"Spring Awakening" will be at Heinz Hall starting May 26, and I
can't wait -- the Tony-winner was one of the most original musicals to
hit Broadway in recent years and reached out to a young, hip audience,
with it's "Romeo & Juliet"-style melodrama of love, sex, loss and
adults who not only don't understand, they undermine their children and
young charges with sins of abuse at worst and omission at the very
least. Plus, there's the Tony-winning collaboration by songwriter
Duncan Sheik, librettist Steven Sater, choreographer Bill T. Jones and
19th-century German playwright Frank Wedekind, on whose work the
musical is based.
And explicit language. And sex. And S&M. And masturbation. And incest. And abortion.
Just sayin'.
The
energy onstage during the Broadway run, starring Jonathan Groff (of
Lancaster), Lea Michele and Tony winner John Gallagher Jr., was
electrifying, even for an oldster like me. (Image at left is from the Broadway tour/Paul Kolnik.)
So what to make of word from The Hollywood Reporter that McG,
who went from music videos to big-screen shoot-'em-ups, whose odd
resume includes the "Charlie's Angels" movies, "We Are Marshall" and
"Terminator: Salvation" and the pilot of my favorite TV show of the
moment, "Chuck"?
Well, I do love "Chuck," and he does have a
music background. I wonder if he'll go for a hard R rating. The lyrics
alone might demand that, at least.
* * *
The
most recent Tony-winning musical, "In the Heights," which stops here on
the next season of the PNC Broadway Series -- Pittsburgh, gets the
backstage treatment in a PBS Great Performances show, "In the Heights:
Chasing Broadway Dreams," at 8 p.m. May 27.
From the press notes: "Making it in New York City is tough. Few get
the chance to live out their dreams, and the cast and crew of 'In the Heights'
know this all too well. This young, diverse group of relatively unknown
artists and performers have dreamed of making it on Broadway, but are well aware
that a new original musical set outside a bodega in the Latino neighborhood of
Washington Heights is a highly risky proposition. It took eight years in all,
but they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, winning four Tony Awards
along the way, including Best Musical and Best Score for a Musical. 'In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams' chronicles the personal stories of
composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast in
the months leading up to opening night."
Posted
Apr 14 2009, 05:33 PM
by
Sharon Eberson