ATLANTIS Productions is staging Tony Award-winning musical ?Spring Awakening? this September.
This rock musical, featuring the music of Duncan Sheik, is an adaptation of the controversial 1891 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind.
Set in late 19th-century Germany, it chronicles the challenges faced by lovers Melchior Gabor and Wendla Bergman. The original play was banned in Germany due to its portrayal of masturbation, abortion, rape, child abuse and suicide.
?If your children watch TV shows like ?Gossip Girl? or ?One Tree Hill,? this musical is nothing. Those TV shows are actually worse!? says Cheska Iñigo, who plays Female Adult Figure.
She plays five different roles in the musical. ?I play a slew of mothers, from supportive ones to those who are negligent or in denial. As a mother to three children myself, I want parents to give this musical a chance. The teenagers here are not going through anything that we don?t also have in our lives.?
The Dawn lead vocalist Jett Pangan plays Male Adult Figure.
Also portraying five different roles, Jett says: ?I play roles that range from a loving and supporting father to a forbidding and abusive schoolmaster. Just like in the musical, there still exists a communication gap between the young and old in certain homes and communities.?
Both Cheska and Jett have experienced working in youth culture. Cheska was immortalized in the movie ?Bagets 2.? Jett?s music has spoken to an entire generation of young people. That both are now parents and portraying roles that represent the ?institution? is an ironic situation not lost on them.
?It?s surreal,? says Jett with a laugh. ?But while I was reading the script in preparation for our rehearsals, I realized I had to play a principal who is a real jerk and it made me remember my own days as a student. I became more conscious of how strict I am to my own kids.?
Cheska adds: ?I think parents in the audience will, just like me, have some sort of rude awakening. But it?s an awakening in a good sense. ?
?Duncan Sheik?s music is great,? says Jett. ?I used to cover his songs with The Dawn and now I?m in a musical he made.?
Says Cheska: ?In fact, one of the songs in the show, ?My Junk,? is now my ringtone.?
Both will be working with a young cast led by Joaquin Valdes as Melchior and Kelly Frances Lati as Wendla.
Joaquin has been performing since he was 11 and was recently seen in the musical ?Into the Woods.? New York City native Kelly is making her professional Philippine theater debut. She has been in musicals like ?Pippin? and ?You?re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.?
?Spring Awakening? is part of Atlantis Productions? 10th Anniversary and is directed by Chari Arespacochaga.
An actress, choreographer and educator, Chari watched the show Off-Broadway even before it won any awards. An usher did not show up for work and Chari was offered to take the job in exchange for a free seat.
?I left the theater in a daze,? she says. ?I knew I wanted to direct this musical!?
She is collaborating with Rajo Laurel for costume design; Tuxqs Rutaquio, set design; Dexter Santos, choreography; Voltaire de Jesus, lights design; and Jojo Malferari, musical direction.
?Spring Awakening? runs September 25-October 18 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati. Call 8927078 or 8401187. Due to explicit content and some nudity, parental discretion is advised.
