The Independent's Coveney on SPRING AWAKENING

The Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Spring Awakening received its UK premiere at London's Lyric Hammersmith on January 23rd. The Independent's Michael Coveney discusses the musical with its creators Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater about how it all came together to finally find a home on the stage. To read the article click here.

The cast is led by UK newcomers Charlotte Wakefield, Iwan Rheon, and Aneurin Barnard.

The Lyric will also be presenting the Gecko's production of Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat 3/20-4/11, dance piece Hang On, a collaboration of Theatre-Rites and award-winning aerialists Ockham's Razor 4/15-4/25 and finally Deepak Verma's musical adaptation of the classic novel Wuthering Heights re-set in India 4/29-5/23 2009.

This fall marked the launch of the First National Touring Company, which premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco and just completed an engagement in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre.The tour's upcoming schedule includes Tempe, AZ, Chicago, Boston, Tampa, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, DC among many other stops and is currently booked through the end of 2009. International productions are set in 2009 for London, Vienna, Toronto, Helsinki, and Seoul.

Spring Awakening broke barriers when it opened off Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre and then subsequently moved to Broadway and its home at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

When Spring Awakening closed on January 18, it played 859 performances and 29 previews. Its eight 2007 Tony© Awards, including Best Musical, made Spring Awakening one of the biggest Tony winners in the past decade. In addition to the Tony Award wins, Spring Awakening won four Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the NY Drama Critics Award for Best Musical, the Drama League award for Distinguished Production of a Musical, and the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, among other notable citations.

September of this year marked yet another milestone for the show, as it was the first Broadway show to be invited by iTunes to record a 'LIVE from SoHo' concert at the Apple Store/Soho, which was released exclusively on iTunes.

Also in September, the Spring Awakening companion book, 'Spring Awakening In The Flesh" was released by Simon & Schuster.

For more information visit, www.springawakening.co.uk.

 

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