The latest rock musical to take Broadway by storm and sweep the Tony Awards with 11 nominations and eight wins, Spring Awakening, makes its way to Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center this week. Based on the 1891 banned-from-the-stage German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, the musical follows a group of sexually-repressed teens living in Germany at the tail end of the 19th century: quickly maturing Wendla, who is both enchanted by and ignorant of the mysteries of her body, her mother too mortified by the topic of conception to explain anything about it to her curious daughter; rebellious Melchior, who feels stifled by school and society as a whole, and aims to change things; and anxious, too-serious Moritz, who’s having trouble dealing with puberty and can’t focus on anything due to night after night of erotic dreams. Duncan Sheik wrote the music, but don’t judge him by his sole hit, 1997’s pleasantly tepid “Barely Breathing”; one of those aforementioned Tony awards went to Sheik for “Best Orchestrations.” Dec. 30-Jan. 4, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 and 8 p.m. Sat., 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sun., Carol Morsani Hall-TBPAC, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa, $38.50-$67.50, 813-229-7827.
