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Spring Awakening to Open in Germany in March 2009
By Andrew Gans
and Adam Hetrick
25 Jul 2008
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From top: Spring Awakening creators Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | Frühlings Erwachen, the German-language adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, will open in Duesseldorf, Germany, in March 2009.
It will be full circle for Spring Awakening, which is based on the original play penned by German author Frank Wedekind. The award-winning Duncan Sheik-Steven Sater musical will play the Capitol Theater in Duesseldorf beginning March 29.
Casting is currently underway.
Frühlings Erwachen, according to a press release, is "a pulsating and refreshing musical which gives insight into the turbulent years of growing up. . . .In a very delicate and humorous, but also provoking and stirring manner, the musical production shows the life of youngsters in 19th century Germany with all their dreams and desires about sex, passion and rebellion. Everything is topsy-turvy and the entire view of the world starts to falter. You say today's youths are no different? Right! The story told in [the musical] is timeless and valid to this day."
In addition to the upcoming U.S. tour and the London staging at the Lyric Hammersmith, productions of Spring Awakening are also scheduled for Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Scandinavia.
The plot of Frühlings Erwachen is described as such: "A small town somewhere in Germany in 1891: Pupils Wendla Bergmann, Melchior Gabor and Moritz Stiefel experience the stirring turbulences of adolescence. However, their curiosity towards sexuality and their questions are ignored by the grown-ups, middle-class morality prefers to stick to the story of the birds and the bees… Left to themselves, the youths get into disastrously stormy waters with life-threatening currents. At the end of the day however, despite all obstacles and injustice, there is always hope for a better world."
Based on the 1891 play by Wedekind, Spring Awakening won eight 2007 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The Broadway production of Spring Awakening features direction by Michael Mayer, choreography by Bill T. Jones, book and lyrics by Sater and a score by Sheik.
Songs featured in the Tony-winning score are "All That's Known," "And Then There Were None," "Blue Wind/Don't Do Sadness," "Left Behind," "Mamma Who Bore Me," "My Junk, "The Bitch of Living," "The Dark I Know Well," "The Guilty Ones," "The Song of Purple Summer," "The Word of Your Body," "Those You've Known," "Totally Fucked," "Touch Me," "Whispering" and "The Mirror-Blue Night."
Spring Awakening's cast album earned a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
The musical made its world premiere Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in June 2006. Spring Awakening transferred to Broadway the following November, where it continues to play at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
Tickets for the German production, priced 19.90-79.90 Euro, will go on sale July 26 by calling 0211-7344 0 or by visiting www.kartenkaufen.de. For more information go to www.fruehlings-erwachen.de.
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