Step It Up Summer Stage of Cornwall-on-Hudson will be presenting the 2007 Tony Award Winning pop/rock musical Spring Awakening on August 7th and 8th at the Walter Reade, Jr. Theatre at Storm King School. This fall, the show is set to be revived on Broadway, featuring a cast of deaf and hearing actors. This revival will allow a new generation of audiences to experience the mesmerizing story and music. It also means that Summer Stage will present one of the last amateur productions of Spring Awakening in this area, as all licensing and performance rights to the property have been suspended indefinitely.
Spring Awakening is set in late 19th century Germany and follows the story of teenagers raised in a severe patriarchal society left to experience the confounding physical, emotional and spiritual changes of adolescence without a whisper of information, counsel or reassurance from adults. The brilliance in the writing of this show is that dialogue and costuming are set at the turn of the last century, but music and lyrics, composed and written by Grammy and Tony winners Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, are contemporary in sound, feeling and word. This juxtaposition presents a thrilling night of theatre as it becomes immediately obvious to the audience that despite the infinite availability of published information to young adults in present day, the emotional anxieties and confusion of adolescence remain unchanged from a century ago. Spring Awakening contains language and themes inappropriate for children under thirteen.
Summer Stage’s production of Spring Awakening will feature a seven piece orchestra and twenty local actors, ranging in age from 16-20. The show is directed by T.J. Larke and Karen Eremin, with musical direction by Max Finkelstein. It is produced by Ronda Barber. Tickets are $15.00 each and should be reserved by calling 845-534-3645. Shows are 7pm on Friday, August 7th and Saturday, August 8th at the Walter Reade, Jr. Theatre at Storm King School located at Mountain Road and Rte 9W – N, Cornwall-on-Hudson.
