Tickets are available NOW at www.city-theater.org
For Immediate Release: October 8, 2024
Media Contact: Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, City Theater Company, 302-377-3156 or
Spring Awakening — the landmark musical with a pop-rock score by singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by playwright Steven Sater — brings all the angst, romance, tragedy, and poetry of adolescence to City Theater Company in December 2024. CTC’s 31st season is their fourth as Theatre-in-Residence partner at The Delaware Contemporary art museum.
The musical is based on a play by German playwright Frank Wedekind, written in 1891 and
suppressed from being performed until 1906 for its frank condemnation of sexual and social
taboos disguised as righteous correctness. The plot is deceptively simple. A group of teenagers in a Victorian-era German town wrestle with their literal “awakening” on all things related to love and sex under, or perhaps in spite of, the eyes of their watchful yet neglectful parents and teachers.
Sheik and Sater kept the time and the setting, but added a score of modern music. As “The
Girls” and “The Boys” outwardly worry about grades, piano lessons, gossip, where babies
actually come from, and what all of it means for their adult futures, they express their rich inner lives and fledgling relationships through an explosive array of pop and rock tunes.
Spring Awakening was a Broadway smash when it opened in 2006, starring Delaware’s own
Johnny Gallagher Jr.. The musical won eight Tony Awards and enjoyed critical acclaim,
ushering in a new era for what a musical can be. Its mature themes and infectious, haunting
score resonated with fans of all ages throughout its three-year run, subsequent tours, and a
2015 revival featuring a cast of both deaf and hearing actors signing and singing their way
through the tortured morass that is being a teenager.
Artistic Director Kerry Kristine McElrone directs an ensemble cast of 13 to bring Spring
Awakening to life at The Delaware Contemporary.
Says McElrone: “The source material for Spring Awakening is as relevant now as it was in 2006 and 1906. The nightmare bliss of navigating the path between childhood and adulthood resonates with everyone who’s ever been or is currently going through it. And at a time where we are inundated with both celebration and condemnation of sex and ‘morality’ — and sending confused messages to young people to the point of taking away their agency and choices — Spring Awakening is exactly the right piece for CTC’s 31st season.”
CTC veteran Emma Romeo Moyer (Once, Art, Assassins) returns to Delaware to play Ilse, a
character whose story reflects the consequences of her break from an abusive home to live as a model — and sexual playmate — among an artist community outside of the repressive town.
Says Moyer “I’m thrilled to be returning home for Spring Awakening! CTC’s trademark visceral approach to storytelling was made for this show. It’s easy to look back on the violence of youth through a rational lens as you grow, but in the moment, everything you experience feels life-or- death, and this show takes place on that knife’s edge. At the end of the day, these kids want what everyone wants: To be heard, to be seen, and to love and be loved.”
McElrone concurs. “Sheik and Sater have created a beautiful world here, remaining true to the spirit of the original play while empowering its characters with bold, funny, heartbreaking songs that speak to modern sensibilities. Thanks to CTC’s oeuvre, all the things for which Spring Awakening was so lauded — the simplicity of the staging, the intimate presentation, characters breaking the fourth wall to engage patrons with inner song-monologues — were very familiar to me when I saw the original Broadway run 18 years ago. I’m excited to be featuring it this season with such a talented cast and creative team.”
Spring Awakening stars Olivia Bloch, Adam Cooper, Jordan Eck, Kristin Finger, Avery Mekhi
Hannon, Autumn Jewel Hogan, Rob Hull, Elsa Kegelman, Emma Romeo Moyer, John Murphy, Emily Rooney, Luke Sullivan, and August Walker. All but Cooper (Assassins), Finger
(Assassins), Hull (Mamma Mia!), and Moyer are making their CTC debut.
Directed by Kerry Kristine McElrone. Music Directed by Joe Trainor. Choreographed by Dawn Morningstar. Set design by Rick Neidig. Lighting design by Jason Burns. Stage Managed by Stuart Thomas. Promotional art by Joe del Tufo and Joe Trainor.
TICKET DETAILS: General admission $45. Military with ID and Student with ID $35.
Production runs Friday, December 13 through Saturday, December 21, 2024. All shows 8:00
P.M. except one 1:00 P.M. matinee on Sunday, December 15. Please join us on Opening Night for a post-show reception.
All shows at The Delaware Contemporary, 200 South Madison Street, Wilmington, DE 19801.
Tickets available now at city-theater.org.
Rated R for mature audiences. Please note that Spring Awakening includes profanity, and deals with sensitive themes, including, but not limited to, sex, pregnancy, child abuse, and suicide.
Book & Lyrics by Steven Sater. Music by Duncan Sheik. Orchestrations by Duncan Sheik. Vocal arrangements by AnnMarie Milazzano. String Orchestrations by Simon Hale.
Produced on Broadway by, IRA PITTELMAN, TOM HULCE, JEFFREY RICHARDS, JERRY
FRANKEL, ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY, Jeffrey Sine, Freddy DeMann, Max Cooper, Mort Swinsky/Cindy and Jay Gutterman/Joe McGinnis/Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog
Productions/CarJac Productions, Aron Bergson Productions/Jennifer Manocherian/Ted
Snowdon, Harold Thau/Terry E. Schnuck/Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois/Elizabeth
Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney/Tamara Tunie/Joe Cilibrasi.
The world premiere of “SPRING AWAKENING” was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company by special arrangement with Tom Hulce & Ira Pittelman.
Spring Awakening is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com
City Theater Company, founded in 1993, performs contemporary comedies, new works, and
classic musicals to critical acclaim in an intimate black box theater on the Wilmington waterfront. This organization is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on DelawareScene.com.
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