Spring Awakens at the Lyric Hammersmith

It is a rare thing in musical theatre that a show comes along that is vibrant, funny, touching, thought provoking, edgy, relevant, timeless and thoroughly entertaining. Spring Awakening is just that kind of rare thing. The Lyric, Hammersmith is the current home of the UK premiere production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's smash hit multi-Tony-Award-winning musical, vividly recreated from his original New York staging by director Michael Mayer.

Adapted from Frank Wedekind's uncompromising and controversial play, written in 1891, Spring Awakening tells the story of a group of German teenagers, desperately trying to come to terms with their sexual awakening in a society where adults rule with fear, violence and the misguided repression of sexual education. Amongst the group of adolescents is Wendla, whose mother refuses to explain to her where babies come from yet is horrified and surprised when her daughter becomes pregnant; Martha, who is abused and beaten by her father; Hanschen and Ernst, who struggle through the confusion of their inherent homosexuality; Moritz, who is so traumatized by his puberty and his inability to fulfil the academic expectations of his father that he is driven to suicide; and Melchior, a brilliant and fearless rebel who dares to defy convention, becomes both sexually and emotionally driven towards Wendla and embarks on an almost unavoidable road to tragedy.

The humour, the angst, the ugliness and the beauty of the teenagers feelings are revealed quite brilliantly through Steven Sater's riveting book and highly poetic lyrics and Duncan Sheik's breathtaking score. And the pop/rock score (which richly deserved its 2007 Tony Award) is delivered in a quite unconventional manner - in a thoroughly contemporary style with the singers using hand-held microphones, "stepping out" from the nineteenth century world of the book scenes and functioning as observations on the characters and the plot. It is this aspect that makes the show both current and timeless.

The power and beauty of the show are heightened by the subtle tones and colours of Kevin Adams's lighting design and Bill T. Jones's raw and stirring choreography. And every aspect of the piece is woven together with tight precision by Michael Mayer's direction. (Adams, Jones and Mayer all won Tony awards for their work on the Broadway production.)

And then there are the performances of a young, energetic and hugely talented British cast, who succeed in making the show even more pulsating and powerful than the original New York production. There is not a weak link in the cast but a few members stand out in particular - Jamie Blackley as Hanschen; Hayley Gallivan as Martha; Iwan Rheon as Moritz; and Charlotte Wakefield as Wendla. In the role of Melchior, Aneurin Barnard makes a sensational professional debut - succeeding in displaying all the character's boyish charm as well as all the layers of confusion, fear, courage, strength and frailty - and his vocals have the perfect balance between "edgy" and beautiful. In two words, he has "star quality".

Spring Awakening appears to have made a thoroughly successful trans-Atlantic crossing and seems set to wow audiences in London just as it has done in the Big Apple. There will be some who will frown upon its "near the knuckle" sexual and linguistic overtones - such as Hanschen's onstage masturbation scene in the song "My Junk" or the second act sensational showstopper number "Totally F****d". But I would suggest those who dismiss the show for its apparent obscenity will merely mirror the nineteenth century sexual narrow-mindedness that Wedekind sought to highlight and overcome with his play. This is a ground-breaking piece of musical theatre performed by an immensely talented cast. Spring has awoken with a vengeance in Hammersmith. Hopefully it will continue to blossom into a successful West End run. Both the show and the West End deserve it.

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