Marlee Matlin and Camryn Manheim to Exit Broadway's SPRING AWAKENING Before Closing Next Month

BroadwayWorld has learned that due to prior commitments, Marlee Matlin and Camryn Manheim will play their final performances in Deaf West Theatre's Broadway production of SPRING AWAKENING on January 10, 2016. Their roles will be filled by Alexandria Wailes and Elizabeth Greene, respectively, and the show will close on January 24 as scheduled.

This history-making production is performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken English by a cast of 28. It began previews on September 8 and opened on September 27; the limited engagement will end on Broadway January 24. The show recently announced plans for a national tour to begin in 2017.

The production also recently received six LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, including Best Musical. SPRING AWAKENING came to Broadway following an extended, critically-acclaimed engagement at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles where the show was expanded from its original, sold-out run at the Rosenthal Theatre in downtown L.A.

Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's SPRING AWAKENING, directed by Michael Arden and choreographed by Spencer Liff, plays at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street). Deaf West Theatre was last represented on Broadway with the triumphant production of Big River in 2003.

The 28-member Broadway cast of SPRING AWAKENING is Robert Ariza, Miles Barbee, Katie Boeck, Alex Boniello, Joshua Castille, Lizzy Cuesta, Daniel N. Durant, Treshelle Edmond, Sandra Mae Frank, Kathryn Gallagher, Sean Grandillo, Elizabeth Greene, Russell Harvard, Amelia Hensley, Van Hughes, Lauren Luiz, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winnerCamryn Manheim, Daniel Marmion, Academy and Golden Globe Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Marlee Matlin, Austin McKenzie, Andy Mientus, Anthony Natale, Patrick Page, Ren, Krysta Rodriguez, Daniel David Stewart, Ali Stroker, Alexandria Wailes, Alexandra Winter, and Alex Wyse.

SPRING AWAKENING's creative team is Dane Laffrey (scenic and costume design), Ben Stanton (lighting design), Gareth Owen (sound design), and Lucy Mackinnon (projection design). New York casting is by Telsey + Company/Craig Burns, CSA. Original casting was by Beth Lipari and Bruce Newberg.

Based on Frank Wedekind's controversial 1891 expressionist play of the same name and featuring an electrifying pop/rock score, SPRING AWAKENING follows the lives of a group of adolescents as they navigate their journey from adolescence to adulthood in a fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll. An extraordinary creative team including Michael Arden and Spencer Liff has reinvented the groundbreaking musical about lost innocence and the struggles of youth in true Deaf West style.

Following its transfer from Atlantic Theatre Company to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre, the original production of SPRING AWAKENING was the recipient of eight 2007 Tony Awards including Best Musical; four Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical; three Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Musical; two Lucille Lortel Awards including Outstanding Musical; the Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical; and the 2007 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical. Amidst critical reception for Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's rock score, including the Tony Award for Best Score and Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics, SPRING AWAKENING launched the careers of its young actors now known for their film, television and theater work.

SPRING AWAKENING is produced by Ken Davenport, Cody Lassen, Hunter Arnold, David J. Kurs, and Deaf West Theatre, with Carl Daikeler, Sandi Moran, Chockstone Pictures, Caiola Productions, Marguerite Hoffman, H. Richard Hopper, LearyTodd Productions, MarKolTop Productions, R&D Theatricals, Brian Cromwell Smith, Invisible Wall Productions, Monica Horan Rosenthal, and Associate Producer Kayla Greenspan.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus