Curtain Call Presents Spring Awakening

Titillating musical hits and misses in U of G production

From March 4 to 6, Curtain Call Productions presented Spring Awakening, written by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater as a musical interpretation of the play of the same name by Frank Wedekind. Though original productions of the musical were met with widespread critical acclaim, certain staging and production issues left the Curtain Call iteration, in some ways, a lacklustre affair.

Spring Awakening follows a group of horny adolescents in 19th Century Germany as they struggle to reconcile their lessons and their longings. In the first act, the preternaturally articulate progressive idealist Melchior Gabor, both a babe and a bookworm, concludes that “Shame is nothing but a product of education,” and proceeds to get it on with his honey, Wendla, like an unbridled stallion. His schmucky buddy Moritz Stiefel, on the other hand, struggles to suppress his yearnings and pass his exams, and, buckling under the pressure, shoves a pistol in his mouth to end the torment.

In the soul-crushing second act, the pigheaded adults pin Stiefel’s suicide on Melchior, running him out of town while the poor, pregnant Wendla dies from a botched back-alley abortion. Happily, you can’t keep a good man like Melchior Gabor down; Spring Awakening ends with his renewed call for a better future – a call we are evidently meant to answer.

While perhaps not the lightest plot in the history of musical theatre, Spring Awakening is topical. In fact, it might as well be propaganda for both the new Ontario sex-ed curriculum. It’s fun, full of stick-it-to-the-man numbers and sexy school uniforms.

However, the performances of many cast members from the Curtain Call production were sometimes lacking in delivery and emotion.

The standout performers should come as no surprise to Curtain Call aficionados. While Devin Dos Santos’s turn as Melchior Gabor didn’t quite match his explosive performance as the Emcee in Cabaret a couple years ago, he still put more energy into every line than many actors expend in a whole show. Lauren McGinty’s starring role as the Man in Chair in 2014’s The Drowsy Chaperone had consigned her to shuffling around the stage; with the part of Wendla, however, McGinty took an opportunity to go maximum diva, pouting, scowling, beaming, and glowering with aplomb.

While these performers truly shone, with a musical based so heavily on ensemble numbers, much of the running time was dedicated to the somewhat dry performances of other actors.

The show’s production quality was similarly mixed. The set was nice, even if it looked like it belonged more in a Beckett play than a rock musical, and the costumes served just fine. The band seldom filled the space, however, and the lighting ratcheted between ineffectual coloured washes and heavy-handed follow spots. Most of the choreography occupied a frustrating middle-ground not ambitious enough to be impressive, nor restrained enough to be tasteful.

“Totally Fucked” really soared, and McGinty particularly shone in “Mama Who Bore Me.” While “The Bitch of Living” highlighted strong ensemble vocals, the production ended on a somewhat thematically confusing note with “The Song of Purple Summer.” Though the song is meant to be a rousing address from Mechior, letting the audience know it’s all going to be okay, the iteration remained confusing due to a lack of emphasis on the four season motif.

“Why?” wonders Melchior, when Wendla rebuffs his amorous advances. “Because it’s good? Because it makes us feel something?” One wishes that the same could be said of Curtain Call’s Spring Awakening. Instead, one suspects that this production aroused only the most tightly buttoned of spectators.