History Theatre / SpringAwakening

* TeensAreShort:
** The teenage characters are all supposed to be 13-15 years old, but in reality it's rarely feasible for actors near that age range to be hired, particularly with the amount of sexual content in the show. To disguise this they make sure the majority are short in comparison to the adult actors.
** Averted in Hungary; many of the actors playing teen boys were hired due to being long, lanky, and gawky-looking.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Ilse spends the entire second act barefoot. The original music director for this show, Kimberly Grisby, also has a reputation for usually being barefoot — everywhere from conducting the show every night to on stage at award shows.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: "My Junk" is all about the kids singing about masturbation, and Hanschen takes center stage demonstrating that he jerks off to ''Desdemona''.
** In the [[spoiler: reformatory scene, the boys have a circle jerk.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Hanschen, accompanying the idea of ''murdering'' a girl, along with raping her. Yikes. The murder is kind of compulsory, though, given he's masturbating to a depiction of [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Desdemona]].

%%* DeathBySex

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** In the original productions, the punk rock-esque hairstyles some of the boys sported are assumed by many to be a result of the show's AnachronismStew, but in fact, [[WordOfGod the director]] claims that they were inspired by some actual hairstyles in photos from the era.
** Those unfamiliar with the 19th century play the musical is based on [[AdaptationDisplacement (if they even know there is one)]] can be surprised to find that many scenes from the musical that seem to touch on modern controversial topics, such as one featuring a kiss between Hans and Ernst or Wendla's teenage pregnancy, were, in fact, in the original.

* PromiscuityAfterRape: During "Don't do sadness/ Blue wind" Isle says that she's been living in an artist's colony where she "lets them dress her up and paint her" and she heavily implies she has sex with them. However, the consent here is more than dubious as she is 14.

* AlternateShowInterpretation: The 2015 Deaf West production, which cast several deaf performers in the roles, making their characters deaf as a result. The deaf performers would sign while hearing actors (who also made up the band) voiced their dialogue and singing. The change really heightened the themes of miscommunication and alienation and changed some of the shows relationships. The biggest change is the show incorporating the policies for the deaf enacted in education at the time, such as forbidding sign language and forcing the students to speak. As a result, [[spoiler: Moritz being intentionally failed is significantly harsher than the original as it seems like the teachers want to keep a deaf student out of the school and, in turn, their adoration of Melchior is because he can hear.]]

** The 2015 revival manages a very unique one. [[spoiler: Throughout the entire play, Wendla has been "speaking" through another girl who plays her audible voice as she signs her dialog. In the scene when she realizes that she got pregnant because she didn't know what sex was (or what it can lead to), she screams at her mother for not telling her. The wham comes with the fact that Wendla is so incensed that her "voice" goes quiet and it's actually the deaf actress speaking aloud. Though the line itself (My God! Why didn't you tell me everything?!) may be hard to understand if you are not used to hearing a deaf person speaking, the importance is conveyed by the fact that she ''is'' speaking aloud.]]

In 2015 the show was revived when prominent deaf Theater Company ''Deaf West'' transferred their production to Broadway. This version, directed by Michael Arden, made several of the characters deaf and incorporated American Sign Language into the dialogue and choreography. This created an AlternateShowInterpretation. The production had several Deaf performers and included Ali Stroker, the first person in a wheelchair to perform on Broadway.

''Spring Awakening'' was originally a play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891, and the Broadway musical [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations based on said play]] was written in the 21st century. The musical features music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics and book by Steven Sater. The original play was very controversial to audiences of that time period due to explicit sexual content, and didn't have its first production until 1906 in Germany. It wasn't introduced to the United States until 1917, when it premiered in New York City. It was nearly shut down due to it being a "pornographic work." The musical version premiered in New York off-Broadway in May of 2006. It then moved to Broadway in December 2006, and became a sensation much as ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'' did in TheNineties. It closed January 19, 2009, after 888 shows.

Many fans will admit the music is better than the story, as the exploration of teenage sexuality and uncertainty [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny might seem like old hat today]]. (Keep in mind, though, that the play was a groundbreaking example of modern drama and one of the first to address such issues.)

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Melchior's a good example to the girls.
** "Do you know what the whisper is? He doesn't believe in anything! Not in God. Not in Heaven. Not in a single thing in this world!" *All swoon*
* AllMenArePerverts: Or maybe it's just a teenage thing, as [[AllWomenAreLustful the young ladies also have plenty of perviness to go around.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_springawakening.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"It's the bitch of living, and sensing God is dead!"]]

''I'm calling. I'm calling, and one day all will know.''"\\
-->-- '''Melchior.''' "All That's Known," "The Bitch of Living," "Those You've Known"

--'''Melchior.''' "All That's Known," "The Bitch of Living," "Those You've Known"