Blank Canvas Theatre Tackles “Spring Awakening,” A Musical About Sexual Repression

Fri 6/24-Sat 7/9

Spring Awakening was a left-field hit when it debuted on Broadway in 2006 as a rock musical. It’s based on an 1891 play by German Frank Wedekind, dealing with the repressive sexual attitudes of his time and place, and the tragic results of sexual misinformation and ignorance. It involves rape, abortion, suicide, incest, domestic violence, promiscuity and homosexuality, revolving round a group of teenagers groping in the dark to deal with all of this. Not exactly uplifting stuff, and performances of the play have frequently been censored over the years.

But the Broadway production, with music by Duncan Sheik, won eight Tonys and won the Grammy for Best Original Cast Album. It ran for more than two years and has had two nation tours, a revival on Broadway, a couple of London runs, and countless productions by local theaters such as Cleveland’s Blank Canvas Theatre at 78th Street Studios, which opens its production this weekend. It’s directed by Alison Garrigan, who recently retired as artistic director of Talespinners Children’s Theatre, which she founded. Here she indulges her much darker side.

The show runs Thursday-Saturday @ 8pm and Sunday @ 7pm through July 9. Go here for tickets.

blankcanvastheatre.com/spring-awakening/

 

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