When German expressionist Frank Wedekind’s play, The Awakening of Spring, was published in 1891, it so blatantly portrayed teenage self-discovery it was banned from the stage. It was poet-playwright Steven Sater’s idea to take this controversial work and turn it in to a contemporary piece of musical theater.

“It was 1999 and it seemed like a great time to tell a millennial story,” Sater explains. “to look back on the century before us as a way to look forward to the century ahead.”

He also knew the ideal composer to write the music — popular singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik. Sater believed he would be the right fit. “The original play is full of the unheard cries and longing of young people and it struck me that the place young people have found release from and expression of those same cries for the past generation has been rock music.”

Sater met Sheik at a Buddhist retreat in 1999. They hit if off and immediately started writing songs together.

“Our lives turned mystic when we started writing songs.” Sater recalls. “Duncan proposed that we create an album together and we did, called Phantom Moon, and then I proposed that we create a piece of musical theater. He agreed but said what was very important to him was the music be contemporary and it feel relevant to young people’s lives today.”  

Sater then called his good friend, director Michael Mayer, who immediately said, "I'm in!"

“I thought this is something I had to be a part of sight unseen.” recalls Mayer.  “Not a word was written but within a week of that call the three of us sat down and started talking about how to do it, how the songs would be. We knew that the characters wouldn’t sing to each other in the traditional musical theater way but they would sing their internal monologues.”

Essentially, Sater and Sheik used the original play to create the piece they envisioned for the struggle of adolescents today. It was Mayer who encouraged them along the way to tell their own story, create their own characters. When they started writing songs it opened up the original material of Wedekind’s play in a way they had never anticipated

“We created a journey of a young man that would feel like a young man today.” Sater  says. “We created a tragic love story that does not exist in the original play. We wanted to write unusual types of songs not just musically but lyrically. We wanted to open up moments where we could just go directly to the heart of the character and not have the burden on the lyrics furthering the plot. We wanted to tell a story that was about a lot of young people but at the same time we had to track a journey of three young people.”

For Sater, Sheik and Mayer, it was an eight-year journey from inception to propelling audiences out of their seats on Broadway. Spring Awakening is a stunning fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll that illuminates the perilous journey from youth to adulthood particularly when adolescent yearnings and confusion are sublimated or ignored. They never dreamed that it would be so potent politically and so relevant culturally. Nor did they imagine it would be nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2007 winning 8 including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book for a Musical and Best Director for Michael Mayer.

“We are very lucky with the timing of what’s going on in the wider culture,” Sheik admits.  “People are really tired of the hypocrisy that’s gone on in this country and the world at large. Spring Awakening speaks to those issues, particularly that you can’t cover up the truth about how you relate to kids, how you relate to sexuality and how adults relate to young people. We need to be serious about this issue, because if you are not, there can be tragic consequences.”

The original story was written from a very painful experience for Wedekind living in an extremely repressive society with parents who did not listen, were not interested, could not talk to kids about what was happening to their bodies and to their minds and to their souls in any real way.

“It was all about a system of religion based on fear, and teachers and clergy who were very punishing in their attitudes towards the students and the kids in the community,” insists Mayer. “Unfortunately, it’s not so different with what we are living with now. And, when I watch audiences respond so emotionally to what we are doing, with joy and with sorrow, and I see a lot of kids out there watching themselves.”

The decision to keep the musical in 19th Century Germany was intentional. Sater and Sheik wanted to juxtapose the stifling repression of the period with the mystery and wonder of the teenagers’ internal awakening as expressed in contemporary language set to a vibrant rock score. Mayer’s inventive staging enhances the imaginative storytelling.

“We’ve tapped into something that young people everywhere are feeling,” says Sater, “and at the same time their parents and grandparents experience the show remembering their own adolescence. In a way, the play fosters compassion and opens bonds between parents and children.”

Critics and audiences have said that Spring Awakening has changed the face of Broadway, that it may never be the same. Not just by reaching out to a young, new generation of theatergoers but by attracting vital, new talent to musical theater as a viable art and pop form.

“It’s not what we set out to do,” explains Mayer, “but if the success of our show will encourage adventurous writers, adventurous directors and brave, courageous producers and theater companies to do new work that challenges the way that everyone says musicals are supposed to be made, then that’s fantastic.”

What began as an idea to take Wedekind’s great original play and bring songs to it took a shape that was far greater than the creators ever imagined.

“When we gave song to the characters, we found it opened up their hearts and we wanted to go on a journey with them,” muses Sater. “We never dreamed that we would tell such a profound contemporary story.”

For more on the evolution of Spring Awakening from concept to Tony Award-winner, listen to Backstage with Director Michael Mayer.

Photo credits:  Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik courtesy of Spring Awakening; Michael Mayer by Ben Strothmann; Broadway cast photos of Spring Awakening by Joan Marcus

Back to SHNews