Spring Awakening

Posted on by Thor

I decided to finally post this sketch because a dear friend Jeremy Seghers left Orlando to go to New York City. Jeremy directed two productions of Spring Awakening in Orlando and he was always open to the idea of letting an artist sketch the process. He invited me to the auditions for Spring Awakening and I watched the halls of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater fill with young hopeful actors. The first production was a direct staging of the original play set in a turn of the century German high school. The second production was to be based on a Broadway musical adaptation.

I heard a young girl singing in the woman’s room. For most of the actors, this was a chance to chat and catch up of theater gossip. There was a woman seated at a table and she took names. Actors were to have a musical number ready to sing. The pianist hadn’t arrived yet, so actors that had musical accompaniment on a CD moved to the top of the list. When they entered the theater, I could barely hear their muffled singing from my vantage point in the hall. Some actors left the auditition feeling elated that they had nailed their performance while others had doubts. Even so, art is a fickle process and a directors choice involves more variables than just talent.

Spring Awakening

Posted on by Thor

The Greater Orlando Actors Theater is presenting “Spring Awakening” at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater through September 4th. This is a musical based on a play written in the 1892 by Frank Wedekind in Germany. Having seen the play in its original form I thought I knew what I was to expect. Entering the Mandell Theater I was surprised to find it had been turned into a theater in the round. Seating bleachers lined all four walls creating an intimate square staging area in the center of the room. A single wooden chair with a young girl’s night gown draped over its back sat in the center of the stage as the audience filed in. The house went dark and then actress Melina Countryman stood on the chair and she was bathed in a spotlight wearing only her turn of the century undergarments. I was hooked from the moment she sang “Mama Who Bore Me.” She was soon joined by a chorus of girls who stomped to the lyrics in a sensual anger. The shows over riding theme was shouted to the rafters. These were women in full bloom who had to deny their sensuality.

I resisted the urge to sketch these young actresses and instead focused on the boys in their school uniforms who were being forced to learn using rote memorization. Adam McCabe as Moritz began to doze off. When the instructor prodded him awake he came alive as an electric live wire, frenetic and disheveled. He began to sing “The Bitch of Living” and all the boys joined him as they expressed their yearning and sexuality which was repressed and as of yet only a dream. I was surprised when audience members stood and started dancing. The choreography by Jessica Mariko was driven and sensual. During the course of the show several members of the audience changed into turn of the century garb becoming part of the cast. Simple effects like using a flashlight to illuminate a singers face were beautifully understated and intimate. Sarah Villegas as Ilse reacted against the sexual abuse of her father by running off to an artist commune where she posed for artists. She was attracted to the quirky Moritz but he was to blind to see her advances. When she sang “Blue Wind” it became clear she was to beautiful for such a cruel world.

Melchior played by Anthony Pyatt Jr. wrote a long scientifically accurate and occasionally illustrated description of the sexual act for his friend Moritz who was experiencing tortured sexual dreams. When this document was discovered by authorities he was accused of warping his friends mind and hastening his suicide. I’ve been told I avoid intimacy, yet when I write, I tend to express myself without inhibition and more than once what I wrote was unearthed and used as evidence against me. Yes, I wrote that. My soul is not my own. I am “Totally Fucked.” “Lets discuss what you meant in paragraph two, sentence five.” Blah, blah… blah, blah… blah, blah, blah.

The director Paul Castaneda and assistant director Jeremy Seghers did an amazing job of bringing this show alive in such an intimate setting. Simply stated, I was bowled over by this show and the young talented cast. There are only three performances left. Friday and Saturday’s shows (Sept. 2nd & 3rd) are at 8:30pm and Sunday’s show (Sept. 4th) is at 7:30pm. GoatGroup.org for tickets or call 407 872-8451 for information.

Spring Awakening Auditions

Posted on by Thor

Jeremy Seghers invited me to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater a while back to sketch young actors as they gathered to audition for “Spring Awakening“. A woman at a folding table had the actors and actresses fill out a form. Then they waited nervously in the hall. When actors gather for an audition it is like a reunion. The hallway filled with exited conversation. I had seen one production of Spring Awakening produced by Jeremy Seghers that stayed true to the original script. The play followed the lives of students in a turn of the century German University as they discovered their sexuality. A mother stumbled awkwardly as she tried to relate the facts of life to her daughter. She was unsuccessful. The daughter then ends up getting pregnant. Serious issues of rape and homosexuality are dealt with. I’m curious to see how music of Duncan Sheik and the lyrics of Steven Sater might ignite this story.

Since this production was based on the Broadway musical, each actor and actress came prepared to sing. The accompanist was late, so actors who came with a music CD to sing to got to go first. An actress went into the women’s room where she started singing. When she was called into the Goldman, she turned to her friends and said, “Wish me luck”. Behind the closed doors of the Goldman Theater I could hear her muffled singing. Actors who impressed the director, Paul Castaneda, would be called back another day for another audition.

Spring Awakening runs through September 4th at the Shakespeare Theater. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30pm and Sundays at 7:30pm. Tickets are $18 and $15 for students and seniors. Call 407-872-8451.