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

just like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNglewl6mQw[/youtube]

color me pretty excited that the tony award winning spring awakening is going to be coming to the fox theater this spring.

not only am i a fan of edgy musical theater of the avenue q and urinetown variety, but this particular musical happens to be based on the banned frank wedekind novel frülings erwachen which i read back in the day when i was a german major. it’s an aggressive piece to turn into musical theater; a great story and from all i can tell done with great music in this incarnation.

it’s playing march 9-14 at the fox so check it out. also, keep your eyes peeled here as we’re going to work on getting some tickets as part of a giveaway.