該死的劇場 I Love theatre, but Damn it！

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

百聞，真的不如一見。對台大導演一的同學來說，這篇評論的刊出，剛剛好。

 

作曲家steven sater大膽改編Wedekind的《春之醒》；十九世紀末演出時遭致非議，票房失敗，如今，不但大翻身，也是目前百老匯創作中爭議性相當高的音樂劇－－另一齣《吉屋出租》在創造十二年演出記錄之後已經下檔。

 

這齣戲的導演處理非常有趣，也幸好這麼處理，搭配節奏強烈的音樂，與作曲作詞者簡略扼要詩意般的歌詞，才讓觀眾的「不安」減到最低。這批卡司已經和前幾年得東尼獎的卡司幾乎完全不同，可能跟他們的教育與年齡有關，不能成天泡在劇場裡。八月上旬我在紐約看完這齣戲，散場時，才九點半，便瞥見導演在觀眾席裡正在給演員們筆記；就如這篇評論所言，他們都好年輕！

 

September 15, 2008

 

THEATER REVIEW | 'SPRING AWAKENING'

 

Injecting Real Youth Into a Youthful Show

 

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

 

For some 21st-century Americans, teenage pregnancy may not have precisely the same scandalous — or sorrowful — significance it did just a couple of weeks ago. But in provincial 19th-century Germany , the prospect of an unmarried adolescent giving birth was definitely a family calamity.

 

 The unfortunate Wendla, the girl on the brink of womanhood in Frank Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening,” discovers the pleasures of sex before she is clued in to the mechanics of procreation, with disastrous consequences. Alexandra Socha, who now plays the role in the hypnotic musical adaptation of the play on Broadway, looks so girlish and delicate that her plight sets you squirming in your seat. When she turns a look of pleading confusion on the mother who has kept her in ignorance, the folly of leaving adolescents to the mercy of their raging hormones snaps sharply into focus.

 

Ms. Socha is not the only member of the new cast who seems to have recently entered the rough terrain of puberty. Almost all of the current cast members — and virtually the whole class of German schoolboys and schoolgirls stomping the Eugene O’Neill stage are replacements for the originals — look as if they have yet to meet their first pimples.

 

It’s a daring choice that underscores the more radical aspects of both Wedekind’s play and the musical adaptation by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater. These are not adults well into their 20s playing at playing adolescents and keeping us at ease as we witness their sexual exploration. Their youth is actual, not fictional, making it that much more unsettling to watch them being overcome by overheated erotic dreams and their own probing hands.

 

Hunter Parrish, who plays Mary-Louise Parker’s elder son in the pot-mom series “Weeds,” is a winning presence in the central role of Melchior, who initiates Wendla into the joys and terrors of sex and, not incidentally, love. His singing is sweet but light, and not especially rich in expressiveness. But the piercing blue eyes, boyish beauty and glowing physicality convince you that he would be a magnet for the adoration of many a German schoolgirl (and the occasional German schoolboy). The almost casual manner in which Wendla and Melchior move from friendly acquaintances to intimate, self-surprising young lovers is effectively drawn by Mr. Parrish and Ms. Socha.

 

As the hapless Moritz, the failing student staggering under the weight of strange, hormonal fever dreams, Gerard Canonico may not have the soulful inwardness of his predecessor in the role, the Tony-winning John Gallagher Jr. But he uses his wonderfully expressive face to delicious comic effect. When Moritz fumes at his mistreatment by the ego-stomping adults around him, the blood rises in Mr. Canonico’s cheeks, and Moritz turns into a squashed tomato before our eyes. A squashed tomato under a shock of angry hair, that is.

 

The supporting roles have been adventurously and profitably cast. Each of the actors has a distinctive, arresting face, and one that would look just right in a faded photograph from a century or more ago. These adolescents have adolescent bodies, too, some ample, some spindle-thin. Amanda Castaños, as the abused Martha, and Emma Hunton, as the outcast Ilse, lead their songs powerfully. Matt Doyle and Blake Daniel enact the seduction scene between the sly Hanschen and the tentative Ernst with consummate wit. New to the adult male roles, Glenn Fleshler displays ample range and glimpses of real feeling when necessary.

 

So, too, does Christine Estabrook, a holdover from the original cast. But her ferocious comic approach to the opening scene between Wendla and her mother is ill-judged. Her character’s fluttery discomfort at discussing the simple facts of childbirth with her pubescent daughter ultimately has terrible consequences. It should not be treated as an opportunity for shtick.

 

Mr. Sheik and Mr. Sater’s vibrant score continues to impress with its deft blend of straight-up rock, folk and melodic pop that captures the mercurial moods of adolescent experience, the fury that is a mask for frustration, the tides of longing that ebb and flow uncontrollably.

 

The band, under Kimberly Grigsby, the music director, remains powerfully engaged in the show, a benefit of both being onstage and being a tight musical unit. The musicians no doubt also take inspiration from the excitement of the new cast, clearly thrilled to be performing in a musical that speaks so immediately to audiences their own age. When the performers collectively rush onstage to join in one of the explosive, stomp-the-floor expressions of hormonal angst, the first couple of rows in the orchestra seats seem to be thumping along with them.

 

Scan the biographies in the program and almost every one seems to begin with the same two words: “Broadway debut.” Those words are almost invariably followed by an exclamation point — or three.

 

Spring Awakening?is at the Eugene ONeill Theater,

230 West 49th Street, Manhattan

; (212) 239-6200 or telecharge.com

 

秋分時節，無獨有偶工作室劇團將於9月18日起推出2000年首演時讓觀眾驚艷之作《快樂王子》，2008年《快樂王子》復刻版，以全新手工打造之戲偶、舞台，運用更純熟精鍊的偶劇語言及技巧，應用多重人、偶關係展現詩意想像及哲學幽默，引領觀眾走進北歐小鎮，與快樂王子分享最寶貴的人性價值。

當年，當英國文豪王爾德正優游於倫敦繁華奢侈的戀愛生活，又一面心繫留在愛爾蘭都柏林的老婆、兒子們，為了珍惜寶貴的親子時間，他都很有耐心地為孩子編講床邊故事；《快樂王子》是其中的一個作品。除了能品味無獨有偶劇團工作室的改編與創作之外，我們都該走進劇場嘗試一點心靈的感動。