One thrill after another on opening night of Skylight Music Theatre's 'Spring Awakening'
Opening night of Skylight Music Theatre's "Spring Awakening" Friday was a dynamic cultural experience even before the first note of the musical.
Clusters of theatergoers chatted excitedly in the lobby, their hands moving rapidly in American Sign Language. Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, America's best known deaf actor, turned up to see this bilingual production.
And the unscheduled thrills kept coming. During the musical's penultimate song, as Caden Marshall poured his heart out on stage, an overly productive fog machine set off the Broadway Theatre Center's fire alarm, sending everyone outside for some minutes until the all-clear was given.
Artistically, Friday's excitement came from the ways that co-directors Michael Unger and Alexandria Wailes integrated hearing and deaf performers in this production, which was partly inspired by Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway production.
Composer Duncan Sheik and writer-lyricist Steven Sater adapted "Spring Awakening" from an 1891 play by German writer Frank Wedekind. The musical retains that late 19th-century German setting, but the story's themes of adolescent sexuality, parental oppression and miscommunication still resonate.
The clampdown (one character calls it "parentocracy") in this conservative small town hits both genders. The boys, including brilliant freethinker Melchior (Marshall) and his deaf friend Moritz (Joseph Saraceni), suffer through rote Latin learning with little room for creative thought. The schoolmaster (Joel Kopischke) also tamps down on deaf students' attempts to sign.
Meanwhile, out of prudery or embarrassment, the mother of deaf teen Wendla (Erin Rosenfeld) won't tell her sheltered daughter the basic facts of sexuality. Hint: That does not bode well.
This production pairs a second, hearing actor with deaf principals as a singing and speaking voice. Rosenfeld and her singing voice, Emma Knott, who look enough alike from the seats to pass for sisters, had a close connection onstage. Sometimes the soulful Rosenfeld turned directly toward Knott as if she were looking inside herself for a feeling or an answer.
Saraceni's singing voice, Edie Flores, had a terrific rock-star presence and authority.
Skylight's show is well served by the dynamic Marshall, a hearing actor who's also a professional ASL interpreter. He gets the show's best song, though the title has a naughty word that I can't publish here.
The female-presenting supporting actors and ensemble members were strong, with Teagan Earley and Siena Rafter consistently capturing my attention.
It's a bilingual production, but it doesn't take a binary approach to communication. Hearing actors sign, deaf performers occasionally vocalize, especially in urgent moments. I'm a hearing person who doesn't understand ASL, but I still enjoy the way signing in this show flows into movement and choreography.
Reed Luplau choreographed Skylight's production; Eric Svejcar was music director.
If you go
Skylight Music Theatre performs "Spring Awakening" through March 17 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, visit visit skylightmusictheatre.org or call (414) 291-7800. Skylight recommends this production for people 14 and older; it has adult themes and language, sexual content and brief partial nudity.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Skylight Music Theatre's 'Spring Awakening' is full of surprises
