A&E
Spring Awakening challenges sexual education norms and religious authority
By Ghada Emish ’19
April 21, 2016
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This past weekend, the Theatre Department’s spring main stage, Spring Awakening, opened in the Romano Theatre, marking its first musical in over 40 years. The production is directed by Professor of Theatre Craig Latrell, with musical direction by Karen Corigliano and choreography by Professor of Dance Eileen Heekin. Eliza Burwell ’17 stage manages, while MJ Lugo ’16 serves as Assistant Director.
Spring Awakening is a Tony-award winning Broadway rock musical, with music by popular singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik. Based on German playwright Frank Wedekind’s famous 1891 play of the same name, the musical portrays the clash between adolescent children and adults in the wake of realizations about sex and authoritative figures, skillfully incorporating modern lyrics and original choreography into a 19th century German setting. It also portrays an extremely conservative group of adults, ill-informed about the significance of sexual education and flexibility in raising adolescents, as they attempt to deal with changing societal values. Blending the old and new makes the musical highly relatable and challenges the extent to which dogmas about sexual education have changed in the 21st century.
Melchior, played by Matt Reinemann ’17, is skeptical of the way religious restrictions stand against progression and instinctive tendencies. He learns about sex by reading and becomes an atheist as a result of his research. Alternatively, his best friend Moritz (Charlie Wilson ’16) is almost the opposite of Melchior in his persistent anxiety about the sexual predilections he cannot control and his worsening academic performance. Unfortunately, in all this anxiety, Moritz fails to realize the reason for his instability is his unaccepting society.
Wendla, played by Meghan Gehan ’18, yearns to learn about sex and adulthood, but her search for knowledge is rejected by her mother (Allie Schuette ’16). Wendla is driven to ask Melchior to beat her after she hears about her friend Marta’s (Caitlin Kennedy ’16) physical abuse at home. Wendla yearns to understand the sensation, feeling as if her life up until this point has been too sheltered and safe. Afterwards, she is tentative around Melchior, who surpasses the power she gave him and feels ashamed. When they find each other in a hayloft, they attempt to reconcile their relationship, but Melchior’s knowledge and curiosity, when interacting and Wendla’s ignorance, escalates their relationship and leads to Melchior’s coercing her to have sex with him, complicating the plot and raising issues about consent and sexual education.
Through Marta’s song, “The Dark I Know Well,” the audience learns that Marta’s father sexually abuses her. Were the audience to wonder about society’s reaction to this secret, they would find their answer in Ilse (Caitlin McQuade ’18), whose character ends up homeless as a result of divulging her own father’s sexual abuse. McQuade’s voice is mellifluous and her portrayal of Ilse, truly moving. She is oppressed, yet tries to reconcile with her new life to seem stable in a hypocritical society.
Wilson’s performance is outstanding in the way he communicates Moritz’s victimization by the pressures society imposes on him. A tragic incident drives one to be angry at the incredible irresponsibility of the adults in Moritz’s life, who were not able to help him deal with his problems.
The mothers of both Wendla and Melchior (Noelani Stevenson ’19) fail to protect their children from social taboos. Wendla falls victim to an ignorant mother, one who lacks the courage to talk and educate her daughter about sex. Meanwhile, in a heated debate with her husband, Melchior’s mother protests sending Melchior to a reformatory to punish him for talking about sex since he has expressed nothing but the truth. Throughout the musical, mothers are portrayed as more silent and lenient, while fathers’ (all portrayed by Andrew Gibeley ’16) loud voices weigh significantly in raising children.
In Spring Awakening, parental responsibility and awareness are significantly misunderstood and it seems that society creates fetters out of its values. Wendla and Melchior’s mothers cannot muster the courage to protect their children, but the truth is that religious values were made to protect people and are apparently misinterpreted by many characters in this play.
The plot of Spring Awakening is quite interlinked; one string is pulled to affect many others and the smallest change weighs heavily, echoing the sensitivity of adolescents and the caution needed on behalf of parents in their interaction with their teenage children.
Wendla and her classmates’ conversations often center around marriage plans, praising Melchior as an ideal husband for his intelligence. But the portrayal of Wendla is, to some extent, limited. The audience hears extensive reflection on the boys’ “wild” dreams and learns too little about Wendla’s feelings and thoughts about her first sexual experience and the surprise of being pregnant.
In Spring Awakening, adults disregard the challenges they faced when they were adolescents, or are rather ashamed of this stage in their lives. As a result, the characters’ parents deal with them in the same intolerant manner as their parents once had. Melchior marks the beginning of a change in this flawed heritage. The musical’s closing on Melchior’s broken heart and persistence to live strongly motivates the audience to make a change in society from Melchior’s unforgettable experience in a quite touching and powerful end.
The musical also stars Tim Hartel ’18, Tommy Bowden ’18, Chris Hart ’19, Teddy Sullivan ’19, Olivia Melodia ’18 and Emily Aviles ’19, including a live pit orchestra consisting of both student and adult musicians. The main stage continues this weekend, with performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as well as a Saturday matinee at 2:00 p. m.