Review: SPRING AWAKENING at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Dear Readers, I should start by saying that “Spring Awakening”, the musical from Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater based on the 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, has never been one of my favorites.  But that first national tour and especially the 2012 local production from Balagan Theatre gave me a better appreciation for the show for what it is.  However, the current production from the 5th Avenue Theatre did not.

The bones of an interesting show are there from the original play, of a group of late 19th century German teens discovering who they are emotionally and, yes, sexually, in a world that doesn’t want to give them the tools to handle their burgeoning urges and questions.  We have the golden boy, Melchior (Ricky Spaulding) who thinks he has all the answers.  His best friend Moritz (Alexander Kilian) who struggles with most everything in this world.  And then there’s Wendla (Caitlin Sarwono) who has many questions about the changes in her body, but her mother keeps telling her tales of the stork.  They and their fellow teens try and navigate growing up with little to no help from the adults around them (all played by Dedra D. Woods and Michael Sharon).

But the rock score from Sheik and Slater and the way they chose to present the story always felt a little pandering to me.  It was mostly shock for shock’s sake.  Especially the original choreography, which 5thAvenue choreographer Katy Tabb seems to have aimed for, just feels like a lot of bumping and grinding and groping of themselves.  And the songs feel like so much flowery metaphorical prose that they never really say much and certainly don’t move the story forward.  And yet, it won multiple Tony’s.

But as I said, previous productions I’ve seen, especially that Balagan one that featured such local notable names as Diana Huey, Justin Huertas, and Jerick Hoffer (who you may be more familiar with as Jinkx Monsoon), managed to go beyond the shock value and tell an interesting story thanks to more subtle and layered performances.  Unfortunately, 5th Avenue director Jay Santos chose to just go for it with some heavy-handed direction, relying more on the more outrageous moments than the characters.  This resulted in a rather two-dimensional, one note show, and ultimately an ending that made little sense.

The cast is filled with talent.  Kilian as the broken and discarded Moritz manages some lovely moments especially when with another shining point for the evening, Lauren Drake as the “fallen” girl Ilse.  And both have some seriously killer vocals.  Woods as the cadre of “Adult Women” brings in some wonderful variety in her various characters making her a joy to watch.  And I must mention two of the supporting boys, Isaiah “Roze” Hsu as Georg and CJ Lorentz as Otto, who may not have had a ton of solo moments but made the most of the ones they did.

However, I was somewhat let down by the two leads whom I found seriously one note and thus gave a one note and boring story.  Sarwono has a great voice but lacked much depth in her character.  Similarly, Spaulding felt like a stereotypical trope and sadly didn’t seem to have the vocals needed to handle the role.  And finally, Sharon as the “Adult Men” has a powerful presence and vocal quality but lacked so much variation that I often wondered which of his characters he was playing.

Ultimately, this show just isn’t for me and this production certainly isn’t.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give the 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of “Spring Awakening” a flat and uninspired MEH.  Shock and awe are fine, but let’s give it some complexity.  Otherwise, it’s just akin to tabloid or reality TV trash.

“Spring Awakening” performs at the 5th Avenue Theatre through June 30th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

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