A production that hasn't fully blossomed.
City Theater Company, Delaware’s Off-Broadway, has a history of presenting boundary pushing rock musicals that tackle difficult subject matter. It’s no surprise that they are mounting a production of the 2006 musical Spring Awakening, it is a show that screams “CTC vibes” and frankly, it’s a little surprising that this is their first go at the material! The production currently running at The Delaware Contemporary Black Box is visually appealing, with a young cast of powerhouse vocalists, but sadly doesn’t always have the connective threads to make this show a knockout, while missing some of the bombastic energy and immersion that fans of CTC have come to expect.
Spring Awakening, based on the 1891 play of the same name, tells the story of a group of young teens as they navigate their sexual awakenings in a world that doesn’t care to guide them through them. The show tackles extremely sensitive topics and serves as a severe warning of what can happen when parents don’t actually listen and help their growing kids. The musical helps to modernize this German Empire story by juxtaposing it with pop-rock music to help explore and define the ideas through a more contemporary lens.
CTC has set up their space in a three quarter thrust, with a U-shaped platform in the middle. It’s a fascinating set up that allows for a lot of dynamic scenic pictures. Costumes by Kerry Kristine McElrone (who also served as director) are also good. The choice to have the color palette be shades of white for the younger characters was rather nice, and helped evoke the innocence of the characters. Unfortunately, the setup allowed the cast very little in terms of remaining hidden or having clear exits: there were many moments where my eye was drawn to cast members standing around watching the scene with me, and a particularly disappointing moment where Moritz exits dramatically (no spoilers) to then be highlighted in silhouette by the light from the lobby hallway as he exited through the door to the space, providing a stark contrast to the dark material just presented on stage, and undercutting it intensely.
Vocally, this is a very talented cast. The ensemble numbers sound great, and are all highlights. The three central characters of Melchior, Moritz and Wendla played by John Murphy, Luke Sullivan, and Olivia Bloch respectively, all have lovely voices. Luke Sullivan as the tragic Moritz is a particular standout. He brings a mischievousness to the role that is refreshing and engaging to watch, and makes it his own. Unfortunately, for a show as “free” as this one, this cast felt particularly rigid at times, as if they hadn’t fully connected with one another as an ensemble yet. For material as dark as this, being surrounded by friends onstage can help bring light and levity to other moments, but while the cast consistently tried to bring all their energy forward, they perhaps lost touch with one another.
While there are some definite highlights in this production, it does falter in a few ways that stop it from fully awakening. A primary issue is the lack of connection from the scenes to the songs. The show is written in a way that the songs are non-diegetic, meaning they are not sung of the plot, but more commentaries on the plot. This presents many challenges, chiefly among them finding the connective through-line to make the transitions un-jarring. Unfortunately, this is an area that could’ve used a bit more attention; this mainly affected the scenes, where the energy would dip and the pacing had a slight tendency to drag, which is a shame with text as poetic and nuanced as this material. These scenes could have helped enrapture us to these young characters, but instead felt like afterthoughts to the more attentive musical numbers.
Overall, Spring Awakening is a mixed bag. Clearly there is a lot of talent involved, but there were some choices that needed a bit more clarification and refinement. This story is a heavy one, and special attention must be paid to crafting moments on stage where you can, whether that’s small moments of levity between friends in a cruel world, or respecting the need to let the darker moments hit hard and sit uncomfortably with an audience, so the story resonates with them. This production has a lot going for it, but ultimately doesn't quite blossom into the smash hit that it could have.
City Theater Company’s
Spring Awakening runs at
The Delaware Contemporary
(200 S. Madison Street, Wilmington DE) from now until December 21st 2024.
For more information visit city-theater.org.
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