Spring Awakening has set an opening night for its Broadway premiere at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The musical, a hit off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre, will open on Sunday, December 10.
The 11 young performers who appeared at the Atlantic—Skylar Astin, Lilli Cooper, John Gallagher, Jr., Gideon Glick, Jonathan Groff, Brian Johnson, Lea Michele, Lauren Pritchard, Phoebe Strole, Jonathan B. Wright and Remy Zaken—will make the move with the show. It has not been confirmed whether Tony Award winner Frank Wood and Mary McCann, who played the adult roles off-Broadway, will remain for the Broadway transfer.
A re-imagining of Frank Wedekind's 1891 play with music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, and direction by Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening boldly depicts how young people navigate the thrilling, confusing and mysterious time of their sexual awakening. The story centers around a brilliant young student named Melchior, his troubled friend Moritz and Wendla, a beautiful young girl on the verge of womanhood. In his Broadway.com review, Rob Kendt wrote: "It's a double-vision musical, in other words, in which the songs take place in a separate reality from the book." Kendt also praised Michael Mayer and his "knockout cast."
