Unpopular fannish opinion
Aug. 10th, 2009 08:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eee1313I did not like Spring Awakening. Sorry. To everyone who loves it, this is not a personal attack against any of you or your opinions. As I said to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yakgirl yesterday, there's plenty of stuff I love that she hates, so this is just the way of things. Maybe seeing it in a huge theater took something away from the show, as bigboobedcanuck has already suggested. But for some reason, this show did not connect at all with me, fava_bean, or the Scientist. Other people sitting around us loved it, but for me, I just didn't enjoy it.
First off, I'd like to put some positives out there regarding this show. I really enjoyed the set design, for starters. I think it was very innovative the way they used the space on stage, the way the items on the wall were highlighted to add to the feel of the scene, etc. The acting was really strong, as was most of the singing. We had an understudy for Melchior, and I thought he was great. The girl playing Wendla was good, as was Moritz. However, far and away the best singer in the show was the girl playing Martha, who was fresh out of high school. Holy crap, did she have a phenomenal voice. (yakgirl gave me a copy of the original Broadway cast, which I was listening to on the way in to work. The Martha on the disc absolutely cannot compete to the girl we saw yesterday. That kid, whomever she was, was amazing.) Overall the show was extremely competently executed, so I have no complaints there.
My problem, for the most part, was the story.
I'm sorry, but... I just didn't care. I really, really didn't. At the end of the first act, I turned to the Scientist and said "Hey, we're at intermission and we're finally getting a plot." :| It was just ... boring. I really couldn't get engaged in the story at all. I know it's supposed to be about innocent kids coming of age and learning the hard knocks of life on their own. But you know, I just couldn't care.fava_bean found Melchior to be "an asshole" during the first act. Later, when Wendla got pregnant by him in the second act, I found myself agreeing with his father: Melchior proved via his essay that he knew fully what sex was and what it could lead to, and yet he had sex with Wendla, who knew nothing, as was therefore guilty of taking advantage of her. Melchior wasn't innocent there, and I felt bad for Wendla, not him. As for Moritz, there was more sympathy for him. However, his story just wasn't fleshed out enough for me to get really pulled in.
You know, I think that is my biggest complaint with this show. Other than Melchior and Wendla, everything else was sidestory that wasn't given enough story. What was up with Hanschen, the gay guy who seemed to be there just so that there was a gay character? Or Martha, who was there to be beaten and sexually abused by her father, but was more just a catalyst for Wendla realizing she's been sheltered and has no feeling? How did Ilse end up at the artists' commune, where is her family? It just seemed like all of these stories were shown in glimpses simply to say that All Kids Have Issues and Parents Just Don't Understand. And why were all of the adults so damn one-dimensional and evil? The only redeemable adult was Melchior's mom, and even she turned on her son at the end.
The whole thing just seemed very after-school special, I'm sorry to say. During the intermission we were trying to figure out what would happen next. Would Hanschen commit suicide because he was gay and the world wouldn't accept him? Would Wendla end up pregnant and be beaten to death by her shamed family? Would the evil teachers get their comeuppance? Would Melchior realize he has major issue with women, as seen by his snapping and beating Wendla?
Another thing that totally threw me off: the choreography. What was up with the constant stomping of the actors' feet? Is it to show they have PAIN and they're FRUSTRATED with the bitch of living? Also, having only two of the five girls on stage stomp maniacally while the other three stand still and sing was distracting. And then the characters didn't dance, but instead would do crazy arm gestures that reminded me of the Toros' cheer routines in Bring It On. Also highly distracting, and I honestly don't know what the choreographer was trying to convey other than the characters are trying to BREAK FREE of their lives!
Also, the music didn't pull me in at all. Very few of the songs were engaging, IMO. "The Bitch of Living" and "My Junk" were both good, and I think that mostly has to do with the harmonizing. Whenever the songs did harmonies well, I liked them better. The love ballad about "I'm gonna be your wound" was, quite frankly, boring. I wanted to check my watch because it felt like that song went on FOREVER. And unfortunately asfava_bean said, the lyrics are like her eighth graders' emo poems. The song that got the biggest cheers from the audience was "Totally Fucked," which cracked me up. During intermission, the Scientist commented that the adults might as well be characters from Charlie Brown, going "wah wah wahhhh" instead of actually talking. So when the chorus of "Blah blah blah blah..." started up, I was like "OMG, he was SPOT ON!" Also, it seemed like the teens in the audience were cheering and hollering because the song was so clever and naughty because it had the word "fuck" in it a lot. :\ In defense of the music, when listening to it on the CD, I liked it better. I don't know why, exactly, but it sounded stronger on the disc than it did live.
I don't know... I guess I'm just grumpy or too old or something. Everyone I know who's seen this show loves it to death, and I don't know what I missed. I'm honestly glad I saw it with the Scientist andfava_bean as well, so that I know I'm not the only one who found it ... self-important, perhaps? It just didn't work for me, and I can't put my finger on why, but it didn't. Again, to everyone who loves it, I'm sorry I didn't. I honestly feel bad that I didn't enjoy it the way all of you did. I don't know why it didn't work for me, but there you are. If it makes you feel better, the show got a standing ovation from about half of the audience. The group of teens behind us LOVED IT and were planning on coming back for a fifth (!) time. And there were people at the ticket booth buying seats for the evening performance later that day. So I know the three of us are in the minority here. C'est la vie, you know? I'm glad I at least saw it and gave it a chance.
On the bright side, we did pick up tickets to go see The Addams Family in November. Bebe Neuwirth, Nathan Lane, and Terrence Mann. Terrence Mann! And I finally ate at Cemitas Puebla, which was absolutely AMAZING and beyond delicious.aj, we'll have to hit this place up with you sometime, you'll love it.
yakgirl yesterday, there's plenty of stuff I love that she hates, so this is just the way of things. Maybe seeing it in a huge theater took something away from the show, as bigboobedcanuck has already suggested. But for some reason, this show did not connect at all with me, fava_bean, or the Scientist. Other people sitting around us loved it, but for me, I just didn't enjoy it.First off, I'd like to put some positives out there regarding this show. I really enjoyed the set design, for starters. I think it was very innovative the way they used the space on stage, the way the items on the wall were highlighted to add to the feel of the scene, etc. The acting was really strong, as was most of the singing. We had an understudy for Melchior, and I thought he was great. The girl playing Wendla was good, as was Moritz. However, far and away the best singer in the show was the girl playing Martha, who was fresh out of high school. Holy crap, did she have a phenomenal voice. (
yakgirl gave me a copy of the original Broadway cast, which I was listening to on the way in to work. The Martha on the disc absolutely cannot compete to the girl we saw yesterday. That kid, whomever she was, was amazing.) Overall the show was extremely competently executed, so I have no complaints there.My problem, for the most part, was the story.
I'm sorry, but... I just didn't care. I really, really didn't. At the end of the first act, I turned to the Scientist and said "Hey, we're at intermission and we're finally getting a plot." :| It was just ... boring. I really couldn't get engaged in the story at all. I know it's supposed to be about innocent kids coming of age and learning the hard knocks of life on their own. But you know, I just couldn't care.
fava_bean found Melchior to be "an asshole" during the first act. Later, when Wendla got pregnant by him in the second act, I found myself agreeing with his father: Melchior proved via his essay that he knew fully what sex was and what it could lead to, and yet he had sex with Wendla, who knew nothing, as was therefore guilty of taking advantage of her. Melchior wasn't innocent there, and I felt bad for Wendla, not him. As for Moritz, there was more sympathy for him. However, his story just wasn't fleshed out enough for me to get really pulled in.You know, I think that is my biggest complaint with this show. Other than Melchior and Wendla, everything else was sidestory that wasn't given enough story. What was up with Hanschen, the gay guy who seemed to be there just so that there was a gay character? Or Martha, who was there to be beaten and sexually abused by her father, but was more just a catalyst for Wendla realizing she's been sheltered and has no feeling? How did Ilse end up at the artists' commune, where is her family? It just seemed like all of these stories were shown in glimpses simply to say that All Kids Have Issues and Parents Just Don't Understand. And why were all of the adults so damn one-dimensional and evil? The only redeemable adult was Melchior's mom, and even she turned on her son at the end.
The whole thing just seemed very after-school special, I'm sorry to say. During the intermission we were trying to figure out what would happen next. Would Hanschen commit suicide because he was gay and the world wouldn't accept him? Would Wendla end up pregnant and be beaten to death by her shamed family? Would the evil teachers get their comeuppance? Would Melchior realize he has major issue with women, as seen by his snapping and beating Wendla?
Another thing that totally threw me off: the choreography. What was up with the constant stomping of the actors' feet? Is it to show they have PAIN and they're FRUSTRATED with the bitch of living? Also, having only two of the five girls on stage stomp maniacally while the other three stand still and sing was distracting. And then the characters didn't dance, but instead would do crazy arm gestures that reminded me of the Toros' cheer routines in Bring It On. Also highly distracting, and I honestly don't know what the choreographer was trying to convey other than the characters are trying to BREAK FREE of their lives!
Also, the music didn't pull me in at all. Very few of the songs were engaging, IMO. "The Bitch of Living" and "My Junk" were both good, and I think that mostly has to do with the harmonizing. Whenever the songs did harmonies well, I liked them better. The love ballad about "I'm gonna be your wound" was, quite frankly, boring. I wanted to check my watch because it felt like that song went on FOREVER. And unfortunately as
fava_bean said, the lyrics are like her eighth graders' emo poems. The song that got the biggest cheers from the audience was "Totally Fucked," which cracked me up. During intermission, the Scientist commented that the adults might as well be characters from Charlie Brown, going "wah wah wahhhh" instead of actually talking. So when the chorus of "Blah blah blah blah..." started up, I was like "OMG, he was SPOT ON!" Also, it seemed like the teens in the audience were cheering and hollering because the song was so clever and naughty because it had the word "fuck" in it a lot. :\ In defense of the music, when listening to it on the CD, I liked it better. I don't know why, exactly, but it sounded stronger on the disc than it did live.I don't know... I guess I'm just grumpy or too old or something. Everyone I know who's seen this show loves it to death, and I don't know what I missed. I'm honestly glad I saw it with the Scientist and
fava_bean as well, so that I know I'm not the only one who found it ... self-important, perhaps? It just didn't work for me, and I can't put my finger on why, but it didn't. Again, to everyone who loves it, I'm sorry I didn't. I honestly feel bad that I didn't enjoy it the way all of you did. I don't know why it didn't work for me, but there you are. If it makes you feel better, the show got a standing ovation from about half of the audience. The group of teens behind us LOVED IT and were planning on coming back for a fifth (!) time. And there were people at the ticket booth buying seats for the evening performance later that day. So I know the three of us are in the minority here. C'est la vie, you know? I'm glad I at least saw it and gave it a chance. On the bright side, we did pick up tickets to go see The Addams Family in November. Bebe Neuwirth, Nathan Lane, and Terrence Mann. Terrence Mann! And I finally ate at Cemitas Puebla, which was absolutely AMAZING and beyond delicious.
aj, we'll have to hit this place up with you sometime, you'll love it.