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Spring’s sexual seduction

SPRING AWAKENING by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik, directed by Michael Mayer (Mirvish). At Canon Theatre (244 Victoria). To April 19, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday 2 pm. $20-$99. 416-872-1212, mirvish.com. See listing. Rating: NNNN


Grafting modern melodies and lyrics onto a classic period play, the award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening is a fascinating sprout of musical theatre.

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Based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 script about teens discovering their sexuality and rebelling against their staid elders, the show by Steven Sater (book and lyrics) and Duncan Sheik (music) plunges the audience (some of whom sit onstage) into a rich, bubbling world of adolescent unrest, wet dreams, fantasies and desires that the play’s adults either ignore or frown upon.

At the centre of the story are the innocent Wendla (Christy Altomare, see interview), who can’t get her mother (Angela Reed) to explain how babies are made the smart, philosophical and radical Melchior (Matt Doyle), a model for his schoolmates and an object of lust for the town’s young women and his friend Moritz (Blake Bashoff), who doesn’t understand sex but knows he wants to explore it and turns to Melchior for guidance.

Add several other curious teens, including a couple with queer proclivities (Andy Mientus and Ben Moss), and the tension builds until it explodes in several directions.

The music, ranging from ballads to rock numbers, is undeniably effective. Played by a onstage band (I’ve never seen a music director visibly enjoying himself as much as Jared Stein does), its contemporary tunes and lyrics (“There’s a moment you know you’re fucked”) are embedded in the formal, occasionally stilted 19th century dialogue. The blend of the two styles creates strong drama, and the uniformly talented company – who regularly pull cordless mikes out of their pockets to sing – makes it work.

Hypnotically staged by director Michael Mayer, with a strong contribution by choreographer Bill T. Jones, this touring production breaks the theatre’s fourth wall in surprising ways. Christine Jones’s scenic design – a simple brick wall hung with largely period images that echo the onstage action – is finely detailed, while Kevin Adams’s lighting, combining iridescent and fluorescent lights, is often magical.

There are a few problems early on, with some too-easy, heavy-handed comedy involving the demanding, insensitive, manipulating adults (all played by Reed and Henry Stram) they’re caricatures who would be more impressive if they were also menacing. But once the story of the teens starts throbbing, there’s no holding it back: not its tragedy, not its abuse and violence, not its anger and certainly not its exuberance.

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