Hats, Pants and All Skirts off! Don’t Miss Academy Players’ Fabulous Spring Awakening

I have good news, some bad and a teeny glimmer of hope for those looking for a hot night of local theater. First the good, right? Academy Players’ newest production is, hands down, fantastic. With its perfectly cast group of outrageously energetic and solidly talented young performers, the production takes you on an unswerving emotional ride through the frustration, overwhelming beauty and disappointment of being on the cusp of adulthood. Oh, but the bad news …well, word has definitely gotten out about Spring Awakening and tickets for the show are in short supply (Friday & Saturday are completely sold out according to their Facebook page). On a more positive note, the theater just announced yesterday that they have added an additional performance on Sunday May 22, at 7:30pm. I honestly cannot urge you enough to seize the opportunity to see this show before it’s gone. Staged with an impressive live orchestra-slash-rock band in Academy’s intimate Q2Q black box theater, the show grabs hold of you with the first note and doesn’t let go until the emotional curtain call.

With my “almost sold out” warnings aside, let’s get back to this ground-breaking piece of musical theater. Yes, I said groundbreaking. Before there was the juggernaut Hamilton taking Broadway by storm, there were other shows that also upended the public’s idea what an American musical could — and should — sound like. Before Next to Normal and Green Day’s punk opera American Idiot fought to put a new narrative style on stage, there was 2006’s Broadway hit Spring Awakening, an unlikely retelling of the often banned German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind. Sticking close to the original story and keeping the 1891 German locale and plotlines, writer Steven Sater delivers beat poetry meets f-bomb dialogue fueled by emotionally raw (and gorgeously arranged) songs by musician Duncan Sheik.

The story interweaves the lives of a group of teens – most sheltered and woefully uneducated about even the basic facts of life — lorded over by dominating parents and teachers. Turning in nuanced and mature performances as the more worldly-wise Melechoir and the tragically naïve Wendla are the very talented Joe Catanzaro and Hayley McDermott. Catanzaro makes the role his own, with an intelligent glint to his eye, impressive vocal talents and a wonderful stage presence. McDermott makes for a very appealing leading lady, bringing to the stage a lovely, crystalline voice and the acting chops necessary to find the balance between the guileless young child and the passionately curious young woman.

While Melechoir is succumbing to physical temptation with the fetching young Wendla, his classmate Moritz (played within an inch of exploding off the stage by the lanky Matt Lavigne) is having trouble wrapping his mind around the changes happening to him and is struggling to keep it together. Lavigne does a great job of showing us Melechoir’s dynamic (yet quirky) personality and delivers his songs with an engaging rebellious attitude that would be well-suited to fronting any punk garage band. Beneath a shock of unruly black hair, his tall frame stretching the confines of his boy’s school uniform, as he dances with the wild abandon we can easily see that this type of kid is going to have some serious trouble sticking to the stringent expectations of society.

Directors Adam and Chelsea Morgan have established an enviable group dynamic within their perfectly cast ensemble. Each and every performer turns in a memorable and gut-wrenching performance. The wonderful thing about this musical is that there is a chance for each actor in the group to have their “moment” in the spotlight– and in the case of this cast, each delivers vocally and comes to the stage with a fully realized characterization of the rebellious, confused and fiery sides of adolescence. The guys (Brooks A. Shatraw, Jacob Kaufman, Josh Silva Boucher, and Thomas Sabetta) are given a bit more humor within their storyline – each has their own desires, from attraction to classmates and piano teachers, to an extended ode to self pleasure delivered with aplomb. The women (Kaela Bergeron, Olivia Soares, Kaylee Perry and Megan Mahoney) share a grittier narrative as they sing not only of love, but also of the emotional and physical damage they have suffered at the hands of adult men in their lives. Rounding out the cast with grounded performances and solid vocals are Jacqueline Savageau and Zach Searle, gamely switching from role to role, embodying the controlling factors (ie, all the adults) in the show.

Academy’s Spring Awakening is a masterfully (and tastefully) staged musical, packed with young, talented singers and actors, spot-on musicians and backed by smart and functional design elements that lift the show up to more professional levels. This is the real deal, folks. Don’t miss it.

Spring Awakening is for mature audiences only due to explicit content, strong language, nudity, and adult themes. Performances continue now through May 22 with shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7pm and Sunday performances at 4pm and 7:30pm. Tickets available online at springawakeningri.bpt.me. Academy Players of RI’s Q2Q Black Box Theater, 180 Buttonhole Drive in Providence.