Spring is Here, Spring is Here

The daffs are out and all about
The springtime fills the air
The earth makes room for golden bloom
Of flowers bright and fair

And all around is heard the sound
Of bird-call sweet and strange
As folks go by they raise the cry
"Ooh, don't it make a change!"

That's a roundabout way of posting on a new musical to hit the West End. And if I were to discuss a show, well it might as well be Spring Awakening. My hunch is that it's not quite as radical as some people make out. The idea is that in a traditional musical the songs try to arise naturally out of the story. With Spring Awakening the songs make a deliberate break. One minute everyone's acting all 19th century, the next they're singing, like, so totally modern slang, yeah?

But, musically speaking, this is missing the point. Oklahoma doesn't have Oklahoman folk music. My Fair Lady doesn't have mock Edwardian parlour songs. And the gritty, urban, street-wise tragedy that is West Side Story has a symphonic score composed by a posh, classical conductor. The point is that the musical style has always been at odds with the setting. What's really important is whether it's musically appropriate to the drama. The characters in Spring Awakening are frustrated teenagers and they sing like frustrated teenagers so it works just fine. Admittedly, the leap from 19th-century Germany to 21st-century American pop culture is bigger than that from Oklahoma to Broadway. But the difference is one of extent, not form.

So I'm not convinced that Spring Awakening, for all its success, is going to turn everything on its head and usher in a new beginning. Besides if you really want to hear what's getting the kids into the theatre these days, you only have to look at this.