Review: Spring Awakening

SPRING AWAKENING SPRING INCIDENT

Helsinki City Theatre is the largest theatre in the country, producing premieres at a pace that terrifies the younger ones. In many years, the novelties of early spring have been disappointing, overly calculated box office pieces.

However, this year is different. Each novelty is significant and gives value for money. Of these , Spring Awakening is one of the musical cases of spring.

A hundred years ago, the German-Swiss Frank Wedekind was one of the most significant dramatists of his time. His works have been adapted into films and even opera, and they have influenced representatives of different art movements. Spring Awakening (1891) was met with great indignation for its themes dealing with sexuality and was a long-banned work. In 1935, the first professional theatre in Finland dared to take up the text (Turku Workers’ Theatre) and the drama really flourished in the 1980s, when it was in the repertoire of five theatres.

The work, which was a strict critic of Victorian thinking, experienced a resurgence in the world in 2006, when Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik made it a musical in the United States, which won a bunch of significant awards. Even though some themes have been softened in the American novelty, the result must still be considered successful, thanks in particular to the songs that support the narrative and the intensity of the young performers.

Despite its rather typical format, the handsome Spring Awakening is touching theatre that is also guaranteed to resonate with a young adult audience (K15). In the middle of the large stage, a classroom has been built that delimits the space and can be transformed into many things, on the sides of which the actors also wait for their turn.

The main roles are played by a double crew. The adult parts of the story are played by two great experienced actors, one man and one woman ( Jari Pehkonen and Leena Rapola in the evening I saw), which further emphasizes the rise of young people to the center of the drama.


Sara Melleri and Sanna Majuri alternate in the central role of Wendla, Jarkko Tamminen and Tuukka Leppänen as Melchior who falls in love with her. In the performance I watched, Wenla and Melck were played by Melleri and Tamminen, and they did a great job. Knowing the skills of Major and Leppänen, I have no doubt that they will also succeed very well in the roles.

Mariko Pajalahti, the lead singer of the band Kwan, skilfully interprets the tragic Ilse, but the real surprise is Petrus Kähkönen, who plays the insecure Moritz, who is overshadowed by the outgoing intellectual Melck. Although he has a background in both movies and theater, the youngster’s performance thrilled me.

The problem for young people growing up in their own schools (girls for girls, boys for boys) is that their parents – neither the school nor the school – know how to prepare them for the twists and turns of adulthood. Successful modern music and a great classic story are captivating.