Spring Awakening and other thoughts.

Well this musical has certainly become quite popular among the musical theatre crowd, and after seeing it last Sunday I can see why.

I'll start with my overall opinion of the show: First, the music is incredibly beautiful and personally some of the most gorgeous music I've heard in musical theatre. The orchestrations are ingenious and actually compliment the music rather than just 'filling in' as an orchestra. There are certain numbers like "Blue Wind" that are just heartbreakingly beautiful and then the rock songs like "My Junk" and "And Then There Were None" that are just full of spirit and energy. The music is a big highlight in this show!

The story is great and needs to be told. There are so many important messages in this show and the characters really live the story and their tracks and emotions display them quite well. Although this show is definitely not for everyone there are some great statements about religion and education that otherwise go unheard.

The relationship between Melchior and Wendla is particularly thought provoking. I wish I had the words to fully describe it. Another beautiful story, though not as forward in the plot, is that of Moritz and Ilse. They share a memorable scene right before his suicide in which Ilse recounts their childhood romance and happiness. She sings Blue Wind, quite possibly my favorite song. I somehow feel so connected to that song. Something about the lyrics:

"Spring and summer every other day
Blue wind gets so pained
blowing through the thick corn and through the bails of hay
through the open books on the grass
Spring and summer."

is so moving to me. I can picture a happy group of children with no cares in life; then flash to 10 years later where a society that has taken away from these kids the chance to be human and experience human emotions and feelings, pushes them over the edge as a result of their frustration. (Maybe that's not the right way to describe it). Maybe I'm making too much out of it, but I can't help but fall in love with that story and with the story of this musical. I think we all have those moments when we wish we can just be children again, when our biggest worries at times was whether the wind would blow away the picnic we'd set outside. The wind has certainly blown away those years almost as quickly as it would the pages of an "open book on the grass."

I wish I had a wider vocabulary to describe how I feel about music and theatre. I want to be able to put chord progressions into words, or take the sound of a cello and write it down.....Then again maybe that's the beauty of music is that so much of it can't be described. It's meant to be heard and I guess that's what we'll have to do. I only wish I can show people what I see in things and have them hear what I hear. There again is another beauty of music: it's different for everyone.

I hope this made sense to someone. I will try to think of other ways to describe how I feel about this. Maybe one day I'll be able to!