How to go
What: The musical “Spring Awakening”
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday
Where: Victoria Theatre, First and Main streets
Tickets: $39-$74
Information: (937) 228-3630 or www.ticket centerstage.com
DAYTON — Hot and bothered roles in musicals are nothing revolutionary.
Rolf, the soon-to-be Junior Nazi, is still a young Austrian gentleman when he coaxes Liesl for a kiss while singing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” in “The Sound of Music.”
Slinky dancer Mimi gets right to the point in “Rent” when she asks/tells Roger: “Wanna wail at the moon like a cat in heat? Take me out tonight.”
Before he discovers she doesn’t speak English, Usnavi tries this come-on to Yolanda in the musical “In the Heights”: “You know you need me. Truly, madly, deeply. Let’s get freaky.”
It’s only natural, as the cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” makes clear during “June is Busting Out All Over.”
“Spring Awakening,” which will play the Victoria Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday in a local premiere, takes on the same subject in a new and direct way.
It’s based on a play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891 and which was banned for many years in Germany due to content including erotic dreams, abortion, homosexuality and suicide.
The musical, which is set in 19th century Germany, follows the same story, but juxtaposes the urges of the young versus the repressive morality of the time with contemporary rock music and devices like hand-held microphones.
The combination has proven effective.
The show by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik won the 2007 Tony Award, ran for more than two years on Broadway and is in development for a film version. Wedekind’s controversial play was the basis for an obscure 2008 release called “The Awakening of Spring,” which adapted the story and setting, and the 1924 German film “Fruhlingserwachen.”
“Spring Awakening” isn’t just about sexual awakening — as experienced by students in the 15- and 16-year-old age range growing up in a time and place when such feelings and urges can’t be discussed with parents or teachers. One girl finds out the hard way that babies don’t come from where her mother told her they do.
It’s about how they act or don’t act on those feelings, what impact that has on them and how some of them help each other through the transition from child to adult.
“Their bodies are ahead of their brains,” is the way Christopher Wood describes the young characters in the show.
He plays the leading male role of Melchior in the touring production. Jonathan Groff originated that part opposite Lea Michele as Wendla on Broadway. Those two have moved on to star in “Glee.”
Wood, 22, a native of Dublin, Ohio, and a 2009 graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, said “Spring Awakening” is a show that makes everyone think while leading a roller coaster of emotions.
“It’s humorous to begin with. We can feel the audience warming to the comedic scenes and the rock score, but then it’s as if a bomb has been dropped. Things begin to go wrong. The characters experience terrible things and loss. But the show doesn’t dwell on that,” Wood said.
“It’s absolutely amazing that this was written in 1891,” he said.
Wood said the music is a major factor in the show’s success.
“There are beautiful ballads and catchy rock songs. There’s the 11 o’clock number that really brings the house down. I think there’s something for everyone,” he said.
The Victoria Theatre Association advises that “Spring Awakening” “is intended for mature audiences due to adult content and themes, including overt sexuality, language and brief nudity.”
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