Spring Awakening/Despertando en Primavera...Revisited

Well, my dear friend Manu got free passes to Spring Awakening on Saturday and I can’t say no to a) free things, b) theatre, and c) free theatre.  So, sensing that my last review may have created a wee bit of drama, I decided to revisit it and give my thoughts on this performance, as I left with some very different impressions than the week before.

First of all, a brief explanation as to why I am reviewing the show in the first place.  Despite what some may think, it is not out of bitchiness or the desire to make people think they are doing a bad job.  With tickets being $500 (which, let’s face it, is not cheap), I believe that people have the right to share their thoughts and advise others to see or not see a show.  That is a big investment, and since Mexican media generally doesn’t really review theatre, it can be hard to really know if it is worth it or not (and 100-character glowing tweets from 13 year-old girls don’t really count as useful reviews, in my book).  In the end, we all want to see good theatre.  I don’t want to bring down others, but the arts should be reviewed and create a discussion.  So yes, that is me and my “don’t mess with my 1^st Amendment, bitches!” explanation.

Anyway, the show!  Overall, I was much happier with this performance than a week before.  I think a lot of this stemmed from the fact that they had a much, much better sound mix.  The very distracting sound booth has fortunately been moved elsewhere (the audio guys and their very bright laptops distracted me for the entire performance a week ago, as they were between the orchestra and mezz section), I could understand all of the lyrics, and the entire mix just sounded much more professional.  One of the poor conductor’s keyboards was out of commission for most of the second act for some reason, which did lead to a rather empty orchestra sound at times, but I am willing to ignore that, since that is a performance-specific issue and the rest has improved so much.

This time around I saw Melissa Barrera as Wendla and I thought she was quite good.  She has a nice voice, acts well, and despite the fact that she seems to be very tall, she acted innocent and young enough to make me believe her as Wendla.  Once again, I saw Mauricio Romero as Melchior, and I enjoyed his performance just as much as the week before.  He has the register to hit the (quite) difficult high notes and is overall a good Melchior.

I continue to be obsessed with the lighting.  I am going to hire the lighting designer to follow me around so I can make dramatic entrances everywhere I go.

The girls harmonize beautifully and I do admit that I wanted to hop around along with them to “My Junk.”  Unfortunately, I can’t say that the male group harmonies are up to the same level; separately they can sing fine but when all of them sing together it doesn’t sound quite right.

I still maintain that the book parts need work.  They are too rushed and you don’t connect with the characters nearly as much as you should.  They feel like brief interludes between rocking out, and that isn’t how it should be.  It is a very challenging show to direct, as you have to find the right balance between modern and old, and that balance still hasn’t been obtained, unfortunately.  The script is a bit strange even in English, but there are some very powerful lines that don’t have the “oomph” that they could.

I could go on and on, but I’ll wrap this up and share my final thoughts.  I am not saying that the show is perfect, but it is quite enjoyable, and if you go in with a blank slate maybe you will immediately fall in love with it.  No matter what, Spring Awakening is a great show and even if there are points that could be improved, you should see it.  There were very few people in the performance I went to, and they deserve a bigger audience than what they are having.  Tickets are 50% off for “el buen fin” so go see it and let me know what you think.  And since I am completely re-obsessed with the cast recording lately, maybe I’ll see you there.

Spring Awakening (Despertando en Primavera)

Okay, Spring Awakening review time! Hmm, where to start? Hmmm. Well, first of all I’m going to assume you know something about this show, as I am not explaining everything.  Mainly just high- and low points.

So overall it wasn't terrible but it also wasn't great. It really varied throughout the night in terms of quality. I think it is impossible for SA to be awful just because the music is great, so there will always be something redeeming in it. However, the direction is really confused. Like, I don't think the lady understands the show.  Or if she thinks she does then we both definitely have different opinions as to what it is about. Basically, if you approach the show as "I want to hear good music" then you will have fun. The songs were performed pretty well and I remembered why I love the show so much. However, the book parts are EXTREMELY rushed and you don't feel tied to the characters nearly as much as you should. And you don't walk away with the messages you should walk away with.

Let's start with the cast...it turns out I was there for the first performance of the Melchior understudy, and I think it was the Wendla understudy’s first performance, too (not completely sure) This Melchior looked younger than Alan and I liked him; he had a good voice and acted well. Wendla wasn't quite as good, but was fine...like not bad, but her voice wasn't as powerful as I would like in certain parts. The rest of the cast was varied in terms of quality...overall the girls had better voices than the guys. I realized how a fair amount of the songs have really high parts for guys to sing and honestly everyone had problems with those parts...Melchior, Hanschen, Moritz...no one could hit the notes well. I realize they are not easy to hit, but that is your job! So cast accordingly or do something! The guy who played Ernst had a really nice voice, but has like 3 lines so that's a shame that he has that part.

The strangest direction and acting were in Moritz and Ilse. Like...Moritz was just kinda childish and excited about sex in the first act and not nearly as intense and torn as he should be, so the suicide didn't really make sense. Partly this is the actor's fault for his choices but the director should have steered him. I thought he was better in the second act in his frustration, but the issue was that his frustration made no sense. There was no clear road that got him there.
 
Ilse was WEIRD. WEIRD!!!!! She was just like a fast-talking young girl who desperately wanted to hang out with Moritz? She was not a hippie at all, nor anything I would expect. I didn't understand it at all. She sang pleasantly, but you could tell the girl felt it was her time to be in a concert because it was too American Idol-y and not theatre-y.

The other ensemble girls were really good at playing the young age well, even if they are older than the Broadway girls.

What I really felt was missing, and I'm not surprised by, was that this production was WAY less German. Like, at times the mother was too modern and also Mexican-acting. Obviously the adults were very German as teachers but I didn't like how they played the parents. And that lack of direction goes throughout...it was far less German, which isn't necessarily a problem, but I think it needs to feel a little more old-fashioned and conservative/restrictive/oppressed at times for it to make more sense.

The staging was very similar to Broadway...the set was similar except the backdrop was like a church instead of a brick wall or whatever it was in NY. They had the tree on the ground and they have sex on the swinging platform. They also had onstage seating.

The sound was a HUGE issue, and I know part of it is the fault of the theatre...but it was ridiculous at times. Plus the producers chose this crappy theatre, so it is a very legitimate complaint.  A lot of the lyrics were unclear, and then the mix would just suddenly change in the middle of the song for no apparent reason.  From what I hear, this happens in every performance.  Considering they have been open for weeks, I don’t really understand hwo this could still be happening.  On the other hand, the lighting was quite impressive and was very powerful. I was very pleasantly surprised by that.

Despite the sound problems, the songs were performed well overall. Too bad that the stage is rather small, as Totally Fucked was too crowded and they had to like dodge each other so they couldn't be as free.  Once again, don’t understand this theatre choice.


The audience seemed to enjoy it...I mean, they were very quiet overall and really barely laughed at all, but they seemed happy with it in the end. And I've read a lot of positive tweets about it.  I'm sure if I hadn't seen it in NY I would be happier with it than I am. Though the review sounds pretty negative, I actually did enjoy many parts and think many people will enjoy the show.  I want to see it again a) with the expectation of it being a concert, and b) so I can see the main Melchior and Wendla
End of my rambling.