Donate Now Through CanadaHelps.org!
Persephone Productions is appreciative for the generosity of all the individuals who donate, helping to keep us going! To learn more you can visit our Support page.

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE
OR CALL MONTREAL, ARTS INTERCULTURELS AT 514-982-3386 

Featuring: Stefanie Nakamura and Brefny Caribou

The Nisei & 
The Narnauks
February 5-22, 2015

Written and directed by Paul Van Dyck
Costume Design by Melanie Michaud
Set and Lighting Design by Peter Vatsis
Puppet and Mask Design by Zach Fraser

MONTREAL, ARTS INTERCULTURELS
3680 Rue Jeanne-Mance, 
Montreal, QC H2X 2K5


BOX OFFICE 
Tuesday to Saturday from 3 pm to 6 pm 
and 1 hour before each show
Phone: (514) 982-3386
About Spring Awakening
"a unique and wonderful experience, not to be missed." - Roverarts.com

IN THE MEDIA

Teen sex front and centre in Spring Awakening
Odd, tragedy-laden musical set in a time when sexual education was unheard of
BY PAT DONNELLY, GAZETTE THEATRE CRITIC

MONTREAL - Spring Awakening, the Musical is all about teen sex.

Based on the 1891 play Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening) by Frank Wedekind, which was considered scandalous in its time, the musical opened on Broadway in 2006. It won eight Tony Awards and ran for three years.

Since then it has been produced around the world, but not, so far as I know, in Montreal, until Persepehone Productions presented it at Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavalée last year. Now that production, co-directed by Christopher Moore and Gabrielle Soskin, is playing Centaur Theatre as this year’s Brave New Looks show, restaged to fit the larger venue and refined by several more weeks of rehearsal.

Spring Awakening is an odd, tragedy-laden, somewhat melodramatic musical that attempts to make the 19th century up close and personal through contemporary rock music (by Duncan Sheik) and lyrics (by Steven Sater).

Songs with titles like The Bitch of Living, My Junk and Totally F — ked (the highlight group number) keep surfacing within a drama set in a time when sexual education was unheard of, abortions were as deadly as they were secretive, and children were routinely beaten, in the name of discipline.

The play begins with a young woman (Gab Lubin, as Wendla) singing a touching solo, Mama Who Bore Me, backed up by a six-piece orchestra seated on a platform above the main playing area and a schoolgirl chorus. The scene which follows is pure pathos as Wendla’s mother (Alexandra Ghezzi) refuses to explain to her daughter how babies are made. Then we witness a teacher caning a student during Latin class in an all-boy’s school.

Almost all of the adults in Spring Awakening are total villains, the teenagers their innocent victims. The one exception is the liberal-minded mother (Alexandra Ghezzi) of Melchoir (Zachary Creatchman), the rebellious young intellectual who makes all the girls swoon. She tries to understand her son and offers sympathy to his troubled friend Moritz (Dane Stewart), who falls into a suicidal depression after flunking out at school thanks to a pair of nasty teachers altering his grades.

There’s a Faustian love story, with a sado-masochistic angle, between Melchoir and Wendla at the heart of Spring Awakening. Other teen hookups include a tortured flirtation between a wayward girl named Ilse (Marie-Pierre de Brienne) and too-shy-to-try Moritz. There’s a happier connection between two gay boys, Hanschen (Adam Capriolo) and Ernst (Michael Briganti). Capriolo is a confident performer who carries off a masturbation-while-reading-Shakespeare scene with panache.

One of the most disturbing songs is a duet, The Dark I Know Well, about paternal sexual abuse, sung by de Brienne, as Ilse, and Alexia Gourd, as Martha.

Creatchman, who has an exceptionally good voice and strong presence, leads a youthful cast of talented singers who perform their roles with passionate intensity. Clearly, they identify.

Ghezzi, who plays all the adult female roles, and Alex Goldrich, who plays the older men, do their best to shift characters between scenes. Which is not easy, and rather thankless.

Wedekind set out to rile the Lutheran middle class of 19th-century German society with his play, accusing them of hypocrisy and harmful sexual repression of their own offspring. Spring Awakening, the Musical views his world through the prism of post-sexual-revolution America. It’s a celebration of teen rebellion which offers challenging opportunities to necessarily young performers. This sparely staged production, a feisty warm-up act to Centaur’s “Shocking and Delightful” season, proves that locally produced musical theatre has a future here. Don’t miss it.
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM Instagram

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

PERSEPHONE PRODUCTIONS’ SPRING AWAKENING
October 5, 2014 by bloodyunderrated

Remounting their acclaimed rendition of Spring Awakening as part of Centaur Theatre’s Brave New Looks program, Persephone Productions brings to life an energetic and touching coming-of-age musical. An impressive cast of no less than fourteen fantastic performers poured their hearts out onstage at yesterday’s matinee, to the delight of the audience. A timeless story of young, forbidden love and sexual revelation,Spring Awakening highlights a rich cast of characters, led by naive Wendla (Gab Lubin) and wordly Melchior (Zachary Creatchman). Dane Stewart as the tortured Moritz tugged relentlessly at my heartstrings, Adam Capriolo’s dry portrayal of Hanschen was absolutely hysterical, and Alex Goldrich and Alexandra Ghezzi are stellar in a plethora of adult characters, their teacher/parent/priest characters offering a perfect counterpart to the bright-eyed youngsters who comprise the rest of the cast.

If you’re a fan of musicals, this production will blow you away. Alexia Gourd’s choreography, while a little cheesy at times, is imaginative and impeccably executed. All the performers demonstrate impressive vocal prowess; along with the incredibly skilled eight-piece band, led by musical director David Terriault, Persephone does justice to Duncan Sheik’s killer soundtrack. You’ll be pleased to have these songs running through your head long after you’ve left the theatre.