Photo Coverage: Broadway's SPRING AWAKENING Celebrates 2nd Year

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 closes on January 18, it will have 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.

Led by Hunter Parrish as Melchior, Alexandra Socha as Wendla and Gerard Canonico as Moritz, the "next generation" of Spring Awakening - has been chosen from across the country; from Texas to New Hampshire, Washington to Georgia and all points in between. With ages that range from mid-late teens through early twenties, the new group is similarly in age to the original cast when they began the journey at the Atlantic.

Ten members of the new company make their debut with Spring Awakening. They join veteran actors Christine Estabrook and Glenn Fleshler (who play all the adult characters) and 19-year-old Gerard Canonico (Moritz) who made his Broadway debut in "Les Miserables".

Spring Awakening features the music of Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Choreography is by Bill T. Jones and it is directed by Michael Mayer. It is the recipient of 8 2007 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Grammy Award.

Spring Awakening's current performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday & Sunday at 7 pm, Wednesday-Saturday at 8 pm, Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. For information and tickets, call Telecharge.com at 212 239-6200. The musical is playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 West 49th Street.

Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.