Spring Awakening

(Nathaniel, Alison & Eric MT15)

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Up until now I've mostly stayed away from the Broadway Musical, "Spring Awakening."  It has been a hot commodity and much like "Rent" in the mid 90's it introduced a group of young fans to theater who normally wouldn't have had an interest.  You could say that "Glee" was an unforeseen byproduct of "Spring Awakening."

"Spring Awakening" has all the things conservative Christians loath; pre-marital sex, youthful rebellion, homosexuality, a general blaming of adult society and the church for the persecution of the young, an indictment against the rote educational system of the day.  All those things are on full display (F-bombs, masturbation, suicide, abortion, partial nudity, villainous adults, dudes making-out with dudes) in SA.

So when CCM announced they were doing SA for one of their winter shows I had a sinking feeling.  Eric was the right age, the right look, and the right  energy for this show.  We talked a lot about it and about shows in general with "R-rated" content.  Luckily for me, he didn't have to have sex with anyone or kiss a dude.

Frank Wedekind wrote the play "The Spring Awakening: A Children's Tragedy in 3Three Acts" between 1890 and 1891."  It accurately described the tone of intellectual German society at that time.  It was based on real-ish events (although stringing them together in a play across a limited number of characters did condense the misery.)  Wedekind constructed a majority of the dialogue to come from children 13 to 15 years old, from their perspective.  When the play (and musical) were performed the actors were adults, losing some of the "naivete'".

There is a lot of gross stuff in the show, but not inaccurate stuff.  However. just because something is "true" doesn't mean I want to watch it.  I've been pretty immersed in stories of child abuse, drug abuse, crime, pain, heartache, suicide, and other yuck from real people I know and have worked with for the past 25 years. I don't necessarily want to go see a show about it. (And "No." I have no desire to see the movie "Precious")

So last night there we were (Amy, Jaron and I) in the Corbett Family Theater @CCM watching Spring Awakening.  And  must say, this particular production passed the only criteria I have for Art; It moved my heart.  The show didn't just lay out a bunch of yuck and bad behavior. Everything had a consequence and there was a type of truth in it.  It was moving.

I was talking to Collin Kessler's dad after the show (Collin had a key role that he played brilliantly) and Mr. Kessler put things pretty succinctly. He said, "This show perfectly describes Roman 6. 'The wages of sin is death.'"

The main characters do move throughout the show. Melchior discovers that his big ideas, big words, and big mouth have real, life-changing weight.  Moritz's father comes to regret his words too late. Wendla's mother sees what avoiding the truth can lead to.

It's not a feel-good story, but it's moving. It actually reminds me of some of those awful stories of King David's family in the Old Testament. You know, the ones about incest and rape and siblings getting murdered and rebellion, the ones that never get read out-loud at church on Sundays.

Anyway, I'm proud of Eric and Collin and the rest of the VERY young cast of CCM's "Spring Awakening."