Sana, 2009/8
Review
Riitta Huotari
THE JOY AND PAIN OF YOUTHThe multi-award-winning youth musical Spring Awakening is a peculiar phenomenon. It is strikingly advertised as a show that caused New York to go crazy a few years ago. Now the musical has been brought to the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre.What does a play written by the German Frank Wedekind 115 years ago have to say to today’s young people? At least the strict framework within which young people in the late 1890s struggled towards adulthood. She and her awakening sexuality are controlled by her parents, school and church. Behind the veil of double standards and virtue, all kinds of things happened for which the young people paid the price. Shame and guilt fell on them Musicals are associated with the attributes light-heartedness and entertaining, but this play does not shy away from topics such as suicide, incest, masturbation, extramarital sex, illegal abortion and domestic violence. Due to the harsh themes, the play has been banned several times.
Steven Sater’s text and Duncan Sheik’s music bring the performance closer to the present day. Rock-type music, energetic dances and songs bring the viewer into the air as if to breathe oxygen from the other side of life, which is becoming too heavy and stuffy. The stage scenery is also transformed into a modern one. Young people captivate with their skills and dedication.It is in the songs that you can find the common things that are true for everyone in different eras. Young people no longer live in the same kind of ignorance as they did in 1891, but has the growth into adulthood become any easier? Are the expectations placed on young people any lower? Viewers of all ages can think about it. You can’t leave this performance with dry eyes.
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Suomen Kuvalehti, 2009 / 6
Review
Katri Merikallio
Spring wakes you up The package includes almost all the things that upset young people: sexual awakening, falling in love, illicit sex, masturbation, incest, suicide, double standards, teenage pregnancies, homosexuality and abortion. But when all this is served up with excellent acting, good music and skillful direction, the end result is an unusually enjoyable rock musical. Spring Awakening, brought to the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, is a surprise. Frank Wedekind’s play Frühlingserwachen, published in Germany in 1891, caused a huge scandal at the time, and the play was banned for decades. It’s easy to see why. In an era when the stork brought babies and sex was only a nasty duty of wives, Wedekind must have been a horror brat.The musical, based on Wedekind’s text, premiered on Broadway in 2006, and had its European premiere in London this week.
The musical, directed by Neil Hardwick and translated into Finnish by Sami Parkkinen, features 19 mostly young actors. Their youth, enthusiasm and sincerity make the musical believable and the emotions recognizable, for people of all ages.The City Theatre does not recommend the performance for children under the age of 15 or sensitive adults, but it could be said more honestly. If you can’t stand to watch masturbation under your shirt, you shouldn’t bother in the stands. A teenager, on the other hand, gets a good basis for discussions at the kitchen table from the play – if only the parents can stand it.
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Ylöjärven Uutiset, 25.03.2009
Review
PäiviKuokkanen
Helsinki City Theatre’s Main Stage wakes up to a fierce spring
AN EMOTIONAL MUSICAL IS A TICKET TO YOUTH
The youth musical Spring Awakening, which deals with tough topics, had its Finnish premiere in February on the Main Stage of the Helsinki City Theatre.
The spring awakened by director Neil Hardwick blows fresh winds into the world of musicals, and the performance beats to the beat of the hearts of its skilled creators.A young girl in her white petticoat, like a wounded angel, shines in the spotlight of the stage, singing emotionally “a mother will not help her daughter”.Helsinki City Theatre’s new musical has begun with a delicate scene in which Wendla begs her mother to tell her how children are actually made. Her mother refuses, embarrassed, and this seemingly insignificant episode seals Wendla’s fate.Director Neil Hardwick strikes an emotional nerve from the start. He has created a cast for his youth musical that glows with such a can-do spirit that it draws even an adult viewer into a journey into the painful world of youth.The musical depicts the awakening of young people in the spring of life, on the threshold of adulthood, when hormones are pounding through the skin from within, the body is a battlefield of confused sensations and blood rushes restlessly in the veins.In that world, volcanic eruptions of emotions, earthquakes, icy cold and scorching sunshine alternate daily.It is the reality of the young people in the musical, which includes incest, abortion, suicide and finding and denying one’s own sexuality.
“I’m empty
and full”
Frank Wedekind’s classic play had to wait for several generations to be reborn, adapted by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheikh .When it was published in 1891, the play received a harsh reception, and its performance was repeatedly banned.The play was a sensation of its time with its frank talk about sexuality, double standards and tormenting teachers.The years have passed, but the transition to adulthood should not be any easier.Fortunately, most parents have grown out of stork fairy tales and even know how to patch up the emotional wounds of the grumpy.Still, for many, it is still difficult to meet a young person, even though acting as a listening ear is one of the most important tasks of an adult.In the musical, problems are told by their real names, but with style and skill. The language of music works better than spoken in painful matters.“I’m empty and full, but don’t understand, I’m a closed window broken.”Is it possible to put a young person’s confusion into words more beautifully?Translator Sami Parkkinen knows how to do it.
The emotional story is guaranteed to touch the entire audience, from young people to old women.
Music
Export the storyThe masters of the acclaimed and controversial musical know how to captivate the audience. They also get music with rough ballads and rough rock to carry the story smoothly forward.The musical beats to the heartbeat of its skilled creators.The melodies of the songs are not very easy to catch, but the frenzy of the performers does catch the sweater. Like, for example, a boisterous statement from behind the Middle Finger.I also remember Mariko’s mood in the song Tumma tuuli.The proposal is partly double-staffed. I saw Sara Meller’s endearing interpretation as Wendla, who thirsts for knowledge and life, and who falls in love with the handsome Melchior, played by Tuukka Leppänen .
Leppänen performs his part wonderfully, including amazingly agile jumps.
Petrus Kähkönen has mastered the world of Moritz, which is crumbling under pressure.Leena Rapola and Oskari Katajisto fit perfectly into the diverse roles of adults.
The world of light
igniteIn addition to severe growing pains, the musical contains liberating humour and high-flown action.Choreographer Harri Kuorelahti has created such steps that even the audience will not want to stay in their skin. Kuorelahti charges the dance numbers with pain, confusion and budding delight. The young people fill in the fast-paced patterns in an excellent way.Conductor Lasse Hirvi holds the baton skillfully, which can be heard in the orchestra’s playing.
Jyrki Seppä’s handsome set design does not change during the performance, but the atmosphere is alive and gives rise to new states of mind.
Maija Pekkanen’s outfits, Little House on the Prairie dresses and boys’ breeches create a stark contrast to the events.About twenty seats are sold on the stage, among the performers, where the people sitting are guaranteed to slip more intimately into the story. And it certainly doesn’t matter at all if Mariko Pajalahti happens to sit next to you.
Antti Rehtijärvi’s lighting design is incendiary.Sparkling lamps twinkle on the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre in an unforgettable way.
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Salon Seudun Sanomat, 20.02.2009
Review
Arto Aulavuo
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.
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Kotiliesi, 17.02.2009
Review
Essi Salonen
Youth hurts “Touch, touch, touch me,” the young musical stars sing and rock at the Helsinki City Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Sexual awakening, the intoxication of first love, the charm of friendship, parental power, incest and self-harm. All this is illustrated by a skilfully made Finnish version of the controversial Broadway musical.The story is from a hundred years ago. It is based on Frank Wedekind’s play The Awakening of Spring (1891), which was once banned as pornographic. The pain of growing up is such a timeless topic that you can easily relate to it even today. In the rock-inspired musical directed by Neil Hardwick , Mariko, known from the band Kwan, takes the stage, for example.The main couple Jarkko Tamminen and Sara Melleri do sensitive and believable roles. The performance is not recommended for children under the age of 15 or sensitive adults. As a sensitive adult, I was able to watch it well.
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Kymen Sanomat, 07.02.2009
Review
Eija Anttila
Dare to look
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Hufvudstadsbladet, 07.02.2009
Review
Mats Liljeroos
Teenagers in crisis in the 1800s reflect our own time There has been a rarely seen hype around Spring Awakening from Broadway to First Line and for once, one is tempted to claim, not without reason. It is an unusually captivating musical, regardless of genre, and Asko Sarkola & co at the City Theatre has once again had an alert and accurate musical nose, when the Nordic vanguard puts it on in a production that has all the prerequisites to become a classic. At the same time, it may pay to keep a reasonably cool head. The American theatre street numero uno is a stronghold of conservatism in comparison to any small Nordic town and the piece is perhaps not quite as sensational as one could easily be led to believe. We have seen cool, and thematically so important, rock musicals before in our latitudes, and if we talk about American predecessors, for example, we did in the past. Purely an equally dizzying impression at the time. What makes Spring Awakening unique is, of course, the setup itself. To let Frank Wedekind’s slightly anarchist, deeply socially critical play from 1891 – which was so radical that it was banned at home for decades and was not shown in an uncensored state until the 70s in England and the United States – act as a mirror to our own time. How do we appear in the light of yesterday? What has changed in the end?
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Meidän Perhe, 03/2009
Review
Minna McGill
For past and present crumbs
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Helsingin Sanomat, 04.04.2009
Review
Jussi Tossavainen
SPRING CAME FOR THE CRITIC
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Kirkkonummen Sanomat, 01.03.2009
Review
Benjam Kukko
A musical that speaks and surprises
SPRING AWAKENINGOn 5 February 2009, the controversial musical Spring Awakening premiered on the main stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, the story of which dates back to 1891, when the writer Frank Wedekind wrote the play Frühling Erwachen. The cinematography and story were so bold that its play versions were banned for almost a hundred years.
Sring Awakening depicts moments when childhood is left behind and adulthood begins. It is a time when the body becomes an adult, even though the thoughts still have childlike features and the pain of obtaining information is great. It is even more difficult to obtain information. In the play, the execution of this description is different, even a little confusing, although touching and thought-provoking in its narrative. During the filming, several confusing things from youth are brought up. Love, the awakening of sexuality, masturbation and the first sexual experience, teenage pregnancy, even suicide and abortion, and other current thoughts. Rock music with the spices of a musical is perfect for telling the story, and suitably emphasizes the topicality of the story in the present day. I am amazed every time by Neil Hardwick’s ability to tell stories. The direction is once again a testament to his skills. Spring Awakening’s ensemble, where young people dance and sing, works. Neil Hardwick makes the stage burst with energy, leaving room for different personalities. The vocal performances, on the other hand, tell of the excellent level of musical performers that the Helsinki City Theatre has at its disposal.A part of the audience sits on the stage, yes, as part of the performance and still watching the stage work. At the City Theatre, we are used to the fact that the set changes but now that doesn’t happen, but the whole performance takes place with the same backdrop in place. On the other hand, with narration and excellent lighting, the space is made to change time and time again.I think this musical is suitable for all ages. It recalls youth with its joys and sorrows, and for younger viewers, it can be an experience of the feelings and thoughts of their peers.
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toisinsanoen.fi, 18.02.2009
Review
Päivi Arvonen
SPRING IS WAKING UPHelsinki City Theatre’s new musical Spring Awakening tells the story of adolescents struggling under the pressure of mental and physical growing pains and the collision of their worlds with adults and social authorities. The meeting of generations creates a dark drama, which is underlined by the music and set design. The talented cast and themes touching on universal problems ensure that strong emotions are experienced in the audience.
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Kauppalehti, 09.02.2009
Review
Veijo Sahiluoma
Spring awakening in a new guiseThe almost 120-year-old controversial play now appeals to emotions as a musicalThe Helsinki City Theatre has long been the leading musical theatre in Finland. However, it is unlikely that it has had four musicals in its repertoire in the same season as it does now. In the autumn, High School Musical first attracted large crowds, and then came Rebecca, which entertained the masses as a movie. Now it’s time for the new Spring Awakening , a controversial play from more than a century ago, and in May, it’s time for the fresh second part of High School Musical . If anything, this proves that musical theatre is going through a strong phase in Finland. Another decisive factor is that the country has a high-quality and extensive team of musical theatre professionals. It is not for nothing that it has been said that at least the best musical theatre in the Nordic countries is currently being made here.
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Turun Sanomat, 07.02.2009
Review
Eeva Kemppi
Spring awakens passionately and poetically in Helsinki City Theatre’s new musical For the second time in a year, the Helsinki City Theatre will see faces shining with happiness and tears in the final bows of the premiere of a youth musical. Last autumn, the energetic cast of High School Musical glowed with joy after a successful premiere, now it’s Spring Awakening’s turn. This is rare and valuable in the tight grip of institutional theatre.
Based on Frank Wedekind’s classic play Spring Awakening, the award-winning musical premiered in the United States in 2006. When it was published in 1891, Wedekind’s play raised accusations of pornography and was repeatedly banned from being performed.Considering the time of its publication, the play contains quite direct talk about both the internal and external turmoil of sexual awakening. The play has been transferred to the form of a musical without unnecessary and apparent modernization. In many ways, the world is different from Germany, which was permeated by bourgeois morality and double standards at the end of the 19th century, but sexuality is still a hot potato and the transition from childhood to adulthood is incomprehensible. The performance will certainly appeal to young people struggling on the brink of adulthood, but it is especially recommended for their parents and educators. It may be that it would be difficult to make Spring Awakening work as a drama of speech. The musical form distances and aestheticizes the (melo)dramatic story, saturated with passion, into its own unreality. Now there is room to tell the wild story boldly and directly.
Through the tougher
Spring Awakening is not a cotton candy-light and syrupy musical delight, but it deals with growing up through the heavier. At the same time as the desire awakens, the pressures and expectations increase both inside and in the surrounding community. The reality of the play includes incest, abortion, suicide and homosexuality. The tones are softer than in Wedekind’s play, but the Broadway version doesn’t have a sugary happy ending either.
The Finnish premiere directed by Neil Hardwick is not as trendy and fierce as the advertising and the English title suggest. Better that way. The performance is rather beautiful, evocative and even poetic. But there is also plenty of action, atmosphere, humour and energy.The musical runs on fast cuts, simultaneous scenes, still images formed by the actors and gestural poses. Harri Kuorenlahti’s choreography successfully borrows the movement language of contemporary dance and combines it with dance numbers that move to the beat of rock and punk. The choreography that runs through the performance is involved in all movement and being on stage.
Fearlessly and truly Hardwick and Kuorenlahti get a lot out of their ensemble consisting of very different talents. The whole group dances and sings distorted ballads and rebellious rock songs convincingly. The main stars act in the musical’s demanding genre fearlessly and realistically. Sara Melleri, who sings and acts with a unique character, plays a strong role as the inquisitive and passionate Wendla, who falls in love with the omniscient but vulnerable Melchior of Jarkko Tamminen. Tamminen, who is no longer quite a teenager, credibly captures the young man’s clear-headedness and intensity with his unpretentious expression.
Petrus Kähkönen draws a harrowing picture of Moritz getting entangled in his passion. The scene depicting the budding love between boys between Teemu Mustonen and Samuel Harjanne is the most thrilling depiction of homosexuality in ages. The world of authority is clearly separated from the reality of young people. Leena Rapola and Jari Pehkonen, who work carefully in their many roles as parents and teachers, are enough to become adults. The performance is supported by a simple and magnificent spatial solution. The events unfold on a small stage podium in the middle of a large stage. The orchestra plays on stage, and part of the ensemble and the spectators who have claimed their seats on stage sit on both sides of the stage platform. The general public follows both the performance and the spectators on stage. The set design doesn’t change once, but the space and atmosphere are constant. The performance is punctuated by Antti Rehtijärvi’s impressive and stylish lights. For once, there will be no cars or helicopters on the big stage.
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