Leaping off this February on Spring Awakening! :D

If you haven't figured out already, I'm a sucker for musicals. Case in point: Presenting, ... my blog title. Duh.

So, when the ad for Pangdemonium(!)'s stage adaptation of Spring Awakening caught my eye last year while I was randomly browsing Sistic's website (as I do when I'm bored on certain days)- I was blown away for a few seconds when I saw the running banner featuring the cast and a reviews quote stretching across the ticket purchase page. I knew I simply HAD to watch it.

And, it just so happens catching it on this fateful Thursday night also marked my FIRST PLAY OF THE YEAR! :DD

Also, the funny thing was, leading up to the showdate, I had no interest whatsoever to read up on the plot. I guess I was just relying on the 'first play adrenaline' and all, you know? But my friend and I dithered on the date forever, such that we bought our show tickets two days prior, on Tuesday.

Normally in Singapore, there would be no problems getting seats near the center in front rows for any other locally-staged play on almost any day. (Believe you me, I've been to quite a handful of local shows. My last one, was Aladdin. And heck, sign me up when there're free local musicals for viewing like this church production around Christmas last year):

This is because the premier-priced seats are usually left cold by Singaporeans while the ones in the lowest-priced section will be the first, or the only ones to be sold out. And one of the reasons we chose to go on a weekday was because we confidently deduced it would be less crowded.

At the Sistic ticketing counter on Tuesday evening however, we were told that only aisle seats were left- for all the rows till the ones at the sound console, which was at row J, twelve rows from the stage (including the first two PA & PB rows) were filled out -_- I was happy for Pangdemonium that they were selling tickets from all the hype and positive reviews, but also kinda crushed that we couldn't get centrally-located seats on the floor level.

Nevertheless, we went with the aisle seats, about 5 rows from the front because if there's one rule I hold onto when attending any show whatsoever, is that it sucks to literally just view all the action from the back, where the crowd would be dead; and where you'll feel alienated from the show. Anyway, we also figured the Drama Centre venue was quite a cosy place and aisle seats wouldn't be so bad right?

Here was my experience:

Before the show

-    Firstly, the foyer was packed (it kept swelling up near showtime, which is super strange right)! People actually had to line up to get in, even, say, five minutes before showtime??!! I know for a fact, because we were was one of those 'guilty ones' ;) loitering out there as we had arrived only 15 minutes before showtime. 

-   There were LOTS of groups of girls making up the audience Thursday night. I did not see any groups of guys. Strange huh? Either the lead Nathan Hartono is too irresistibly cute for the ladies or, that Singaporean guys are not artsy-fartsy enough??
-   And what do you know, I highly suspect (from their dressing) the two tall guys sitting in front of my friend and I (of all places -_-), were homos.
-   The play on Thursday night started late, like, around 8.20ish (showtime was supposed to be at 8pm) I think? We blame the latecomers. What irks me more are those groups of friends who seat in the middle and dare to come in late (did I mention that there's barely any legroom space at our seats in the Drama Centre?).
-   The pre-show announcements featured voices of children instead of the usual lone adult helming the mic. That was clever because I felt that all the more the audience would prick their ears to hear what was being said. There was a joke made by them near the end about how no Mediacorp artistes were involved in the play (will come to this point again later). Also, children being children, they announced the period setting of the play's synopsis wrongly! They said it was set in 1982 instead of 1892. I only realised the error during intermission when I was going through the programme booklet more thoroughly.

During the show
-   The centerpiece set of a ginormous silhouetted chapel-like structure (and bricked school walls at the sides)  overarching the entire stage was impressive and I immediately approved when I saw it on entering the theatre
-   Furthermore, the front of the stage had a little runway where the solo singers would position themselves and belt out to the audience to give the feeling like they were giving a private concert.
-   The boys (feat. Adrian Pang's kids Zachary & Xander) featured in the first scene seemed too precocious in their speech when they were en-acting the pirate game but, reclaimed their childish quality when the young Moritz (Xander Pang) writhed around exaggeratedly on the ground after being 'stabbed'.


Acting
-   About the acting, Julia Abueva was just, perfect in her role. In the programme booklet, she says she dreams of ultimately starring in Broadway and West End one day. She is so ready to conquer those stages me thinks.As for first-time(?) actor Hartono, his acting was understated but what do you know, it fitted perfectly for his Melchoir character. Or is it he effortlessly slipped into his character, because it seems like it too. Whatever it is, he fleshed out the character's dual sensitive and angsty sides excellently. Major props. I'm so proud of this local boy can?

-   There was definitely a palpable amount of chemistry between Abueva and Hatono. I couldn't help thinking how their characters reflected their real-life background-Abueva is an experienced stage actress and the more confident and more of the initiator in her Wendla scenes with Melchior, while Hartono the more inexperienced talent, plays the sheltered and hesitant one in his developing relationship with Wendla in the play. :D
-   Adrian Pang acted in all the adult male roles. He definitely likes them weather-beaten, half-psychotic and/or stickler-type Ah Pek roles don't he? That's his trademark acting style, and indeed, he played them out here, multiple times, to excellent effect. But what was funny to note was that he (and the other adult female actress, Candice De Rozario) always used a British accent for his characters while the other young cast all used the American accent? Whether Pang is more comfortable with the accent he grew up with, or that it was a premeditated tool used to highlight the contrast between the adults from the youths- it worked.
-   During the scenes where Pang was acting as the school teacher with Rozario and exchanging dialogue with her, it seemed they were speaking way too rapidly. Half the time, I barely understood what their characters were scheming about next. It could also be their German accents were a little too thick for the local viewer's liking.


Singing & Music
-   From the first note that came from the female lead (Wendla), 16-year-old Julia Abueva's mouth for the song Mama Who Bore Me, I breathed an internal sign of pure relief and relaxed. Because she sounded like Lea Michele's twin sister or something from the get-go you know? And I'm a huge fangirl of Lea's vocals. Enough said. It just proves a filippino can never be underestimated when it comes to singing. :) Nathan Hartono, the male lead (Melchior), sounded jolly decent too, especially in the first few opening numbers when he too sounded almost identical to the original Broadway singer Johnathan Groff's voice.

-   The guy who played Moritz, Eden Ang, didn't gel with me from the get-go. He was my least favourite character that night. Ang's sniffley, nasally and whiney voice grated on me much? It was made worse when I honestly say here that I pretty much couldn't make out most of what he was singing that night. It's like when he sang, his enunciation just went down the drain. It's a pity because Ang's real speaking voice (I was watching a few of those behind-the-scenes vids last night) is actually quite pleasant and completely different. However, I will say that Ang's expressive posturings when singing those rockish tunes for his role made up  for it quite a bit. His breakdancing background came through for him (and yup, he's that guy you see doing that cool jumping pose in all the publicity brochures & posters. Heck, even in the photo-taking backdrop at the venue foyer dammit!)

-   I really, really enjoyed the group harmonies in the relevant songs. It's like Glee, but 3 times better with the local Spring Awakening cast up there on stage. Big kudos to the vocals-person-in-charge. In fact, it was such that the cast members sound better themselves when they are singing the group-ey songs than when singing their solos. However, a little beef: it seemed the ensemble actors deliberately toned down their volume when singing the 'background voices' parts in certain songs, like they weren't confident of the sound system or that they were afraid of scaring the audience if their decibels went too high?
-    I wasn't quite sure where the live band members were located. It seemed like they were all at the back of the stage although I initially assumed they would mostly be below. Which is not a good thing if they were indeed all the way at the back (and 3/4 of them were hidden by the stage props?).
Why? Because this is a musical- where the instrumentals are important in sounding tip-top and as resounding in the venue as possibe right? Well, I can only say, the Esplanade theatre would definitely have improved the sound effects and overall watching experience, loads. I guess the experience from the drama centre to the esplanade would be like from a boombox to a stereo surround set. Maybe when there's a seond run in the future, one can hope? :)

-   The truly rocking moments from the ensemble cast were definitely the 'havoc-but-controlled dancing' scenes, which happened a couple of times near the end in for example, the song, Totally Fucked.You could really emphatise with and feel the youthful energy jumping out at you.





Here was the 'setlist' (taken from the programme booklet):

Scenes
-   One of my favourites would definitely be the school classroom scene with the boys when they first sing together for the song The Bitch of Living. The contrast of their scared-stiff, rigor mortis-like body language in the funeral-like atmosphere of their Latin class to their horseplaying and trampoline gymnastics (the high jumps at the end!) for the song was executed in such a clockwork manner. Loved it. :)

-   A standout 'group effort' scene was during the song The Mirror-Blue Night, the second last song for Act 1. Even though it was a solo song for Melchior, the other male cast played the 'backup dancers' very nicely on all four sides of the suspended board, while Hartono just sat there and sang. The choreography was some abstract, spastic kinda dance but looked very nice. The moves really portrayed the conflicting emotions going inside Melchoir (after having beaten up Wendla in the previous scene) aptly. I youtubed the Broadway version and it was actually the other way round, where Melchoir is seen awkwardly doing most of the dancing. I say one point goes in my book for our local scene. Bravo, Pangdemonium! Brava!
-  Another brilliantlly executed scene was during the first song of Act 2, The Guilty Ones. Not forgetting the fact that we got a second helping of Hartono's exposed derriere (from where our seats were, at the end of the right side of the stage, I'd say our view was real priceless), the scene had all the cast out in full force, and commanding the stage as a whole (unlike in the Broadway version where they're in some corner acting as a chorus). They formed an inverted V-shape around the copulating couple with Adrian Pang preaching at the apex, while everyone glared admonishingly on at them. I thought, 'epic move, there's their boss looking on proudly at all his young starlets.' And the coolest thing is he's literally working alongside them night after night. He must be so proud. Here's looking at you, kid(s)!

Other comments
-   I am real glad that 99% of the cast were locals, that Pangdemonium was willing to give these relative greenhorns a shot. They were solid (most of them graduated from acting, with honours, at LaSalle arts college), and this play's run for them would no doubt be a significant stepping stone for them in developing their stage presence, experience and such in future theatre engagements. The thought of certain Mediacorp personalities (mostly Singapore Idol alumnus) more fitting the bill did cross my mind, and it did seem Pangdemonium has a sore spot with them as hinted in the pre-show commentary (the 'no mediacorp artistes were involved' jibe remember?). If indeed some Mediacorp artistes were attempted to be engaged for this show but their managers were being too sticky and demanding, I have only this to say, 'it's to their loss!'
-   Singaporeans can do more in being a tad more considerate when watching plays. Every awkward scene doesn't mean it has to be LOLed at. Especially more so when you know this whole play has multiple dark themes, of child abuse, suicide, pregnancy which contributed to it being given a '16 years and above' audience advisory rating. We're not all still stuck in primary school kids mode now are we? 
Case in point- scene where girl's getting whipped and eventually beaten up: ha ha ha! Scene where homosexual boys fondle and kiss: HA HA HA! And the loudest Hahahas for that scene came from this one particular male sitting near me. He was most highly amused especially when the boys kissed, for godknowswhat reason.

-   Special recap of show artistic producer and theatre company owner, Adrian's speech during curtain call. Though he did mention he didn't want to tackily gripe about the unglam salary range of being in the theatre business unlike 'some ministers who love to do so lately', he thanked the audience warmly and urged them to 'talk about the show anywhere and to anyone', especially as they HAD to end the show by this Sunday, and  received 'no governmental support whatsoever'. Don't worry Adrian, I am certain you will receive support from everyone else who watches this musical, and the support will just keep snowballing for your future productions.With such unwavering passion put into sincere and stellar productions like this, one will never be 'totally f'cked' by 'them' yeah?




Ok, excuse my rambling for my first musical review of the year. So, let me end with this quote from Spring Awakening by one of the cast, Hanschen:

"There are only three ways a man can go: He can let the status quo defeat him, (like Moritz). He can rock the boat (like Melchior and be expelled). Or he can bide his time, and let the system work for him, (like me)."

And finally, lemme leave you with the bittersweet opening and closing song, from the official OST, The Song of Purple Summer (Don't cha just can't help liking songs with 'summers' in them? :D):