Spring Awakening - National Youth Theatre Curve

[ruggerlad]

Saw the National Youth Theatre production of Spring Awakening last night at Curve and throughly enjoyed it.

Boundless energy from the cast, strong vocals (although the odd moment in sound mixing meant a vocal or two got swamped by the orchestra), and the upgraded presence of the gay characters in various moments were all good for me.

Backdrop of the Berlin wall all strewn in graffiti and a raked stage with school benches plus a multi functional lighting rig was the staging.

Engaged me far more than when I saw it in the West End.

Just tonight and tomorrow left to run so if you can go see.

[Deleted]

National Youth Music Theatre

[ruggerlad]

Missed a word in my haste.

Thanks for your input.

[Jasmine]

Seeing this tonight. From the photos on Curve's twitter page I'm not too keen on the design, but I'll try to reserve judgement. I've been waiting to see Spring Awakening for years, as I just missed out on seeing the original West End production.

[Jasmine]

I enjoyed this last night, the cast were great and worked their socks off. I too liked the extra depth given to Hanschen, his scene with Ernst and the reprise of The Word of Your Body was a particular highlight. The staging of Moritz's death was well done, but I didn't really like the boxing ring interpretation of Don't Do Sadness, it was a distraction in what should be a key moment for the character. In this case I thought And Then There Were None proved the stronger song in his arch.
I understand and commend Foster for trying out something new, but I felt the 80's/Berlin wall spin was a bit shoehorned in, in an attempt to make it more contemporary (ironic, as that was 30 years ago) - which this show really doesn't need, the themes and (very contemporary in style) songs speak for themselves and are still relevant without needing to tamper with the setting. And on a purely aesthetic level the costumes were rather sore on the eyes.
Curve really need to sort out their sound mixing. It's been brought up numerous times before by audience members and critics, so I'd have thought they'd have sorted it by now. The chorus numbers were fine, but it becomes a bit of a problem when the lead actor is drowned out by the band!
As I said, the young cast put their all into it and show real promise!
Foster also presents some really touching moments, but I feel he needs to gain more clarity of vision and employ the budget in better ways (see also Legally Blonde for this).