It's a show for kids. It's based on a play written in Germany over a century ago; it's old-fashioned. It's got loud rock music in it.
These are a few of the comments I heard when I told my friends I was going to Asbury Park to review ReVision Theatre's production of Spring Awakening. Well, I'm glad I didn't listen to them, for this Tony Award-winning musical—receiving its first regional premiere—is a blockbuster production that would, I am sure, give the B'way version a real run for its money!
Of course, Spring Awakening is all the things my friends said it was—all but the first. In that case, it's a show about kids, but not only for kids. Besides, the beauty of theater is that it is timeless, classic. After all, weren't we all kids at one time? And didn't most of us rebel (or want to rebel) against authority?
In a revitalized Asbury Park, ReVision Theatre has made its home in the building that once held the famous carousel, and they have certainly transformed the place into a space worthy of such a dynamite production! Trees remind us of the fecund season of Spring, and the thrust stage brings the action close to the audience, making the high-ceiling building feel almost intimate. No audience member is more than 50 feet or so from the stage! A rocking band (hidden behind the back wall of the stage) and a group of handsome, energetic and talented singers/dancers/actors transform this opera-like show into one you'll remember for a long time.
I don't think I am the only person who felt that way the other night, for after many musical numbers, the audience clapped profusely (I usually don't like that because it interrupts the flow of the action), and after the big number, "Totally F***ked," everyone, old and young alike, stamped their feet and cheered for what felt like an eternity. If that ain't appreciation, then I don't know what is.
But you can't stop Mother Nature, no matter how many rules you make, so when a confused Moritz asks his friend Melchior (Above: Billy Lewis as Melchior and Noah Zachary as Moritz. Photo by Jason Meehan) about the sex dreams he's been having, 
Melchy writes out an explanation, complete with anatomical drawings, which will prove to be both boys' undoing. Wendla and her girlfriends are becoming interested in the boys and pick the ones they like; luckily, Melchior returns Wendla's affections, and the two soon explore their feelings, emotional as well as physical. But once again, Mother Nature steps in and, with some help from the adults, ruins something beautiful. (Right: Billy Lewis and Elena Ricardo)
The word "body" figures into many of the songs through which the teens think about sex. Accompanied by lots of stomping feet and crashing down of school chairs, "The Bitch of Living" projects the anger the boys feel and the militaristic attitudes of their schoolmaster (Left). Martha tells of sexual abuse at the hands of her father (as her mother looks away) in a haunting "The Dark I Know," sung so sadly and beautifully by Shira Elias. And Elena Ricardo (a luminous Wendla) and Billy Lewis (a hunky Melchior) share a lovely duet about "The Word of Your Body." Even homosexual love is tenderly explored by Spiros Galiatsatos (Hanschen) and Spencer Kiely (Ernst).
The teens, who include Jonny Beauchamp (Georg), Teddy Toye (Otto) and Chelsea Zeno (Thea) provide fine musical and choreographic support. Taleen Dersdepanian is wonderful as Ilse, who has been thrown out of her house and who lives in an artists' colony, and Noah Zachary (Right) as an achingly melancholy and bewildered Moritz who, in addition to his sexual confusion, is ostracized by his father when he isn't promoted to the gymnasium (upper school), not because he's stupid but because there aren't enough openings in the class. Renée Ban Allen and Travis Mitchell play the various adults with malevolence you could cut with a knife, but they do it in fine voice and presence.
Solid production values abound: Steven Kemp's set is functional yet evokes various venues quite well. Sarita Fellows' costumes are appropriate to the time; the boys' uniforms hearken to the Brown Shirts worn by proto-Nazis a couple of decades later. Jake DeGroot's atmospheric lighting really sets a mood as it directs our eyes to various parts of the stage, and Karoline Budna's sound, while at times a bid too loud, suits the driving rhythm of the band directed and conducted by Michael Thomas Murray.
And finally, the choreography by Elisabetta Spuria is complicated and sophisticated. Best of all, Carlos Armesto's firm directorial hand elicits heartrending performances from his young cast (they are not teenagers) while moving them efficiently around, on and off the stage so there's nary a dead moment.
ReVision Theatre's mission is to give a fresh perspective to productions of plays that have appeared elsewhere, so if you saw Spring Awakening on Broadway, don't hesitate to come to Asbury Park to see it again; it is not a carbon copy of the original. Go down in the late afternoon, walk the boards, have dinner facing the ocean in one of the many delicious restaurants nearby, and then see the show. It will be an event you will remember. I know that I haven't stopped thinking about it yet. And I plan to attend performances of their upcoming shows.
Spring Awakening will be performed at the Carousel House on the Boardwalk, 700 Ocean Avenue, in Asbury Park through August 28, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM. There will be a special ASL interpreted performance on August 24. Tickets are $18 to $38, Wednesdays and Thursdays; $18 to $48 Fridays; $33 to $53 Saturdays; and $18 to $43 Sundays.
When you order tickets, use use the code SPRING you will get 15% off your Spring Awakening ticket order. You can order online at www.ReVisionTheatre.org (24/7), by phone at 732.455.3059 (10 AM to 7 PM) or at our box office at The Carousel House, 700 Ocean Avenue from 12 noon daily.
ReVision Theatre makes theater accessible to everyone, offering $5 tickets to school groups and not charging those who cannot afford to attend. What a company!
Warning: While the language is rather tame, several scenes are sexually suggestive. I would not bring young teens to a performance, although older ones will connect with the events and emotions onstage.
