Spring Awakening - Artists' Collective Theatre, Calgary

I had the pleasure of being at the opening night show for Spring Awakening. I need to preface that I had no knowledge ahead of time about the storyline, the shows history, or much about the cast & crew. As I wandered the lobby waiting for the doors to open, I asked around about what the show was about - the answers I received all told of a dark, brooding script, without any expectation of laughter. I was to be pleasantly surprised with laughter throughout, despite the dark edges.

Here is my humble (yet accurate) opinion of the show!

Overall Impression
I enjoyed the production overall. Moments of laughter, reflection, darkness, and light. It is a very entertaining show, and most audiences will enjoy it. There were a few moments of stiffness at the opening of the show, but that was understandable as first night jitters, and it went away within the first few minutes. In the end, I was standing and applauding with everyone, and cheering for a great effort by all.

Stage / Scene
A very interesting choice for set design that I liked. Very simply props and overall set pieces, which forced the actors to use expression and movement to portray their emotional state and thoughts, as they didn't have much else to rely on. For this show, it worked very well. I love the concept of the ever-changing set with the poles that could be used as a tree, doorway, dimensions of a room, or place for actors to hide (both in character, and for sight-line advantage). The ability to enter from centre back as well as either side of stage allowed for a great amount of flexibility.

With a show like this, where scenes are changing very quickly, the simpleness of the set allowed them to be done smoothly, efficiently, and keep a quick pace to the show. It also complemented the overall mood. Nice choices made here!

Technical
This is where the majority of my criticism comes into play. The technical aspects need work, and I feel should have been much further along for opening night.

Music -  The music itself was great - kudos to the musicians on a job well done. Your timing was perfect to match the performance, and kept pace with the characters throughout. The challenge with the music is that it overpowered the singers in almost every scene. Basically, this is a balancing problem from the mixing board. In almost every number, the keyboard overshadowed everything else, but it was instruments in general. This made it difficult to hear the singers at all, and a lot of important dialogue and song was lost in the roar.

Microphones - this was a problem in spots from beginning to end. Many times, for varying characters at all points of the show, I was waiting...and waiting....and wait...there it is! Finally, the mic was turned on! It was frustrating for the audience, and probably frustrating for the actors as well. This needs to be cleaned up, and occurred in dialogue and song for both solo and ensemble performances alike.

Lighting - In most aspects, the lighting was well done. Only a few spots here and there where I felt the balance was not right between the shadow to set the next scene, and spot light highlighting the current action. There needed to be a bit more shadow to not distract the eye from the scene.

Oh, and the final pose back lighting nearly blinded everyone in the first few rows of the audience. I know the silhouette you are going for (and it is a great idea, keep it). Suggestion is that it would work far better had the lights been on the floor, not hung from the bar.

Direction/Choreography

Nudity - Extraneous, and completely unnecessary for the show. Truly. I am not opposed to nudity if it advances the story. In Spring Awakenings, it does not, and is not necessary at all. The dialogue and action leading up to it very clearly indicate what is about to happen. In fact, leaving it to the imagination can be far more powerful. There is enough going on this show that the shock value of nudity is simply not needed.

Choreography - Generally, this was good, however there were moments that I felt the choreography appeared to be thrown in to "fill space", simply to get to the next section. There are also opportunities for cleaning, where characters were not in sync with each other and it is very noticeable.

I'd like to state again though, that the movement and dance was good overall. It's difficult to match modern music with the older generation feel, set, and director/character choices and make it all match. You met the challenge and it worked! Nicely done.

Direction - Some scenes were good, some could have used work. It was up and down, and the ending result was somewhere in the middle. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, it was just good. I'm not sure if the director's heart was fully into the project or not, hard to say.

Cast Notes
Well done, everyone! I think you each did a wonderful job in creating a world for the audience to join you in. I have no critique to give, other than to say keep it up! Every night, keep challenging yourself to give more than you did the night before. Push your energy every time, and you will get a standing ovation every night.

To the two "ghosts" - fantastic moment! I loved this blocking and the simple movement, which created such a touching scene to end the show with. Being fully in that moment brought the emotion out to the audience. Fabulous.

To Tory and Jacqueline - great job, all around. Fantastic, actually. Having to come up with the each character that the audience could easily differentiate was not an easy task, and you both did it wonderfully. My one thought - how on God's green earth did you manage to keep a straight face in that one scene!?!? You know what I am talking about! *wink* Kudos!

I would have liked to take the time to shake every cast member's hand and thank you personally. I have only good comments for each of you. You are fantastic, remember that. Thank you for a great show!

Closing Remarks
Congratulations on bringing the first Spring Awakening to life in Calgary! The end result was an entertaining and engaging night, and a well told story which is the most important part. Bravo!