Student Blog: The Spring Awakening reunion, Was Something I Didn't Knew I Needed

At the beginning of this month, Spring Awakening: Those you've known premiered on HBO and everybody knew it would be iconic, since the moment we saw the pictures of the cast last year at the rehearsals. I can't imagine how it felt being in that crowd the day of the concert, watching this group of people perform after many years with the same energy as then, even though they're not that group of teenagers anymore.

First of all, I think Spring Awakening is one of the most beautiful and tragic stories I've ever seen and it's amazing how it was written in 1891 but it still has an impact today, not only in the theater because of the musical, but also in life itself. Sadly, there are places where children are abused, where they have too much pressure to be perfect that they give up, where the information it's not something they have, where parents are still blind about stuff that is more important than they think and that is why innocents have a tragic ending, instead of a happy future.

I know this show, because a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to watch the play in Mexico City, I didn't knew anything about it, the characters or the story itself, I just heard a little bit of the plot and felt so curious, so I told my parents that I wanted to go to a small theater for the first time in years, to see this play. That really surprised them, because I've always loved art in many of its forms, but the fact that I started to search for musicals and plays near me and wanted to go every week, made them wonder if this was just a phase or if I had discovered something that could be more than a plan for the weekend.

After the play ended, I was crying and my dad was hugging me. I was feeling excited because of the work of art I've seen on stage, so emotional and sad because of the ending of the story and so overwhelmed, but in a good way. Spring Awakening became so important to me, because from that moment on I realized how much I needed theater in my life and once again it showed me how stories can be so powerful. A few days later, I remember looking for the songs of the Broadway musical and I listened to the whole original Broadway cast recording. It was magical how the story was told with rock songs, and how the lyrics were as touching as the dialogues I've heard live.

So watching this reunion and learning more about the work behind the musical from Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater themselves, was so incredible. Being able to see Jonathan Groff performing "Those You've Known", Lili Cooper and Lauren Pritchard "The Dark I Know Well" and John Gallager "Don't Do Sadness", broke me again because of their passion and those strong lyrics . But also made me so happy to see them together again singing with all that energy and emotions "Totally Fucked" and "The Song Of Purple Summer".

I could talk for hours and hours about why I think this as a play or a musical should be something that every teenager should watch, listen or read, because nowadays art can save lives in many ways and if Spring Awakening made me want theater to be part of my life and suddenly it became one of my favorite places in the world; imagine what a young guy or girl can learn from this story that talks about growing up physically and emotionally, about relationships with parents and friends, about love, sadness, and about how sometimes life hits us so hard that we have make an adult decision, even if we feel like lost children such as Melchior, Wendla, Moritz, Ilse, Hänschen or Martha.