Heartbreaking Collision, Heart Lifting Dance in Spring Awakening @ Beck Center 2/3/12
Reviewed by Laura Kennelly
The first time I saw Spring Awakening (in New York) I thought it was all about a heartbreaking collision between repressive adults and the sexuality of their adolescent charges. That’s still the general impression, but after watching this absolutely smashing rock musical at the Beck Center I realized it was also about a life force, pulsing everywhere, that keeps this earth spinning merrily (or not so merrily) along. Directed by Victoria Bussert, with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, it’s based on a late-nineteenth-century play by Frank Wedekind, but its story isn’t out of date. It dramatically reflects the universal tension between youth’s reckless desire and age’s experience (which, alas, isn’t the same thing as wisdom).
That dynamic shines forth from the simple stage set that becomes, in turn, a school, a meadow, a home, and (sadly) a cemetery. It’s also a fine platform for creative and appealing movement as the dozen plus talented cast members (all Baldwin-Wallace College music theatre majors) bend, twist, jump, and soar through songs wistful (“Mama Who Bore Me”) and rebellious (“The Bitch of Living”). It’s hard to sit still during the plentiful musical numbers played by conductor/keyboardist Ryan Fielding Garrett and his six-piece orchestra. The exuberant young cast makes dancing seem effortless (illusion, I know).
Told from a frustrated teen’s point of view, adults here are either naive or cruel. Scott Plate, as the “Adult Man” creates a terrifying authoritarian teacher (as well as a quack doctor and a father) while Laura Perrotta as the “Adult Female” plays an equally wicked piano teacher as well as a distraught mother. They both rip through their “bad guy” roles with a satisfying relish as they dispense nothing but trouble to the youth.
The written word lends another key element, almost becoming another character (perhaps the ghost of the original author hiding in his play) because the plot turns, in part, on two key pieces of paper: one explaining the mechanics of sex, the other expressing love and devotion. As the story makes clear, simply knowing about sex in this repressive culture isn’t enough to protect one from that culture. And neither is love.
Note to parents: Unless you’re prepared to have “the talk,” don’t take pre-teens (mild nudity and lots of sex talk).
[Photo: Boys singing: From left to right, Baldwin-Wallace Music Theatre students Chris Cowan (Ernst), Zach Adkins (Melchior), James Penca (Moritz), and Nick Varricchio (Hanschen) in Beck Center’s production of Spring Awakening, February 3 through March 4 on the Mackey Main Stage. (Photo: Ben Meadors Photography)]
Tickets are $28 for adults, $25 for seniors (65 and older) and $17 for students (with valid ID). An additional $3 service fee per ticket is applied at the time of purchase. Purchase tickets online at http://BeckCenter.org or call Customer Service at (216) 521.2540. Beck Center is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood.
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.