The cast of “Spring Awakening” took the stage of the Stony Brook Staller Center on Sunday, bringing the Broadway musical to the Stony Brook community.
The musical, whose poster warns parents that its content is for mature audiences only, tells the story of a group of teenagers who are forced to discover the realities of sex, love and abuse. It explores the idea that ignorance is not always blissful, and that parental sheltering often has adverse effects.
Staller Center Director Alan Inkles brought the show to Stony Brook on April 3 in an effort to get students into the theater. Inkles said that he has been trying to get students to attend Staller performances, and that he knew he wanted to bring Spring Awakening to Staller as soon as he heard that it was going on tour.
According to Inkles, the show was sold out at 1,081 ticket sales — around 350 of those in the hands of students.
The show’s mature themes received positive reactions from many of the college-aged members of its audience.
“It has to do with life in general,” said Shayla Ramos, a freshman double-majoring in psychology and philosophy who used her First On Us pass – a pass given to freshman to use for one free ticket to any Staller Center Live performance — to receive her ticket. “It’s not like fantasy, it’s actually realistic.”
Throughout the show, the on-stage pit orchestra infected the audience with its strong rock beats, resulting in bobbing heads and tapping feet.
“It’s rebellious and it’s like what everyone, like what all teenagers are going through,” said Tori Lewis, 17, who came to the show to support her brother.
Tori’s older brother, Billy, played the role of Georg.
“Georg is just, he’s a kind of, regular kind of guy,” Billy said in describing the relate ability of his character. “He’s not the smartest kid, he’s not stupid.”
The show contains many “regular” guys, as each male and female character struggles with the woes of their teenage years. Sex, suicide, abuse, rape and abortion each seem to be characters in and of themselves as they affect every character in the show and its audience.
“Students can relate to this, anybody can relate to this,” Billy said after the show. “It’s so prominent; such a huge story and just openness and just getting out there and just not being ignorant to anything.”
Inkles said that he is planning more events to cater to the interests of Stony Brook students. Last month’s free-for-students performance of MOMIX Botanica seems to have been only the beginning. Inkles said that he will soon announce an exciting new show coming to Staller.
