"Spring Awakening" - by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik - Worcester Count Light Opera Company (Worcester, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: The CAST of the musical "SPRING AWAKENING" by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through May 4, 2025. Photo Courtesy WCLOC)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“All shall know the wonder, I will sing the song of purple summer.”
- ("Ilse and Company") / Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik
Worcester Count Light Opera Company
Presents the Musical
"SPRING AWAKENING"
Book and Lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Directed by Chuck Grigaitis
Music Director Lenny McGuire
Choreographer Kait Ekstrom-Doig
Stage Manager Adrian Gage
Cast Includes: Ethan Pflomm as "Melchior Gabor," Helenna Clanton as "Wendla Bergmann," Jared Palazzo as "Moritz Stiefel," Paige Naumnik as "Ilse Neumann," Patrick Ackley as "Hänschen Rilow," Madison Crory as " Martha Bessell," Brendan McGee as "Ernst Röbel," George Smith as "Georg Zirschnitz," Kyle Rano as "Otto Lämmermeier," Rosa Tepe as "Thea," Ginny Hilli as "Anna."
Linnea Lyerly as: “Frau Bergmann,” Wendla's mother; “Fanny Gabor,” Melchior's mother; “Frau Bessell,” Martha's mother; “Fräulein Großebüstenhalter,” Georg's piano teacher; “Fräulein Knuppeldick,” an associate of Headmaster Knochenbruch.
Thomas Jaquith-Houston as: “Headmaster Knochenbruch,” the boys' school headmaster; “Herr Sonnenstich,” a schoolteacher; “Herr Gabor,” Melchior's father; “Herr Stiefel,” Moritz's father; “Herr Rilow,” Hanschen's father; “Herr Neumann,” Ilse's Father; “Father Kaulbach,” – a priest; “Doctor von Brausepulver,” who visits Wendla during her pregnancy; “Schmidt,” the abortionist.
Additional Creative Team:
Vocal Director – Linnea Lyerly; Dance Captain – Rosa Tepe;Set Design, Fabrication, Painter, Props – Mike Nosel; Lighting Design – John Stoffel; Set Assistant – Peter Russo; Projection Design – Peter Russo, Mark Blessington; Costume Design – Janice McLean; Sound Design – Vic Kruczynski; Stage Manager – Adrian Gage; Assistant Stage Manager – Ashton Lubin; Props – Kirsten Rourke; Fight Coordinator – Paul Spanagel; Dramaturg – Peter Russo; Intimacy Coordinator – Katherine McCrackin; Producers – Kevin Moylan, Eric Butler.
Performances:
April 25, 2025 through May 4, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY (WCLOC), Grandview Ave. Playhouse, 21 Grandview Avenue, Worcester, MA.
TICKETS:
For tickets or more information call WCLOC at # 508-753-4383 or visit www.wcloc.org
BUY TICKETS
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(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
Worcester County Light Opera Company (WCLOC) concludes its 2024-2025 season with the highly charged "SPRING AWAKENING" a coming-of-age rock musical unlike any other.
The WCLOC production is a splendidly creative effort by director Chuck Grigaitis featuring superb choreography by Kait Eckstrom-Doig and a fabulous live band conducted by music director Lenny McGuire.
Based on the 1891 German play "SPRING AWAKENING" by Frank Wedekind, the show features music from Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater.
Although set in late 19th-century Germany, the musical speaks to a timeless story of how young adults are impacted by the chaos of their own emerging sexuality.
The original Broadway production of "SPRING AWAKENING" opened to nearly unanimous positive reviews in 2006 running until 2009 after completing 29 previews and 859 performances and catapulting the careers of Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele among others.
Probably no other musical (with a similar premise) in the past two decades since "SPRING AWAKENING" has come close to having the overwhelming impact felt when this show hit the Broadway stage.
The story’s prevailing message speaks to the young about issues relevant to them.
It also speaks to attempts made by others to discourage, suppress or even negate their emerging self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-expression and, above all, their highly personal, emotional and sexual preferences.
While there is an alternative-rock feel dominating "SPRING AWAKENING," Duncan Sheik's music never overtakes the story and the score.
Perfectly executed by the WCLOC band and cast - "SPRING AWAKENING" has a strong lyrical approach that seamlessly propels the story forward.
This combination helps explain how the original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Direction, Book, Score and Featured Actor.
"SPRING AWAKENING" also garnered four Drama Desk Awards, with the original cast album receiving a Grammy Award.
A Broadway revival in 2015 would receive three Tony Award-nominations, among other honors.
In 2022, HBO released the documentary "SPRING AWAKENING: Those You've Known," chronicling the 15-year reunion of the original company.
(Photo: The CAST of the musical "SPRING AWAKENING" by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through May 4, 2025. Photo Courtesy WCLOC)
As the story begins, Wendla (Helenna Clanton), is an adolescent in late 19th-century Germany.
Clanton is outstanding as the disordered Wendla, who kicks of the show with the song "Mama Who Bore Me" addressing and bemoaning how her mother (played by Linnea Lyerly who portrays all “adult women” in the story) has not taught her the life lessons she should know as a young woman emerging into her “child-bearing years.”
Again, the above evidence of the lack of parenting skills on this subject may appear in this 19th Century setting but is certainly something still very much alive and well in the 21st Century.
Wendla is joined by the other young girls in town which include:
Martha (Madison Crory), Thea (Rosa Tepe), Anna (Ginny Hilli) and Ilse (Paige Naumnik).
Her friends also appear to all be similarly naïve and are upset about the lack of basic sexual (i.e. “human”) knowledge presented to them by their parents, but a couple of them (Martha and Ilse) also harbor some dark secrets.
Meanwhile, their teenage boy counterparts are over in a separate school in a class where they study Latin taught by a very stern instructor (played by Thomas Jaquith-Houston who, similar to Lyerly, portrays all the “adult men” in the story).
Moritz Stiefel (Jared Palazzo) is a highly stressed out, anxious student who is in danger of expulsion.
Palazzo gives one of the finest performances in the show, rendering electrifying content such as crowd favorite “The Bitch of Living” with the male cast, but also later touching us with the more emotionally subdued, “Don’t Do Sadness.”
Moritz's classmate is the rebellious and handsome Melchior (Ethan Pflomm), an intelligent student with radical ideas.
Melchior attempts at speaking up for and supporting Moritz are valiant, but the efforts always seem to come up short.
Moritz tells Melchior of a strange dream he had.
Melchior explains to Moritz about “wet”…err…“erotic dreams” for which Moritz has trouble grasping…not so much the case with the other boys in class who are:
Ernst (Brendan McGee), Hänschen (Patrick Ackley), Otto (Kyle Rano) and Georg (George Smith), and who all join in on “The Bitch of Living.”
Pflomm gives a stirring performance as Melchior who sees clearly the shallow narrow-mindedness of adults presented here at home, in school and in society.
Melchior speaks to the above in the terrific Act One number "All That's Known" but soon he becomes less involved in Moritz’s obvious downward spiral once his focus turns to his own urges as he is approached by the sexually curious Wendla.
All the girls, except Ilse (Paige Naumnik), tease one another about the boys their age that they fantasize about marrying someday.
Martha (Madison Crory) admits to having a crush on Moritz while all the other girls swoon over Melchior which they sing about in the song, "My Junk."
There are many numbers addressing the needs and desires by the teens for physical intimacy such as the terrific ensemble number, “Touch Me,” the Melchior and Wendla duet “The Word of Your Body” and then later the Act One closer, “I Believe,” in which Melchior and Wendla (ahem) “confirm" their feelings.
Another musical number which is a standout focuses on that difficult tightrope walk between childhood and adulthood is "The Mirror-Blue Night.”
(Photo: Ethan Pflomm as "Melchior" with Helenna Clanton as "Wendla" in a scene from the musical "SPRING AWAKENING" by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through May 4, 2025. Photo Courtesy WCLOC)
The music by the live band features a magnificent blending of instruments that include violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, percussion and piano, all ably conducted by McGuire.
The above band enhances the emotional and insightful WCLOC staging by Grigaitis and the absolutely breathtaking choreography provided by Eckstrom-Doig.
Grigaitis' approach, not only to the staging but also to the show’s story’s content, seemingly has allowed the actors a sense of freedom to better internally explore the depths of their characters - which absolutely comes across in their performances on stage.
In Eckstrom-Doig's choreography, movements seem targeted or highly specific - expertly highlighting varied and occasionally intense feelings, while illuminating other more specific expressive emotional textures.
In other words, the choreographed movements not only entertain they move us.
As to the script by Steve Sater - the overall story is strong but some subplots are brought up and then, perhaps much like life, they never seem to achieve a resolution, such as:
- Martha, well played by Madison Crory, admits to her friends how her father abuses her and how her mother does nothing to intercede.
- Closeted classmates Ernst (Brendan McGee), who is gay and Hänschen (Patrick Ackley), who is bisexual, have a very brief scene which arrives late in Act Two whereby they reveal feelings for one another in the reprise of "The Word of Your Body.”
- Georg (George Smith) is a student who fantasizes over his older, busty piano teacher while Otto (Kyle Rano) has disturbing dreams about his mother.
- Ilse, in a marvelous portrayal by Paige Naumnik, finds herself emotionally and physically adrift after her parents kick her out of the house, which she tells Mortiz in the disturbing, soulful ballad, "The Dark I Know Well.”
Most of the above subplots were probably abandoned due to time constraints but it would have been nice to see them explored a little bit further.
Both Lyerly and Jaquith-Houston do a fine job portraying the multitude of adult characters, almost all of whom are emotionally distant, obtuse, oblivious or self-absorbed.
(Photo: Madison Crory as " Martha" in a scene from the musical "SPRING AWAKENING" by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through May 4, 2025. Photo Courtesy WCLOC)
There are going to be some for which "SPRING AWAKENING" does not resonate or some may even find disturbing simply because of the focus on the “rampant onslaught” of young adult sexuality.
That is unfortunate, as the real story here is on the “rampant onslaught” of young adult emotions, and how - to this very day – actual adults still approach the above like it is some new wild, untamed frontier.
However, in "SPRING AWAKENING," the WCLOC ensemble conveys a message of optimism in the decidedly emotional "The Song of Purple Summer" which offers hope for a newer, more open-minded (or at least better informed) and ultimately healthier generation of youth.
The WCLOC set design for "SPRING AWAKENING" is minimalist which allows for maximum use of the WCLOC stage space and, with the band positioned in the rear, all the action becomes more immersive on the stage and the floor of the house, bringing the action up close (and personal).
With the band’s positioning, the WCLOC cast, not able to be conducted, deserves high praise indeed for executing (to perfection) the entire vocal moments of the score more by musical rote and instinct than by literal guidance.
Specifically at the opening night April 25th performance, while a few microphone pops occurred and a couple of vocal blends didn't quite work out as intended, overall the production was mesmerizing.
(Photo: The CAST of the musical "SPRING AWAKENING" by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through May 4, 2025. Photo Courtesy WCLOC)
This inspired production of "SPRING AWAKENING" continues in Worcester at WCLOC until May 4th, 2025 and as the latest WCLOC season concludes "oh, what a freeing time it is."
(Caution: There is some content in "SPRING AWAKENING" which some might find triggering – this includes the use of a prop gun which is integral the story)
WCLOC has announced its 2025-2026 season which includes:
- “DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS” by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, a laugh-out-loud, 90-minute, gender-bending, quick-changing Off-Broadway comedy will be performed from October 17, 2025 until October 26, 2025;
- Thornton Wilder’s immortal “OUR TOWN” a love letter to the early days of the New Hampshire town of Peterborough, will run from December 5, 2025 until December 14, 2025;
- Jonathan Spector’s contemporary drama “EUREKA DAY” will be performed between February 13, 2026 and February 22, 2026, and;
- The season concludes with the musical “LA CAGE AUX FOLLES” which will run from April 24, 2026 until May 3, 2026.
For tickets or more information call WCLOC at # 508-753-4383 or visit www.wcloc.org
BUY TICKETS
Approximately two hours, 20 minutes with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
Based on Frank Wedekind’s groundbreaking and controversial play (once banned in Germany), Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s brilliant rock score and searingly emotional book take the story of sexual awakening, youth revolt, and self-discovery into a new century.
It’s 1891, and grown-ups hold all the cards. Headstrong Melchior and naive Wendla stumble into each others’ arms, passionate and curious, while anxious Moritz struggles to live up to the stringent expectations of society.
With only each other for guidance, this group of young men and women travel the fraught and rocky path of adolescence, discovering their bodies, their minds, and themselves along the way.
An electric, vibrant celebration of youth and rebellion, "SPRING AWAKENING" fuses issues of morality, sexuality, and rock and roll into a story that packs a powerful emotional punch. (STAGEAGENT)
ABOUT WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY (WCLOC)
Founded in 1937, WCLOC is Worcester’s oldest active theater company. As a local, non-profit community theater, we depend on the generosity of our members, patrons, subscribers, and donors to help forward the mission of our organization to entertain, inform, and nurture local artists and audiences through the production of high quality, affordable musicals, plays, and children’s educational workshops. A donation to WCLOC allows us to continue to keep tickets affordable for local audiences, helps us maintain and make necessary improvements to our Clubhouse, and supports a full season of memorable theater and educational opportunities.
WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY
P.O. Box # 51
Worcester, MA. 01613
# 508-753-4383
