Spring Awakening was a let down- Page 1

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:00am

Spoilers

I know that I am going to be attacked for this review, but I thought that I would just put in my two cents. I saw Spring Awakening today and I thought it was on of the worst productions I have ever seen. Let me start by saying that I really did enjoy the score, but the production as a whole just did not do it for me. First the acting just was not as strong as a felt it could have been. I loved Lea Michele’s voice, but some of her lines were so laughable. I thought that the staging of the musical numbers was laughable. Did anyone else find the chorography of this show just strange and completely out of place? I understood the concept of the hand held mics, and I thought that was very interesting, but the stationary mics bugged the hell out of me. I wish if the concept was that the modern music was happening in their heads, then why did Mortiz have the mic stand in front of him when he was talking to the girl in the forests. I did enjoy how the blocked the book scenes. After the first act was done, I felt like nothing had really happening. Boy one and girl two had sex, and boy two was kicked out of school, but I just didn’t care about them. When Melchior killed himself, I was like ok…your dad didn’t support you and you tried to get money from someone, and that did work. Looks like there is nothing I can do but shoot myself. Another place that I had real problem with the stationary mic was “The Dark I know Well,” how am I supposed to connect with these characters if they are blocked by the mics? Something that just personally annoyed me was how the homosexual relationship was used as the comic relief of the second act. I am really surprised with the critical acclaim that this show has been getting, and anyone who says that this is the new Rent is crazy. Rent had a message and characters that I really cared about, but Spring Awakening was just lacking.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:03am

You're not the only one, see this thread.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=922100#2734709

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:05am

When Melchior killed himself, I was like ok…your dad didn’t support you and you tried to get money from someone, and that did work.

First of all, it's Moritz...not Melchior.

Secondly...this is 1890s Germany. His father payed no attention to him and it's obvious that there was also physical abuse in his family. So, this is an emotionally and physically abused child who has failed out of school and no one is offering him help. He would have been disowned and possibly thrown out of his house.

When you're a teenager and you're facing a bleak future...you do crazy things. Especially when there's no one out there supporting you.

Perhaps you like RENT because it's easier to understand and comprehend. But, you couldn't be more wrong.

IMO, Spring Awakening in vastly superior.

[timote316]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:08am

SA is one of those shows that haunts. Ever since I saw it, I've just been thinking and thinking about it... and keep coming up with different things I love about it.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:14am

I can say the same thing about Grey Gardens and Company.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:16am

The show is chock full of situations that could have been poignant and characters we should have been able to relate to or feel for, but neither the plot nor the characters are developed well. RENT isn't necessarily "easier to understand and comprehend" so much as...better written. There's just more development and depth all around.

Spring Awakening does have its merits, and it definitely is intriguing, but it suffers all around from rather poor execution of a great idea.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:20am

Thank you, you nailed what I was trying to say on the head. The show does have its merits, I just felt a lack of development.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:21am

I liked the show a lot.
I keep recommennding it to people who come back saying they did not think it was anything great.
Especially experienced Theatre goers think it's not the break thru show the critics said it was.

But the younger people I talk to Love It.
It's gonna be a hard sell.

Glad to see a lot more advertising in print.
Hope it helps the box office.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:27am

Better written? Hardly.

I saw RENT once...and that was enough for me. Some of the music is catchy, but making it completely sung thru was a huge mistake in my opinion. That works for some shows, but with RENT it just serves to make everything sound similar and drag on. Not saying it's a bad show, just so so.

SPRING AWAKENING is absolutely haunting. The music alone runs circles around that of RENT. I can't tell you how many songs I skip on the RENT Cast Recording. Each track on the SPRING AWAKENING Cast Recording is an absolute delight on the ears and echoes in your mind even after you've stopped listening.

The dialogue and staging is very well written and the staging is brilliant, incorporating the audience and bringing them into the story rather than just letting them watch it. Not even just those on stage...but all the way up into the mezzanine.

Updated On: 1/15/07 at 01:27 AM

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:30am

Lavieboheme3090, you just named my two favorite shows on Broadway right now, and was let down by the same show I was let down by. I love you?

Honestly, the more I listen to the score of Spring Awakening, the more I enjoy it - on a purely visceral level. Emotionally and intellectually, the production mostly served little more than a reminder that my views are not always in line with that of reviewers.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:32am

Um. That's nice, FOA. But that has nothing to do with what I said. RENT is better developed...plot and characters. It just manages to flesh out the situations more. That's all very well that its music doesn't suit your personal taste and you love Spring Awakening, but Spring's primes flaw is that it doesn't manage to fully develop its story or fully realize its concept.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:32am

FOAnatic, I like the score. I have the CD. I just thought that the concept was waaaaay to shaky. I like the way the book scenes were staged, but I thought that the musical number staging was just blah.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:42am

And RENT is a Lifetime movie set to music. That statement gets me certain looks at times, but it's how I feel. It's an enjoyable show, but the lyrics can be repetitive and, at times, fail to advance the plot. It is an ensemble driven show. We spend equal amounts of time on each of the love stories so they go into a little more depth.

SPRING AWAKENING has clear leads and featured characters. As is in most shows, the audience knows more about the leads than they do about the featured players. I think SA does a fine job to flesh out the situation of the leads from the inciting incident through its progression to its conclusion. But we see the featured players and get a glimpse into their lives and their situations and see how they each add to the story as a whole.

Both shows have their flaws. But as far as substance goes, as a whole, I believe SPRING AWAKENING comes out ahead.

But we're each entitled to our own opinion.

Updated On: 1/15/07 at 01:42 AM

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:46am

Can I ask how you feel the featured characters support the plot? Most of them seemed there just to have more than 5 people in the cast. And most of them seemed more interesting than Melchior and Wendla. Maybe it's just the mystique of not knowing them?

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:52am

I am gald that you are letting me have my own opinion.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:54am

I believe the main characters learn from each other since clearly their parents and elders are not teaching them properly.

Wendla experiences physical abuse that she forces Melchior to inflict upon her in order to relate to Ilse and Martha and understand what they're going through.

Melchior attempts to teach Moritz and enlighten him. The knowledge throws Moritz for a loop since it's probably the first time someone has been straightforward with him. When the adult figures decide to fail Moritz, he turns to his father for support and when that is not given to him...he ends his life. And at Moritz' funeral, Melchior's distrust in his elders is solidified to the point where he begins to lash out against them in "Totally F***ed."

When Melchior learns he's having a child, he wishes to accept the responsibility for it perhaps in order to give the child a truthful and loving upbringing that he and Wendla were not given.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:54am

"That statement gets me certain looks at times"

Probably because it's a tad...preposterous.

"We spend equal amounts of time on each of the love stories so they go into a little more depth."

Well, last time I saw Rent, Mimi and Roger were quite clearly the center romantic relationship and Mark was the other major player, and somehow the featured players did have stories that were not merely the blink of an eye. They all have a pretty strong purpose there.

On the other hand, in Spring Awakening even Wendla and Melchoir's relationship seems to be...erratically developed. There's little development, then rather sudden occurrences. And the other players (besides Moritz) seem to have very little purpose. It could have been fleshed out more.

I'm not saying this because I think it's a bad musical; I truly admire what they were trying to do, and I did enjoy it. But I felt nothing but emptiness with this show that was full of things I'd normally feel a rather intense connection to. And I think a HUGE reason for that was how all the pieces did not come together to form a fully realized piece.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:57am

Probably because it's a tad...preposterous.

Maybe in your opinion, dearest. But it's obvious I'm not alone in this thinking as I've gotten much more looks of agreement than surprise.

[timote316]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 2:05am

Each time I find a "flaw" in SA, I think back to the original source, Wedekind's original. The musical is very faithful to the original. Whether or not you see that as a strength or a weakness, that's your opinion. The play is episodic; you are not seeing every single moment between the beginning of the play and the end. You have to infer various bits of information (past relationships and the like)

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 2:07am

FOA, it makes very little sense to me that you could make that statement when you're trying to support Spring Awakening, whose material is no less suited for such a movie. Though, truly, I don't think either story is so...petty.

And to respond to your previous post, I think you're missing what is meant by "underdeveloped." Rehashing plot points means nothing as far as the development OF those plot points. The criticism is not that the story and it's characters don't make sense or don't actually have a purpose; the criticism is that in this adaptation of this material--in this dramatic portrayal of this story, it does not come to life with the full effect that it could have. The criticism is not necessarily that the story isn't good or meaningful, but that the construction of it in this musical does not work particularly well.


Updated On: 1/15/07 at 02:07 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 2:08am

Comparing these shows is dumb to me.
They came out at very different times and under different circumstances.
And they approach different topics.

Commercially RENT caught on in a way that SPRING AWAKENING has not but the internet was not as visable as it is now.
and RENT has stood the test of time, let's see what happens with SPRING AWAKENING.

[Bdwy24]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 5:58am

Broadwaygirl107.......Were you also the one laughing uncontrollably with your friend at inappropriate times and talked during the whole entire show?

[bigbigbill]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 10:06am

"anyone who says that this is the new Rent is crazy. Rent had a message and characters that I really cared about, but Spring Awakening was just lacking."

WHAT? There is no comparison. Rent is garbage, Spring Awakening is incredible. That's all there is to it.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 10:12am

"Broadwaygirl107.......Were you also the one laughing uncontrollably with your friend at inappropriate times and talked during the whole entire show?"

Uhhhh. No. LOL. What would even make you ask such a ridiculous question?


Oh, bigbigbill, please. Why do the Spring Awakening fans get so touchy about this and start making assertions like "Rent is garbage"? Come ON. Why does it turn into Rent vs. Spring Awakening as if one can't like both? I hardly think EITHER show is "garbage." But, really, if you're going to call Rent garbage, I hope you can at least acknowledge that is it an extremely important musical, broke new ground at the time, and heavily influenced Spring Awakening. Updated On: 1/15/07 at 10:12 AM

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 10:15am

i think everyone is entitled to their own opinion. almost every show has its flaws and thats to be expected. its live and to do something on stage is a lot more difficult then filming. I love Spring Awakening and Rent almost equally. they are two different stories that i relate to on two different levels. i dont think its fair that we are comparing them. first of all RENT won a Pulitzer Prize, which obviously means it was better written then Spring Awakening, but then again we dont know the future for Spring Awakening. I think that not many people connect emotionally to Spring Awakening for obvious reasons as to the plot being underdeveloped and the characters stories being underdeveloped... but we really have to look into the story... we have let it sink in. i know when i first saw it i didnt feel anything but the more and more i listen to the OBC recording, i know the next time i see it i will be more emotionally involved. i probably dont make any sense, but my basic idea is that we cant compare RENT and Spring Awakening they are two magnificiant pieces of work on two totally different levels.