Spring Awakening comments

Over dinner, my darling hubby asked me if I'd read the letters section of the newspaper. He pointed out to me a letter written by one of the patrons last week Wednesday. He encouraged me to write a response, so I did.

Here's the full text of the Forbidden Broadway skit, with apologies and kudos to author Gerard Alessandrini.

(A couple gets to the theater right before showtime to discover they're sitting on stage - on opposite sides of the stage to be precise. They agree to kibbutz via cell phone.)

WOMAN
Spring Awakening - sounds like a nice Easter pageant.

WENDELA (to the tune of Mama Who Bore Me)
Mama who bore me
Mama my booby
I need a training bra and a maxi pad
Mama please give me sex education
No sleep for this horny undregrad

WOMAN
Hold it!
(sung to the tune of D'Lovely by Cole Porter)
Her hair's a mess, her dress is sheer

MAN (they continue either solo or together)
The lighting's dim and it's so unclear
It's depressing, it's demented, it's disgusting!
I understand that art should hurt,
But can't they launder her undershirt?
It's depressing, it's demented, it's disgusting!
You can tell at first sight it's a hell ride we're in for tonight
You can hear queries behind you murmuring low
Get up and go!
Please be kind my dainty dish and let's vamoose at the intermish,
It's depressing, it's demented, it's degenerate, it's delerium, it's deluded, it's degrading, it's de worst, it's disgusting!

WENDELA
Wait a minute!
I feel the sudden urge to say
You folks don't understand the arts today
So control your desire to curse,
I fear other shows are worse
The show you fogies want to see
Is Rodgers-Hammersteiny history
So get hip and train your brain,
I'll repeat the refrain and drive you insane

Mama who bore me
Mama my booby
Mama you're totally F(BEEP)'d - take it away!

If you were hip you'd get a grip
We're past the era of censorship
We're da big hit, we're da cash cow, we're da Tony
We search the soul of tortured teens and do a couple of rock routines
We're pretentious, we're contentious, YOU'RE disgusting!

COUPLE
shall we calmly resign to pay big bucks at Young Frankenstein?
But at $450 a seat, we'd rather eat!

WENDELA
The problem's you

COUPLE
No it's you too

WENDELA
You mean the band?

COUPLE
No we mean your crew
You're depressing! You're demented!

WENDELA
You're d'outta date

COUPLE
You're the one we hate!
Well she's gone now and we're on now finally it's d'lovely


The only thing I don't like about that skit is that Wendela goes off stage. Okay, this was the very first part of the Forbidden Broadway Rude Awakening show, and the couple then went on to do the Forbidden Broadway theme etc, that's why "we're on now." But I do wish Wendela had a better exit than storming off in anger.

To be honest, my tastes run more toward Into The Woods, but there are days when Spring Awakening is what I want to hear on my little music drive. I was happy to plop down money to see it - again. (Heck, hubby almost drove over to Seattle last season to see it again.) The cast was GREAT, musical direction outstanding (love ya, Kasey! ;-) and the story well told.

There was definitely a lack of energy though - from the AUDIENCE. I believe the cast gave us their all, but I feel we absorbed it stoically instead of the real give-and-take of a normal live performance. Like, it was so out of our collective comfort zone that we couldn't process it. Or maybe it's because the INB is so huge, the intimacies of a show like Spring Awakening and even Avenue Q get lost there. (On second thought, that letter showed that the visuals of the "intimacy" didn't get lost at all. ;-)

Our first time at Spring Awakening can never be matched, because it was the final performance of Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. Their families were in the audience, and any fan who could get their hands on tickets was there. We stumbled into it, having gotten our restricted-view seats at TKTS hours before. Wendela stood on the chair to begin, and the house went WILD. Then after the song Totally F*d, the stage manager let the applause go on... and on... and on... and on... It must have been five minutes of insane ovation from the house, with the actors stuck in their poses. I think I saw tears drip from Lea Michele, trying to hide her face with her hair, and Otto would sneak a peak out to the audience like, "You're STILL cheering?!?!" So needless to say, it was an appreciative crowd.

I hope that Spokane is growing a little from this. Best of Broadway has thrown a little risk into their lineup. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is also getting a little more off-the-beaten-path with at least one choice per season. And that's the way a season should be - the crowd pleasers mixed with some new energy.