The Ren's 'Spring Awakening' explores emerging sexuality
Melchior has fallen in love, but his parents and teachers in 1890s Germany have forbidden the teenager from exploring his emerging sexuality.
His story will unfold before audiences this weekend and next with performances of the musical "Spring Awakening" at The Renaissance Theatre.
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Tickets, starting at $25 for adults and $15 for students, can be purchased online at rentickets.org.
The show is recommended for mature audiences because of language and content.
Audience will sit on stage with cast
The show will be unique for visitors, as the audience will sit on stage with the cast, according to Ryan Shealy, the musical's director.
"It will have a powerful effect on them emotionally," Shealy said.
There will be a total of 90 seats for guests, who sit on both the right and left side of the stage, facing center stage. Nobody will be sitting in the usual audience seats.
Cast members will play up and down stage, as well as out toward audiences on both sides, at times less than an arm's length away.
"They're going to get up close and personal with these actors and actresses," Shealy said.
The show will also be recorded by The Ren's professional production staff and will be streamed throughout the month of February.
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"It will be filmed with a live audience," Shealy said. "Multiple angles and possibly on multiple nights."
At-home live streaming will cost $25, regardless of how many people are there to watch the show.
Lexington native debuts as lead actor
The show's star will be Noah Sgambellone, a Lexington native who will portray Melchior.
It will only be Sgambellone's second show at The Ren — he performed in Aladdin Jr. in 2018.
"I love it," he said of the experience. "I've learned a lot. I've met some amazing people."
The show has gone rather quickly, too. Auditions were in December, giving him just a few weeks to learn hundreds of lines.
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"It was fairly difficult," Sgambellone admitted.
He said the audience will notice the performance will run through a series of emotions quickly, which has been challenging for him at times. One scene might end on a particular note, then just a few seconds later the next scene will begin with a very different mindset.
"This is an intimate show," Sgambellone said. "You have to tap into some serious emotions right away."
Former Miss Ohio portrays sheltered teen girl
His character's lover, Wendla, will be portrayed by Caroline Grace Williams, a former Miss Ohio who has been a star at The Ren for the past several years.
She loves the concept of having the audience on the stage with the cast.
"It becomes more of an interactive type of performance," Williams said. "The audience is really involved. I like it. I think it's really unique."
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The two leads are in their high school years during what is considered to be a very conservative time in German history. Her character, Wendla, is particularly sheltered.
"She's so sheltered that her mom won't even tell her how kids are made," Williams said.
But she's an intelligent girl and she's able to observe those around her, eventually deciding life has a little more to offer than what she's been allowed to experience.
"I would say she's independent and head strong," Williams said. "It sort of leads her into some trouble."
The actress herself grew up in a very conservative neighborhood in Tennessee. She's drawn from that background to help her understand Wendla throughout the musical.
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"She goes through quite an emotional journey," Williams said. "That's something I have gone through on this journey as well."
Maybe it's Wendla's will to explore that has attracted her to similar qualities in Melchior.
"He's a rebel," Sgambellone admitted. "He's always fighting the system. He seems to be the only one of his classmates who is testing the limits."
Intimate shows this weekend and next
Audiences will appreciate sitting directly under the stage lights, just inches from the cast.
"It's going to have intimacy," Shealy said.
"Spring Awakening," written in 2006, won eight Tony Awards in 2007.
"It was a big Broadway hit at the time," Shealy said.
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The show toured the country, and is now going to be available for Mansfield audiences.
Show times this weekend are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, then 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The same will be true next weekend: 8 p.m. on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, then 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 30.
The first act will run about an hour, followed by a 15-minute intermission and then a 45-minute second act.
ztuggle@gannett.com
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Twitter: @zachtuggle
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Emerging sexuality explored during Spring Awakening at The Ren
