Spring Awakening (Broadway: Deaf West) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (1,419)
See it if intelligent innovative staging. Music is still banal and derivative, the story dated. But this production covers it up well in shiny clothes
Don't see it if the staging can be a bit confusing at first but becomes easy to follow in no time
See it if You want to see an original adaptation that has never been done before on stage.
Don't see it if You are looking for a feel good musical with memorable songs or story.
See it if you like rock musicals about teens. To me, the plot and songs were unappealing. Interesting approach to include deaf actors on stage.
Don't see it if you're sensitive to loud sound. Weird juxtaposition of old story with modern music. This just didn't work for me. Read more
See it if You want a fantastically produced revival.
Don't see it if You have no heart.
See it if you are a fan of the music, if you'd like to see an innovative take on the musical, you think ASL is an exquisite, dance-like communication
Don't see it if the original turned you off, you don't like loud music, you find double casting and abstract staging too confusing
See it if You're interested in seeing a very different musical staging of a very good musical involving deaf actors.
Don't see it if You disliked the original production of Spring Awakening. This production won't necessarily make you like it any better.
See it if you like historic, coming-of-age stories and shows with profound themes.
Don't see it if you don't like musicals. (I saw the Deaf West production and found it confusing at times with the integration of deaf and hearing actors.)
See it if You want a new interpretation of a classic musical. You want to hear great music.
Don't see it if You want great acting. You remember the original production.
Critic Reviews (61)
"One of the great musicals of the last decade was born anew on Sunday, when the thrillingly inventive Deaf West Theater production of 'Spring Awakening' opened on Broadway. Any qualms theater-lovers might have about this being a premature, whiplash-inducing revival will vanish like frost in strong sunlight when the young cast of both hearing and deaf actors floods the stage...A first-rate production of a transporting musical."
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"'Spring Awakening’s original production' ingeniously integrated 19th-century and modern imagery to thrilling effect. Here, with the interpolation of signing and doubled actors, the integration suffers, having a third performance vocabulary to juggle. The score still sounds great, but it’s just not as fluidly performed to maximize the emotional impact...For all of the valid reservations one can have about this experiment, there’s still beauty to admire, if you’re willing to hear."
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"This revival would have been unjustifiable were it not for the brilliant idea of placing the story in the context of deafness and using many deaf actors to tell it...Deafness is not a random overlay on 'Spring Awakening' or a trendy gimmick hatched to sell it...I liked the new production better than the original."
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"Arriving so soon after Michael Mayer's viscerally impactful premiere production, this underpowered, unexceptionally sung version seems more of a special presentation than a wholesale reinvention...It's not so much the cast as the concept that only half works here...While the intent merits applause, the execution is not sufficiently fresh or Broadway-caliber to justify the swift return."
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"It’s been twelve years since Deaf West mounted a Broadway production—let’s hope we don’t have to wait that long for another. Same goes for the immensely talented first time director Arden, who saw the amazing potential of Duncan Sheik’s gorgeous music and knew just what to do to wake up Broadway with it once again. Hopefully there is far more to come from this pairing."
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"With 'Spring Awakening,' which marks Deaf West’s second major Broadway transfer, the company goes as far as to incorporate the deaf dimension into the plot of the hit musical, transforming a show about the explosive consequences of denying sex-ed to a conservative late-19th-century German community into a critique of deaf education policy at the same time. As such, Deaf West awakens something new in the show, which is not so much a revival as it is a reinvention."
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"Few things in theater are rarer than a production so fine that it cries out to be seen in spite of the show, but that’s the case with Deaf West’s 'Spring Awakening:' It ranks among the most emotionally charged renderings of a musical to come to Broadway in the past decade, one that all who love the genre should rush to see."
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"This intoxicating production kicks the power of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s propulsive musical into a higher sphere altogether. And yet it seems truer in spirit than even the original 2006 production to Frank Wedekind’s daring, scandal-making play about teens on the verge of a sexual breakdown...The only shadow cast here is of great musical-theater making. The lighting may be dappled but 'Spring Awakening' is brilliant."
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