Local Review: The EPCC Theatre Ensemble Production of "Spring Awakening"

 NOTE: As you read this review, please know that I was quite taken out of the second act due to the atrocious audience behavior during that half of the show. Crumpling chip bags, CHEWING THE CHIPS, unnecessarily loud comments, the whole lot.

  It is shows that "Spring Awakening" and "Rent" that have such huge, diehard fanbases, who are so passionate about the show they are fans of. On my side, I say "Wow, those shows must be really amazing!". Then, you actually attend a production of one of those types of shows.

  It is really a shame because most of the score for "Spring Awakening" (Music by Duncan Sheik, Lyrics by Steven Sater) isn't bad. But, the story unfortunately isn't good at all. "Spring Awakening" tells the story of the sexual awakening of teenagers located somewhere in 19th century Europe (Germany, I think? Correct me If I am wrong). As you'd expect, the plot and the way it is executed is uncomfortable, disturbing, and disgusting. The show goes places that you do not want it to go and at points it got really hard to watch because of the heavy subject matter, which deals with sex, suicide, abuse, abortion and miscommunication.

  Like I said earlier, the score isn't that bad. The lyrics are cringe-y, but it wasn't that bad. I just want to listen to the songs without the depressing story. That is what the big problem was. The show just remained sad throughout it's entirety. There were no "lift me up" moments. It was just consistently sad.

  I think that there were a few pointless plot points. For example, there was a point in the show where they centered around abuse. There was also a pointless gay lover subplot. I think those two plot holes could have gone and the show would not have been not that different. The show was already running long because of the finale, "The Song of Purple Summer" that song didn't only run too long, it was pointless in the show. "Spring Awakening" ends very sadly and then they have this song trying to lift us up and make us feel inspired. It doesn't work, all I said was "Can this please end now?"

  The cast for this show was very good. The director, Keith Townsend, did a wonderful job assembling a very talented group of performers who all clearly worked well together. Jordyn  Catanach (Wendla) and D.J. Oropeza (Melchior) did very lovely jobs playing their roles. They both played their roles with the perfect amount of tenderness. Other than that, the only other standouts were the adult characters, played by Joel Anguiano and Rachel Robins. I don't know what it was, but Anguiano and Robins were my favorites. Could it be because whenever they were onstage I knew the disgusting things those teenagers did would stop? Probably.

 The set (by Keith Townsend) and lighting (by  Dominic Pagano) were easily the best part of the show. The set was very elaborate, like most EPCC sets are and the lighting perfectly fit the darkness of the material. The sound design (Designer unspecified in the program) could use A LOT of work. The sound system often distorted a lot of the voices, making the voices sound muffled and softer than I am sure they normally are.

   I think the problem with EPCC is that they always do the same type of shows with practically the same people. Nothing ever feels new with them. Between this and their production of 'American Idiot", it's practically the same production of the same show (except it is easier to sit through this show than any production of "American Idiot"). I want to see EPCC do something outside of the type of shows I usually do. I almost didn't want to see this show because I knew it was just going to be the same thing EPCC always does, and it was.

   As previously stated, "Spring Awakening" was uncomfortable, disturbing, and disgusting. Those are the only words I have to describe the show. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

                                  

The EPCC Theatre Ensemble Production of "SPRING AWAKENING"
Book and Lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
For more information visit:  http://forumtheater.wix.com/epcc

The cast of the EPCC Theatre Ensemble Production of "SPRING AWAKENING" consists of
Wendla- JORDYN CATANACH
Melchior- D.J. OROPEZA
Moritz- ERICK CANALES
Ilse- LARISSA REYES
Martha- KRYSTAL GAMEZ
Hanschen- CHARLES KOLODOGY
George- LUIS VALDEZ
Ernst- BRYANT WEBB
Adult Male Roles- JOEL ANGUIANO
Adult Female Roles- RACHEL ROBINS