CMJ On Broadway: Spring Awakening

As tempting as joining a fellow Billboard staffer at O'Connor's in Brooklyn to bend an elbow in memory of one-time regular Elliott Smith, who died five years ago to the day, I went for a whole different brand of indie rock for day one of CMJ: Broadway musical "Spring Awakening."  A day in advance of CMJ's midday panel with cast members, it seemed far more interesting to hear the Duncan Sheik-penned tunes for the teen-angst-in-fin-de-siecle-Germany play in their natural habitat, and the whole idea that badge holders could cadge a free ticket to the Great White Way was also irresistible and somehow enjoyably perverse to the usual downtown crawl through tiny venues. 

Not many other scruffy Chuck Taylor-wearing types seemed to have taken up the offer Tuesday night, and some random middle aged guy behind me tssked at the minor nudity while a lady who had clearly paid every cent of the $122 ticket price slept through the suicidal tendencies, young love and inferiority complexes unfolding onstage. But the show really did somehow hold the same magic as a good rock concert.

Some of the music of this still-newish Tony-winner (it debuted in 2006) inevitably swung toward typical melodramatic musical theater fare that wrought the pixie-ish voice of lead girl Alexandra Socha as Wendla underpowered -- cf. opening ballad "Mama Who Bore Me." But the meat of the performance was a really cool balance of able acting, props especially to Gerard Canonico as misanthrope Moritz, and raucous ensemble rockers like "Totally Fucked" and "The Bitch of Living" carried equally by the excellent singing of the cast and the seven-piece band led by conductor/keyboardist Kimberly Grigsby. Canonico's growl/croon of key song "Don't Do Sadness" was also a highlight that put the daily NYC morning TV commercials of the kid in knee breeches making weird faces singing it into context. And lead guy Hunter Parrish (his real name!) as the cute/smart blondie "troublemaker" Melchior had exercised his sweet range throughout.

On the surface, it felt a bit strange to be plush Broadway seat rather than shifting from foot to foot through some band's set for two hours, but the inclusion of the clearly rock-infused play in the CMJ menu really did make sense somehow. Like that time Elliott Smith played the Oscars. Sigh. -- Jessica Letkemann