Nine years before “Hamilton,” the 2006 musical “Spring Awakening” gave the American stage a fresh sound. Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s adaptation of the 1891 Frank Wedekind drama set the repressed sexuality of nineteenth-century German teen-agers against the modern release of rock and dance. The show won a slew of Tony Awards, including Best Musical, but closed on Broadway after little more than two years. Fortunately, it’s back, in an inventive revival by Deaf West Theatre. Performed in sign language and spoken English (characters are double-cast with deaf and hearing actors), Michael Arden’s production, at the Brooks Atkinson, features more than twenty performers making their Broadway débuts, including Austin McKenzie and Sandra Mae Frank, as the lovers Melchior and Wendla.
This Week
Photograph by Michael Marcelle for The New Yorker
