Sleep-inducing S&M

So, last night, K. played me the cast recording to the new musical version of Wedekind's Spring Awakening. It included the most boring S&M-rape song I've ever heard, not that I've listened to many. This is supposed to be the really dark and edgy show that's taking Broadway by storm. With hard, uncompromising rock. Sigh. Kim Wilde's "We're the kids in America" is about as edgy. The only people who'd call the Spring Awakening music edgy are people have never listened to anything but show tunes - and even then I can think of edgier show tunes. Hell, even Grease is musically edgier. It's bland pop music with some swear words thrown in. Give Nine Inch Nails knockout pills and they'd still come up with something more daring than "Totally F**ked".

My favourite comment in a review comes from Matt Windman at amNew York (yes, K. sends me reviews for every piece of theatre) where he writes "'Spring Awakening' is a visceral, funny, beautifully brillant experience that threatens to change the world and maybe save musical theater." You have to love this guy's sense of priorities that changing the world is somehow easier and less noble than saving musical theatre.

To be fair, the choregraphy and the acting might be brillant. But then, the theatre reviews don't just praise those elements. Given the high school-level writing of many theatre reviews, I'm surprised they don't begin with "Webster's Dictionary defines a musical as..."

Sigh. Okay, maybe bitching about theatre is more fun when I'm doing it with the woman I love.

Allen