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Life imitates art - even 118 years later. Last Tuesday's (10/13) opening performance of Spring Awakening - presented by Broadway Across America - addresses, through a theatrical rebirth of the 1891 work by German playwright Frank Wedekind, the self-destructive stigmata of adolescent sexuality and adults' culturally-entrenched inabilities to approach the subject with candor. The results often end - in the late 19^th century and (unfortunately) still in the early 21^st - in disaster. With nuances of Rent meets Les Miserables, Spring Awakening triumphantly carries the musical-theatre torch into refreshing new territory. Reviewer's note: I also attended Saturday's (10/17) matinee performance.

The plot is more intricate than the classic "boy meets girl" formula, and in many ways it carries the tectonic (and Teutonic!) magnitude of epic Greek tragedy. Despite the fact that the story is nearly 12 decades old, it remains fresh without being formulaic. There are two intertwining stories that divide roughly into five parts: (1) boy (Melchior, played by Jake Epstein) meets girl (Wendla, played by Christy Altomare); they fall in love and naively succumb to their hormonal desires - neither having a full understanding of the consequences; (2) distraught friend (Moritz, played by Taylor Trensch), stunned by an arbitrary academic decision that keeps him from advancing to the next grade, commits suicide; (3) the adults blindly attribute the suicide to a sexually-graphic "how to" letter written for Moritz by Melchior, who bears the brunt of the adults' transferred blame; (4) exiled to a reform school, Melchior learns of Wendla's pregnancy, but he escapes too late to reach her before she has died from a botched abortion forced by her mother; (5) as the drama reaches its denouement, Wendla and Moritz join spiritual forces to ensure that Melchior doesn't compound their tragedies with another of his own making.

Artistically, the production perpetuates a long line of iconic composer-lyricist collaborations: Gilbert and Sullivan; the Gershwin Brothers; Rogers and Hart/Hammerstein; Elton John and Bernie Taupin/Tim Rice; Schönberg and Boublil/Kretzmer; Lloyd Webber and "various librettists"; Sheik and Sater...

Wait...Sheik and Sater?

Yep.

Reach deep into the recesses of your mid-1990s, angst-imbued psyche and repeat these words:  Barely. Breathing. That was the last thought I'd given to Duncan Sheik - albeit for a commendably well-crafted 1996 debut CD. There often is a wide chasm to cross between songwriter and composer, and Spring Awakening proves that Sheik is more than up to the task. But the craftsmanship goes far beyond mere composition, making it difficult to imagine a more seamless melding of music, lyrics, melody, orchestration, theatrics and ensemble. The music itself - executed masterfully by the cast - is haunting and mesmerizing, drawing the viewer inexorably into the emotional turmoil. The more nuanced pieces evoke a Sondheim-esque aura, while other aspects reminded me, stylistically, of the great Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House. According to the program notes, Sheik is actively pursuing four new productions that would seem destined - if Spring Awakening gives any indication - to keep Broadway and musical theater, in general, revitalized for some time to come.

Another aspect of the show's brilliance is evident considering that everyone stands out individually, without overshadowing anyone else; and the collective presentation equally stands on its own, without overpowering the individual performances.  The uncanny result: everyone is the star; and no one is the star. Nevertheless, there were standouts - Christy Altamore (Wendla), Jake Epstein (Melchior), Steffi D (Ilse), and Taylor Trensch (Moritz), in particular. Altamore possesses a natural theatrical timbre with a silky smooth alto texture that is particularly evident in the opening "Mama Who Bore Me," where sparse orchestration can reveal even the smallest of vocal flaws. There were none.

Epstein displayed an impressive range, and little less polish in the lower registers but made up for with an impressive falsetto that he deftly displayed in "Those You've Known." Trensch manages to lull the audience with a geeky vulnerability that belies a volcanic rock voice, which he deploys in "The Bitch of Living." Steffi D, very much Altamore's contralto equal, has a pure theatrical tone that took the 2^nd performance for me to place the familiarity:  Grace Slick in her prime (especially in "The Song of Purple Summer"). The remarkable thing about everyone in the cast was their ability to handle nuanced melodies that shifted to require a more rock-oriented projection, and then back again. Both in range and style, versatility triumphed. Consistency-wise, the matinee performance was about as solid as opening night, with just the hint of some timing, pitch and harmony inconsistencies. I'm not a big fan of rating scales, but for ease of comparison here I'd give opening night a 9.90 and the matinee a 9.85 out of 10.0.

Two other, less obvious "characters" deserve recognition:  Set (Kevin Adams) and Lighting (Christine Jones) Design. Before the show began, the curtain remained open as concert staff escorted members of the audience to on-stage seating. This provided a unique opportunity to analyze the set longer than the briefest impression one usually gets as the curtain goes up and before you begin to focus on the play itself. On first blush I wasn't impressed with the set's eclectic hodge-podge of "stuff" - clocks, blackboards, ladders, portraits (paintings), etc. - laid against a non-descript, red brick façade. All of that changed as the play progressed. The Tony Award-winning lighting design and its interactions with the "inanimate" backdrop combined to take on a life of its own. With an array of color changes, dimming, spotlighting, pointillism, flashing, and a combination of those elements, exciting new dimensions opened, melding the aforementioned hodge-podge into a cohesive part of the experience. Beyond the backdrop, set design was a lesson in minimalism as the stage floor and a few chairs provided everything necessary to create the artistic space. Together, set and lighting design were as impressive as Sheik's formidable compositions.

I've had the good fortune to see Broadway productions in New York, Boston, and London, as well as one prior Broadway Across America presentation (Lion King) here in Kansas City, and I continue to be impressed with the caliber of production that equals, if not exceeds, those at more "traditional" venues. Kansas City is fortunate to be on this circuit, and in combination with the Power and Light District and an already-vibrant arts scene, regular access to Broadway quality shows is icing on top of the icing on a really delicious cake. At your next opportunity to see Spring Awakening, run to the box office. Your breathlessness will be amply rewarded...

REVIEW:
Broadway Across America
Spring Awakening
Reviewed October 13 & 17, 2009
Kansas City Music Hall
301 W 13th St, Kansas City, MO 64105
(816) 513-5000 or www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/kansascity

By Christopher Guerin

Traditional and New Classical music, and Theatre Contributor (Past writer)
Christopher Guerin holds degrees in Music Education, Music Business, and Music Theory & Composition, the latter from the University of Massachusetts (Lowell) College of Music where he co-founded the college's Composers' Guild, and, in 1985, won the Artin Arslanian Composition Award. During college, he also obtained some musical theatre experience as a member of pit orchestras for Threepenny Opera and My Fair Lady. Since 1989, Christopher has been in the very non-artistic corporate sector, where his creative energies have been put to more mundane endeavors 

Christopher credits his musical motivations to his late father, who was concertmaster of the Springfield (MA) Community (pre-cursor to the city's current Symphony) Orchestra and performed popular music on radio in the 1930s. Christopher began his classical training in 1972 at age 10, began teaching at 16 (continuing to take private students throughout college), and traveled extensively with a youth orchestra - including to New Zealand in 1980. After college, and until 1989, Christopher focused on the business end of music as a successful sales manager for one of New England's largest music chains.

Over the past 20 years, Christopher's expertise has focused on medicine as a life risk underwriting officer for a large Midwest insurance group. His past duties included responsibility for risk underwriting in Pacific Rim markets where he traveled extensively to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma. Time permitting, he has continued to compose intermittently throughout this period. Christopher is married to Paula, a fellow musician he met during college, and together they have "composed" their magnum opera in three very creative children - an architecture student (go K-State!), an aspiring classical pianist, and a budding writer/journalist. He and his wife relocated from Massachusetts to the Kansas City area in 1997.