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opment is as forced as Gallagher's per-formance - Spring Awakening's secondact is theatrically captivating, whileIhe music, lyrics, and text all generatefrom a joint impulse. After Melchioris expelled from school and blamed asihe scapegoat for Moritz's death, theelectric guitar led rock and roll number"Totally Fucked" causes the adolescentensemble to tum the stage upside down- it's as if it were their very playground- with a defiant blast of amplified song,jagged physical movements, and re-peated shouts of "You're Fucked!" Thesquare platform stage within the stage,which has been designated the primeacting area from the outset, functionsas a zone of youthful rebellion as desksare artfully turned over and used as ob-

|ccts woven intothe choreography.I he number endstriumphantly, be-fore revealing thebanished hero,Melchior, defi-antly sitting al aubiquitous deskchair that has been

perpendicularly fastened to the the-atre's back wall, some twelve feet offthe ground. The rigid social construc-tion of the stage world has been throwninto momentary chaos, and alas, the au-dience can cheer, shout, and ultimatelylament with its brave young represen-tatives.

In spite of the fact it reduces Wede-kind's text to a loosely connected se-ries of scenes predominantly expressedmusically, Sater and Sheik's rendi-tion proves to be an exciting theatri-cal event, if not a nuanced one. Whileits modern motifs most often work todefine the play's central tension (thegenerational struggle), subtleties ofcharacter and their corresponding

feter Zazzalilakes another;rack at Springiwakenjng•rough themg-form

issay later inthis volume.

situations are insufficiently explored.During the course of the story we en-counter two teenage deaths, an expul-sion from school, parents disowningtheir children, an unwanted pregnancy,and the sexual awakening of numerousteenagers - both gay and straight ones.However, nearly all these events aredealt with superficially. Perhaps it isexpecting too much to criticize a popsongwriter as gifted as Duncan Sheikand a librettist as crafty as Steven Saterfor failing to fully express the com-plexity of Wedekind's original text.Nonetheless, their version of a playthat has been consistently regarded asexciting, shocking, and controversialmost certainly captures the fonner sen-timent, which is more than can be saidfor most Broadway offerings.

PETER ZAZZALICITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Written in 1891, Frank Wede-kind's world o^Spring Awak-ening is first and foremost

about youth and their world: the strictgovernance of their parents, the variouspolitics and restrictions of their school,and the redundant sermons of theirpastor echoing and affirming the otherinstitutions. Combined these elementscreate an oppressive world and a dys-functional system with distant parentsbeing violent and incapable of com-municating to their children, schoolauthorities functioning as mechanizedand militant autocrats, and a churchand its pastor enabling and legitimiz-ing both method and ideology. In short,the world of Wedekind's young char-acters is depicted as a realm run by adominant voice, constantly playingwith their fears and dictating a constantrebuke of their discovery of a sexual

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life.With this as the basic gestus of the

play, Wedekind's m"" century play onBroadway may at first cause skepticism

and disbelief: "What does Wedekindhave to do with Broadway?" one mayask, but such questions and skepticismare answered within the first minutes ofthe production. Sater's lyrics capturethe situation and spirit of the scenes,while Sheik's music supplies an amplerange of music and atmosphere, rang-ing from violent and angry, to soft andtender, to sad and melancholic. Whilethe music throughout remains con-temporary, the production visuals area cross between the 19"* and the 21"centuries: whereas Susan Hilferty'scostume design evokes the 19"'century,Christine Jones* set design and KevinAdam's lighting design (neon lights onthe brick walls and color light bulbshanging from the ceiling) represents a21*' sensibility.

Beyond the carefully conceived con-tempo rarizat ion, a second point whichmade the production successful wasthat it avoided the traps caused by gim-mickry and sensationaiization. Instead

of panning to the audiences' precondi-tioned and expectant minds, MichaelMayer chose lo clearly focus on and(re)present (I.e."make present again")

Wedekind's 19"'Lcntiiry worldand imagination.In his staging,for example,Mayers chosea theatricallyhonest stag-ing rarely seenin the Ameri-c a n T h e a t e r :when time camefor the actors tosing, they verynaturally andin a Brechtianmanner, wouldpull out a mi-

crophone from their side pocket, singthe song, put it back in their pocket andmove on. Neither Mayer, nor the actors,nor the audience were at any point con-cerned with the appearance of soundequipment in the scene, ultimately sig-naling: "It is, after all, theatre that weare doing."

In the spirit of the production's mod-ernization and contemporary choices,Christina Jones used the multiple set-tings of the play - classroom, difterenthomes with different parents, church,graveyard, meadows - to design thespace as a single unit with differentparts and functions. The set designstarted before the start of the play,where some audience members wereseated on rows of chairs on the stage,next to the band and the carefully ar-ranged artwork on the brick walls. Allother audience members could watchand see how the space transformed it-self into a classroom. In collaborationwith lighting designer Kevin Adams,

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Jones utilized neon lights on the wallsof the stage as well as the theatre, there-by extending the classroom space intothe theatre space, at once embracingand inviting the audience to be part ofthe reality of the play. With this spatialand set configuration, the center stageheld a multi-layered platfonn which,depending on the scene, was used ei-ther plainly or with minimal furniture,e.g. a table and a chair, a single chair, ortwo rows of chairs as in a classroom.

While the center stage with its cen-ter platform constituted the main partof the play's action - the classroom -to accentuate the classroom's centra!presence and activity, both sides of thestage were blocked off with bleachersand chairs. Created as part of the set. aswell as audience seating, the bleachersheld both audience members as well asthe moving, running, singing and danc-ing cast members. In addition, two up-stage doors for entrances and exits, anda central door for the surprise moments,were created. Ushig the construed andlimited parameter marked by the plat-form, the 19"̂ century desk-chairs andthe two audience-filled bleachers, Jonesquite remarkably and logically created

Wedekind'sc l a s s r o o mspace. Toadd interiordetails, vari-ous paintingsand frameswere hungon the backand adjacentbrick walls,including alarge paint-ing of awhite horsewith writ-ing acrossit, a paint-

ing of a white rose, several portraitsand, to complete the classroom reality,a blackboard with chalk writing, andcrossed-out words hung on the stage-left back wall.

With such a controlled physicalspace mirroring the tight and suffocat-ing psychological space and reality ofthe children, the central platfonn wasused in a theatrical and unexpectedmanner for the scene in which Wendlaand Melchoir come together and makelove to one another. Attached to fourropes on the four comers, the platfonnwas hoisted up, while the two younglovers kissed one another and madelove. With the platfonn hung in mid-air, the other students gathered aroundthe platfonn. holding it by its edges andgently pushing it to and fro, almost asin support of the action. The result ofthis lovemaking scene was that Wendlabecomes pregnant, and forced by berparents' intervention, undergoes a clan-destine abortion.

Wendela's tragic death is not the onlyone in the play. Under pressure and fearof being a failure, Moritz commits sui-cide. After Moritz commits suicide, his

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father appears onstage, carrying with him a bunch of fiowers. Looking into thegrave (created by the stage trapdoor) he breaks down, falls and cries, after whichhe leaves, leaving behind the flowers on the ground. The other classmates replacehis position on stage, one at a time, each picking up a single stem ofa fiower anddropping it into Moritz's grave and rushing off'stage.

A rare production, where tragedy, comedy, material for reflection or entertain-ment come together, the Broadway production of Spring Awakening had it all,Combined with the music, the energetic and committed acting of the cast, direct-ing, the set, costume and light design, the production was a great success in bring-ing Wedekind to a contemporary audience.

BAB,\K EBRAHIMIAN

IJSA..\i>\PTf:i>: MARK LVMOS. VALE REPERTORY THE.^TRE. NFW HAM N, ( I6APRJI.2O07

Perhaps no work of Frank Wedekind's is more shocking than his Lulustory, which is comprised from a pair of play-texts: Earth Spirit(1895) fomierly known as A Monster Tragedy, and Pandora's Box

(1903). A chilling narrative that centers around a siren whose sexualitylures various men (and a single woman) to a tragic demise, Wedekind'sLulu unabashedly appeals to our most carnal desires and guttural impuls-es. Similar to his earlier play, Spring Awakening, Lulu uses a pastiche ofdramaturgical styles that range from the expressionistic, to the realistic,to the grotesque. Moreover, also like Spring Awakening, the sexual open-ness of Lulu's eharacters can be read as an affront to the cultural mores ofthe late nineteenth-century German bourgeoisie. However, this is wherethe similarities between Wedekind's two best-known works end. Lulti'slevel of controversy and iconoclasm goes beyond that of Spring Awaken-ing's; itideed, it was tbe target of censorship and nearly landed Wedekindin prison. While providing scintillating scenes of sexual desire, whieh aregraphieally rendered onstage, and oftentimes in large numbers of people,Lulu also possesses moments of utter violenee, grotesqueness, and imagi-nation. Although this rich work is rarely produced nowadays, The YaleRepertory Theatre produced a resourceful, if not entirely effective, versionof the play iti New Haven, CT.

In the production's opening moments Lulu's male victims are seatedfacing the audience down center in various stages of undress, as the An-imal Trainer, played by the creepily eapablc Michael Braun, regales uswhile the "beautiful and diabolical" Lulu, bedecked in the costume of theCommedia Dell' Arte figure Pierot, stands and rocks atop a swing. Thissultry sight / site serves as a telling prologue to the narrative's recurringtheme: Lulu's mesmerizing and fatal command over the men, boys, and

Communications from the International Brecht Society 36 (FaU 2007)