While Hamilton may be the critical darling and muse for so many young theater kids today, turn back the clock a decade and ask those musical-loving teens what the greatest musical they’d ever seen was. Most would answer, without thinking, Spring Awakening. Based on a German play of the same name over 100 years old, the rock 'n' roll-loving, sexually charged teenage drama swept the awards circuit in 2007, earning eight Tonys, including Best Musical, and a Grammy the following year.
Well, the teenagers who fell in love with the coming-of-age story (and the sexual explicitness that they knew they wouldn’t mention to their parents when they got home) have grown up, and a resurgence in performances has been cropping up in the past few years. The show has had a 2015 Broadway revival, a central role in the 2018 NBC drama Rise, and now, a performance by Tampa Bay’s own Eight O’Clock Theatre.
The show has strong adult language, sexual content and situations, and references to suicide and death, meaning it’s just as relevant to teens today as it was 10 years ago, so if you want to be a certified cool parent, bring your troubled youngster along, but maybe leave the kindergartener at home for the evening.
Spring Awakening | Central Park Performing Arts Center, 105 Central Park Dr., Largo
Through July 22: Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. | $18.50-$28.50 | 727-587-6793
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