“Spring Awakening” with Blank Theatre Company

Spring Awakening – Blank Theatre Company

 

Blank Theatre has opened their inaugural season with the musical “Spring Awakening.” This complex musical, originally performed on Broadway in 2006, is based on the equally, if not more, controversial 1891 play by Frank Wedekind. This reiterates the fact that society has been plagued by convoluted opinions about sex since the dawn of time and will most likely continue until our demise.

With Co-Artistic Director Danny Kapinos at the helm of the ship, every choice, from lighting to costuming, to casting, to set design supports the message that every era thinks that it is the modern era. When it is revealed that one of the schoolgirls is beaten by her father, another one denies that that could even be possible, that things like that don’t happen anymore. The show follows the youth of a late 1800’s German town as they battle not only their own hormones and sexual awakening, but also creeping doubts of religion and obedience, and societal pressure. In a show that could easily end up feeling like a commercial for the teenage goth store, HOT TOPIC, Kapinos has given a voice to stories that are still today deemed overly dramatic by those who have come out on the winning side. Society peers down their noses at youth to say “Well, you’re just young. This is how you feel and one day you’ll grow out of it.” “Spring Awakening” not only attacks these dismissive notions with the honesty of “Well, we don’t HAVE to be feeling these things now,” but also reminds us that, with the wrong turn, some people don’t live to see a day outside of these pressures.

The soft-rock and folk inspired score was written by Duncan Sheik, an American singer-songwriter most notably known for the single “Barely Breathing.” Pop music can often either isolate a contemporary audience from the action of the show, because it might not be to the personal taste of the viewer, or it can feel too out of place and commercial. In the hands of music director Tyler Miles, the contemporary music masterfully led the audience into the emotional landscape of the show. The tactful interpretation of every note embodied the awakening of emotions, sexual desires, and realities of mortality that unfurled onstage.  In the small, intimate space of the Frontier, it could have been very easy for the pit to overpower the singers on stage, or vice versa. The show was performed without body mics, and every note, syllable, and consonant was audible from every seat in the house.

With time-era ambiguous costumes by Nina Wallrafen, we were not looking back to the trials and tribulations of 1890’s schoolchildren, we were watching children of all eras being held accountable for things out of their own hands and being punished for things that they couldn’t help. The minimal set design, also supplied by Kapinos, consisted of high-backed wooden chairs, slightly distressed white walls, and two black curtains. This created a canvas for the audience to paint their own childhoods across. With lighting design by Shelbi Arndt, shadows and darkness were reserved for the utmost climactic scenes;  the majority of the stage was washed in rotating colors of blue, green, and yellow, reminding us that spring is AWAKENING, as opposed to dying. The only times that red engulfed the stage were when the tension filling the scene was supplied by society and parents and not the children’s hormones. This reminds us that angst and complex emotions are expected when they originate from one’s own minds and bodies, but the pressures applied by society are especially fatal.

Jeremiah Alsop, who played Melchior, had a steady confidence and openness that was apparent from the moment he first swiveled around in his stiff school chair to face the audience. One forgot when he was singing and when he was speaking, they transitioned from one to the other so artfully. Haley Bolithon as Wendla found an awareness and curiosity (and a crystalline voice) as opposed to a sense of victimhood. Every effort from the supporting performers (Dustin Rothbart, Claire Latourette, Bryce Ancil, Adam Ross Brody, Molly Coleman, Cari Meixner, and Tiffany T. Taylor) was sensitive and earnest, leaving me to wish that all of them had more material and more instances to showcase their voices individually. They conveyed torment without falling into the trap of “whining children.” Lisa Savegnago and Mike Weaver were grounded as Adult Woman and Adult Man when, with bad actors and poor directors, these parts can easily turn into maniacal villains, twirling their mustaches.  

Intimacy and violence were staged thoughtfully and tastefully by Zak Payne and Brian Plocharczyk. In a show where the line between “too much” and “too little” is VERY, VERY FINE, the violence and sexual content onstage never appeared unsafe or too delicate. The emotional content of the scenes remained intact while not exploiting the bodies of the performers. Choreography, supplied by Britta Lynn Schlicht, infused folk dancing with contemporary dance to create movement that was validated by the circumstances of the characters. In an environment where the characters were emotionally and physically restricted, Schlicht was smart in not having them leap and pirouette across the stage. Instead, they had beautiful gestures and aggravated gyrations.

It is hard to believe that this was the first production of Blank Theatre Company; not one aspect of the performance was lacking, whereas many productions from more established companies can evoke a sense of “well, if this one thing…” and “well, if they had more money…” “Spring Awakening” with this company was neither a waxing or waning moon; it was a well-rounded full moon which will hopefully grace the skies of Chicago for seasons to come.

 

Reviewed by Sophie Vitello

Highly Recommended