Spring Awakening Tickets

Spring Awakening is a rock musical that follows German teenagers Wendla, Melchior, and Moritz as they navigate adolescent challenges in a repressive society lacking sexual education. Wendla and Melchior develop a secret romance, while Moritz faces academic pressure leading to inner turmoil.

Tragic events unfold, forcing them to confront loss. The musical explores themes of rebellion, authority, and the need for open communication between generations. With captivating music and emotional performances, Spring Awakening resonates with audiences, highlighting the universal struggles of youth seeking identity and understanding in a world that often stifles their emotions and desires.

The world premiere of Spring Awakening opened off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company on June 15, 2006. Within a few months, the production opened on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and ran on Broadway until January 18, 2009. Directed by Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award-winner Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening was showered with awards and nominations, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score at the 2007 Tony Awards.

In 2015, Spring Awakening was revived and ran on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre from September 8, 2015 until January 24, 2016. The revival received three Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical, and four Drama Desk Award nominations. The Spring Awakening revival’s director Michael Arden recently won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Direction for directing the musical Parade.

What to Watch For

• East West Players’ production of Spring Awakening will be directed by Snehal Desai, who has been the artistic director of East West Players since 2016 and was recently appointed this year as the new artistic director of the Center Theatre Group. He will be the first person of color to lead the company.
• Wedekind’s original Spring Awakening was banned in Germany for fifteen years and censored in other countries as well. Similar to the adults featured in the play, the public veered away from the play because of some topics portrayed, including sexuality, puberty, suicide, and teen pregnancy, among others.
• Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik won the 2008 Best Musical Show Album Grammy for the cast recording of Spring Awakening. Sater and Sheik bested the other nominated musicals in the running, A Chorus Line, Grey Gardens, and West Side Story, for the title.
• East West Players is “The Nation’s Premiere Asian American Theatre.” The theatre was founded in 1965 by nine Asian American artists. East West Players works to share the Asian American experience and inspire an end to racism with its high-quality, transformative productions that advocate for representation in theatre.