SPRING AWAKENING. I can't think of a better time to write about Spring Awakening, which is currently enjoying a successful run at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The story, based on a controversial 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, captures the tension between adolescent passion and adult repression in a German town in the 19th Century. The dialogue is (intentionally) stiff, like an early English translation of Wedekind's play, but when the performers deliver the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater songs, it's as if their microphones finally enable them to pour out feelings that have been bottled up far too long. The contrast is unusual and effective.

The vocal scoring of Spring Awakening exposes many individual parts but the casting of the production is impressively deep, with many of the performers--not just stars Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher, Jr.--possessing strong and beautiful voices. I was impressed by Brian Charles Johnson and Jonathan B. Wright and most especially Lauren Pritchard (left), who plays the non-conformist Ilse with disarming quirkiness and also has this MySpace page.

The music director for Spring Awakening is the amazing Kimberly Grigsby (right), previously noted here for her conductorship of the Summer 2005 Two Gentlemen of Verona, which should still be playing today. This woman simply casts a spell on me: I didn't realize she was at a Spring Awakening event at the Virgin Megastore until a glimpse of her graceful hand movements caught my attention....

My enthusiasm for the show has grown since I saw it and gave the cast recording a number of spins.

Here's "The Bitch of Living," featuring choreography by Bill T. Jones that reminds me of Trish Sie's routines for OK Go.



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