowed to recycle his ideas ? )
-Hearing the harmonies live was absolute heaven. There are so many that I didn’t know about, like how everyone sings “ah” while Melchior is singing Left Behind.
-I was surprised to see Krista and Chase since I expected that they would be listed on the understudy board if they were going on. I guess I just thought that because they are technically “offstage swings” even if they do go on all the time. Not that I minded or anything; they were great and I like all the swings.
-While I really liked most of the actors, I felt like, in general, the acting was a little physically over-exaggerated. Like, the actors would over-emphasize their blocking so that it didn’t seem natural. Maybe this is just because the tour cast was directed to act to bigger houses? Or maybe it’s just me imagining things.

The show chronologically:

MWBM: Beautiful, of course, but I felt like the show started kind of abruptly. Like the house lights went off and BAM, there was Christy singing without warning. I really wish there were just a few bars of an overture or something to set the mood.

The Stork: This scene would be much better if Angela, and Christy to an extent, were a little more subtle. It would still be funny if it weren’t so over the top. Actually, Angela could stand to be more subtle in most of her characters except for Frau Gabor.

MWBMR: I know this has been said by other people, but the staccato-ness bothered me. It was still awesome, though, and way more powerful than any of their atrocious promo videos. Also, I like how Ilse starts off sitting on the table thing when everyone else is in chairs. That IS something Ilse would do.

All the schoolroom scenes: Great acting here by all the boys and John. Lots of pieces flew off the stick, but I knew to expect that. I like how Andy smirks when Moritz messes up, and Anthony’s face when they talk about Otto dreaming about his mother is adorable and hilarious. Oh, and of course this was the first appearance of the AMAZING Taylor Trensch. I had no idea what to expect from him, but from the moment I saw his posture, before he even began to speak, I knew it was going to be good. And he just kept surpassing my expectations over and over again throughout the show.

ATK: Jake’s voice disappointed me here. It was just kind of weak and nasally. I thought it didn’t bode well for the rest of the show, but his voice improved a lot as the show went on. (Acting-wise, though, he was a superb Melchior for the entirety of the show. Although I didn’t like how he delivered the line “Oh, THAT kind of dream;” on that particular line he was trying too hard for obvious laughs instead of just being effortlessly charming and funny.)

BOL: More of Taylor being awesome, basically, and all the other boys too. Like MWBMR, it was a million times better than the promo video that should never have been released for human viewing. I like how Moritz goes up and sings right in front of the Adult Man, as if to say “in your face.”

MJ: Gabby is nowhere near as bad as people make her out to be, but she still annoys me since Anna is my favorite character and I feel like she should have a lot more personality. Kimiko was cute and pleasantly surprised me. The song itself was good, not much to say about it.

TM: My favorite song in the show, but I missed a lot of it by trying to take in too much of what was going on at the same time. This is one why I can’t wait to see the show more—so I can look at what different people are doing on different parts of the stage. I do like how, at the beginning, Jake can’t take his eyes off Steffi as if she embodies what he is describing.

WOYB: The scene was beautifully awkward, and the song was just beautiful. Except that Christy looks like a midget compared to Jake (although that could make sense, character-wise, since it makes Melchior’s semi-taking advantage of Wendla more poignant). And I found the bright orange round sun light thing on the stage left wall kind of distracting, just because it’s so big.

I Passed: Love for Taylor’s dance. Also for the way he hugs all the boys but skips Hanschen, just exchanging kind of a short look of mutual resentment with Hanschen instead.

TDIKW: My surprise favorite moment of the show. Sarah just blew me away with both her acting and vocals, and Steffi far surpassed my expectations too (I hadn’t really been able to picture her as Ilse until I actually saw her in character). The single red neon bar of light is so chilling. Also, I hadn’t realized that the ensemble girls join Martha and Ilse at the end, which I think is awesome and shows that so many girls today still go through the same suffering. There was just a moment of shock when the song ended before people started clapping. And Sarah was wiping away tears all though the beating scene, which blows me away since I am an acting student and I so admire her ability to be so affected by her character every day even though she’s been doing this for over a year. Sarah, along with Taylor, was probably my standout performance of the night, not just for TDIKW but for all the random moments where she’s so in character throughout the show.

Beating Scene: Ugh. I was dreading it, and for good reason. Of course people laughed. Also, I think Melchior needs more of a transition. One second he’s protesting about hitting Wendla, and the next he’s suddenly punching her and calling her a bitch. I feel like we just need a few more moments in between to build up the primal anger. But I know TGOers have been over this scene again and again, so I’ll move on.

I Failed: I was so heartbroken for Moritz. It was beautifully acted by both John and Taylor; however, I think one decisive slap would have more of an emotional resonance than the three slaps that are in there.

ATTWN: God, Moritz is such a wonderfully written character with an amazing character arc. This song is his build-up of frustration (a build-up which Melchior so lacks in the beating scene). The climax of ATTWN, I feel, is Moritz’s point of no return. Yes, later on Ilse gives him a tantalizing, heartbreaking chance, but he can’t take it because he’s already made his choice and pulled out the gun right here.

MBN: Absolutely gorgeous. I love the twinkling blue lights, and Jake makes the potentially-ridiculous-looking choreography look like it really means something. This was when his voice suddenly started to improve, too.

IB: Of everything in the show, this was what almost made me cry. Just the sheer beauty and emotion of it were overwhelming. It was perfect.

And. . . intermission. I can’t believe I’m only halfway through the show with this novel of a review, but I’ll post the second part soon. It should be a lot shorter.