Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...Spring Awakening has arrived in Chicago nearly three years after its unforgettable Broadway opening and toward the end of a long tour. Those aren’t ideal circumstances. Chicago deserves hot shows like this one faster and fresher, while the revolution is still in the air. Nonetheless, the touring show remains in decent shape. In the role of Moritz, one of the main troubled kids, Blake Bashoff (the second to play the role on Broadway) is startling and intensely moving. He’s matched by the fascinating young Canadian Steffi D, who adds a whole new complexity to the role of Ilse, which felt much less exciting on Broadway. Many of the featured roles are performed in similarly spectacular fashion, including Andy Mientus’ provocative Hanschen and Ben Moss' earnest Ernst."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...The seductive, poetic score is the work of composer Duncan Sheik and writer-lyricist Steven Sater. And even if their songs tend to end as if they've run up to the edge of a cliff and stopped mid-note (in rock song style, rather than with the emotional punch of the typical Broadway number), they invariably have a shimmering beauty, a deep ache and darkness and, when necessary, an anarchic edge."
Daily Herald
- Recommended
"...Michael Mayer's bold, innovative direction deftly straddles the rock and theater divide. The fitful, idiosyncratic choreography by Bill T. Jones is absolutely inspired in the way it physicalizes adolescent anguish. But what propels this show is Sheik's score juxtaposing moody, melodic ballads with rousing alternative-rock anthems and Sater's yearning, irreverent and provocative lyrics. The haunting "The Word of Your Body" - a simple acknowledgment of the wounds lovers both inflict and receive - may be the most honest love song ever written for a musical."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...My wife thinks the power of the show--offered here in a sharp touring production--has to do with Bush-era fundamentalism, and she's right. But it's also a product of elemental themes: the dynamism of youth, the jealousy of age, the will to life, the denial of love. What happens to a dream deferred, indeed. Though Sater and Sheik's Spring Awakening is full of laughs, sex, and sweet tunes, it's ultimately heartbreaking in its portrayal of kids and parents alike tortured by propriety."
Windy City Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Though many of the characters are sketchily drawn, actors like Blake Bashoff as the hyper-stressed Moritz, Jake Epstein as the intellectual Melchoir, Christy Altomare as the curious Wendla and Matt Shingledecker as the self-absorbed Georg all find memorable ways to flesh out their roles."
Copley News Service
- Recommended
"...In spite of the seriousness of the story, “Spring Awakening” includes lots of humor, especially in the first act, some legitimate and some undermining the intensity of the narrative. The audience gave its biggest ovation to a second act number whose title cannot be mentioned because one of its two words consists of a very adult four-letter word (actually six letters in its verb form). It is the score’s most rousing number, a cry of adolescent frustration that is also very funny but a total mood breaker from the tragedy building in the story."
EpochTimes
- Recommended
"...This is a road show and so utilizes a set just like the original modified to be moved quickly and follow the direction of Michael Mayer and the choreography of Bill T. Jones. Eight musicians are onstage for the entire production and make music as large as a full orchestra, yet never drown out the words we are meant to hear. I find this a very important ingredient in that the words of the book and the lyrics of the songs have great meaning to the story and if lost can alter the understanding of the audience. Tonight's audience truly "got it!" loving every song they heard and offering four curtain calls for this marvelous theatrical experience. This surely will be a show that will develop a following (like "RENT") and I can see it coming back for years and years despite the content."
Centerstage
- Highly Recommended
"...What emerges, however, is a brilliant period piece that speaks profoundly to today’s audiences. The story and characters may be from another era but, enhanced by a standout rock score, the ideas emerge as fresh and very contemporary. In fact, it is disturbing to realize that the same issues of 1891 Germany are just as relevant and poignant today: sexuality, masturbation, unwed pregnancy, suicide, physical and sexual abuse, abortion and strict religious doctrines."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...The terrific young touring cast gets it just right: For teenagers, whether in 1891 or 2009, all that yearning and churning does feel like life and death. Perhaps never before on stage has that feeling of roiling teen turmoil been better expressed than in the explosive second-act showstopper “Totally Fucked,” with Bill T. Jones’s jittery choreography perfectly capturing agitation and angst, while Kevin Adams’s lighting design rivals the MCA’s Olafur Eliasson show for the city’s best use of fluorescents. Simply put: It rocks."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Spring Awakening displays the tough side of coming of age with depictions of male masturbation, homosexuality, explicit sex acts and the reaction of parents. It pits the shame of religion, the ignorance of teens, and prudishness of parents against one another to create life shattering events. Spring Awakening musically brings the universal angst of teenagers deftly with style, loads of heart and skilled theatrical craft."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Not Recommended
"...There is always the understanding that a script can make a job difficult for an actor if it is not written well. This being said and my feelings about the script already writ, the acting was atrocious. The show and the characters are very real and many people in the audience can relate to them on paper. Not a single actor was connected to their character and what they went through. Even worse was the fact that they were not connected to each other."
