i’m not a theater critic so this review isn’t going to be the sort of thing you might get from someone who really knows what they are talking about. i am however a fan of musical, a fan of the original frank wedekind work fruhlings erwachen and so for those reasons i was pretty damn excited to head over to the fox last night to catch spring awakening on it’s tour stop here in atlanta.

here’s the thing. it’s awesome. i mean really, really good. it is definitely true to the story, which by the way is teen rebellion, intimacy, homosexuaity, abuse (no wonder it was banned in 19th century germany.) the music is great too; being rock musical-like but with an indie flare. i liked the production too, a set that never really changed or moved much, placing all of the focus on the actors and the story.

some other things i found neat – the actors used handheld mics and even mic stands for some numbers, giving those numbers much more of a concert flare – the moritz character did this a lot; all of the adults in the musical were played by the same two actors, one playing the men and one playing the women; several of the members of the audience were totally unprepared for one character masturbating under his nightshirt on stage and two characters pretty much having r-movie style sex on stage. this last one made for some humorous conversations during intermission out on the smoker’s porch where i went with my friend adam.

last thing i will say; the song totally f$&ked is f*&cking awesome.

go see spring awakening at the fox before it gets on out of here. you won’t be disappointed.

spring awakening
at the fox theatre
march 9-14
tickets via ticketmaster