Being a teenager is rough. Everyone is going through physical changes that can lead many to feel isolated by their own confusion. For those without guidance, it’s an especially frustrating task that can result in some terrible mistakes. For the characters in the musical Spring Awakening, puberty arrives during a time of great censorship, where the teachers and parents would rather turn their heads than directly address the internal struggles that the cast is dealing with. As a result, the emotions run rampant, often delving into the most uncomfortable of topics without a proper understanding of how to process them. It’s a story that has endured for two decades now and continues to serve as a cautionary tale of limiting knowledge.
That makes Cal State Fullerton a perfect place to put on a performance at their expansive Young Theater venue. The agile cast brings to life with defiant vigor a story oozing with every uncomfortable and irrational thought of its teen characters. It’s a story that delves into the darkest recesses of teen angst as well as more vulgar corners (there are multiple scenes centered around masturbatory acts) in a way that creates an impressively deft balance. Just as the characters seem depraved, the script will remind audiences that these are kids in desperate need of guidance. For as much can be written off as puppy love, there’s the reality that nobody knows what to do with them and, as a result, leaves them to the whims of the school masters who determine who gets to be validated in the social hierarchy.
Like the confrontational nature that unfolds on the stage, the music has the hallmarks of the angriest musical style imaginable. Gone are the conventional peppy melodies in favor of aggressive guitars, pogo dancing, and middle fingers while spouting works like “The Bitch of Living” in a pained harmony. It’s a powerfully singular work made better by the CSUF staff who often gather mid-stage with limited props and act out the dance numbers with a risqué wink of the eye. It conveys the urges finally breaking free. They’re the ones that can’t be properly expressed with a conventional dialogue exchange. It needs to be shouted, and the catharsis that comes out in the performance is excellent.
Act II takes things to even more audacious places. Along with topics that include suicidal ideation, the story forgoes conventional structure in favor of a more prophetic ending that will send chills down the audience’s spines. Having navigated a world where the adults laugh at the students’ misery, it’s haunting to think that they don’t have the answers. All they have is the power to gatekeep what is and isn’t acceptable. It’s the type of criticizing that results in personal guilt that will likely linger forever. What should be written off as normal instead becomes like an infection that eats away at everyone, waiting for everything to finally make sense.
CSUF’s version of Spring Awakening is largely limited by a singular two-story backdrop. With actors running up and down the stairs, they capture an impressive level of dimension in such a condensed space. While Act I is more effective in having a rhythmic bond between the staging, it’s in Act II that everything becomes more striking. Along with adjacent props working as poetic minimalism, there’s other elements that reveal themselves in the closing stretch that recontextualize the potential of the story. It’s a powerful, silencing finale that forces one to consider the ways that Spring Awakening can be applicable to a modern age… even one almost a quarter century removed from the original musical’s release.
In terms of performances, Fullerton deserves considerable accolades for effectively portraying a story that can easily fall into camp. While it’s at times funny, the story’s underlying toxicity is what makes everything come together. The laughter of one’s teenage years eventually fades into the recognition that something is wrong. For some, it’s a minor issue that they’ll outgrow. However, there are those who seem doomed to a terrible fate. For them, this story is a nightmare, and one that is portrayed with deep empathy. If one lesson is learned by the end of Spring Awakening, it’s to reach out to those in need and listen. You may not have all of the answers, but trying to help is better than watching them waste away. That’s the bitch of living. Try to make it easier for all involved.
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