Do you suffer from summertime ennui? Are you bearish on humanity in general? Let me suggest an unconventional cure: a few hours spent among the hope-struck adolescents auditioning for an Off Broadway revival of “Spring Awakening,” a rock musical celebrating teenage love and angst.
These aspirants arrived by plane, by bus, by subway, in braids and vests and milkmaid dresses, clutching headshots and binders and gigantic water bottles. Their destination on this Friday in July: Studio Seaview, a theater in Times Square. A few dozen joined the line before dawn. By noon, more than a thousand sat and stood and swayed. Inside the theater, each was assigned a number and then called, in groups of 10, to smaller rooms to sing their 16 bars. As the hopefuls waited in the main auditorium, they were eager, fizzy, fidgety — vibrating with enough theater-kid energy to power several city blocks.
Nicholas Aaron, 23, discovered “Spring Awakening” in high school. “It helped me to come out,” he said. When he saw an ad for the audition, he knew he had to try. “I woke up this morning smiling ear to ear, just so emotionally fulfilled knowing that I was even going to be able to come here,” he said from a back row, still smiling after having sung a snatch of “Death of a Bachelor” by Panic! At the Disco.
Adapted from an 1891 play by the German writer Frank Wedekind, this rock musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater debuted 20 years ago at the Atlantic Theater Company before transferring to Broadway, where it eventually won eight Tony Awards and launched a generation of musical theater talent including Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, John Gallagher Jr. and Gideon Glick. With provocative lyrics, its songs describe adolescents fighting a repressive society for love, freedom and self-expression. A sensation among both teenagers and adults, it has, with occasional edits, become a staple at colleges, regional and community theaters and at some adventurous high schools and summer camps.
In June, it was announced that Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders,” “John Proctor Is the Villain”), Broadway’s resident teen whisperer, would direct a revival of the musical at Studio Seaview. Taymor — in consultation with Sater, the choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall and the show’s casting directors — opted to hold an open call. For Taymor, who has used open calls to cast tours and Broadway replacements for “The Outsiders,” that decision was both generous and selfish.
“Not everybody has access to an agent or a fancy school or one of the official pathways to being seen,” she said. “Part of it is honestly just wanting to get the best people for the show and not miss anyone.”
An open call requires no application, no prescreening, not a single Actors’ Equity credit — only the mettle and spunk to try. A dance call was held on a Thursday in early July, followed by two days of singing auditions. Ads, placed on Instagram and TikTok, attracted 400 hopefuls to the dance call and 2,100 to sing a folk, pop or indie-rock selection.
Nina Faye, 17, who flew in from Ohio with sheet music for “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls, fell for the musical in middle school. “That angst, it just connects with young people,” she said. “It’s insane that this was written in 1891 and it still connects with teens today.”
Near her sat Molly Hagerty, 24, a graduate of Ball State University, who had prepared “Cigarette Smoke” by Olivia Rodrigo. She can still remember being 14, hearing the cast album for the first time, she said. “It’s such a phenomenal time to revive it, because it’s about generational divide and the lack of connection, which our generation definitely is struggling with,” she said.
Xavier Rubiano, one of the casting directors, was stunned by the turnout. He had thought the open call might get 500 applicants, 800 at the most. When he saw the line, he and his colleagues scrambled to find other accompanists so that multiple audition rooms could open. “I really, really underestimated the appeal of the show,” he said.
“Spring Awakening” is in part, about the desire to be seen, to be acknowledged as a whole person rather than merely a daughter, a student, a child. So the audition team decided to see everyone who came.
Taymor said that she wasn’t looking for any particular type or sound. “You’re looking for the individual,” she said, “somebody who sings like themselves, somebody when they sing the song, you feel like they wrote the song, whose presence has not been filtered.”
Not everyone could manage that. Some hopefuls hid behind musical theater trills; others rushed or overemoted. A handful of songs recurred. Taymor eventually made a playlist of them: “Both Sides Now,” “The Joke,” “Landslide,” “Criminal,” a lot of Jeff Buckley and Lizzy McAlpine, most of the Olivia Rodrigo catalog. But in the most exciting auditions, which were also often the simplest, the particular songs faded, leaving only the singers, brave and exposed and wholly themselves. At one point or another, almost everyone behind the table wept.
“It’s like falling in love,” Rowlson-Hall said. “There’s no denying it once it’s there in front of you.”
Sater was surprised by how emotional he felt. “When these young people come in, they bring their future into the room,” he said. “They move you with their whole lives.”
Of the 400 dancers who auditioned, 28 were asked to return. Of the 2,100 or so singers, just 100. “It was excruciating getting it down to that number,” Sater said. These chosen ones would be folded in with the 100 professionals chosen to audition. Eventually, 11 principals and two understudies will be hired, along with older actors who will play the adult roles. Sater, still in the midst of auditions, hoped that several from the open call would make it. (The producers expect to announce casting by mid-September.)
“You want to give them all an opportunity that they want so badly, and they’re worth it,” Sater said.
For almost all of the aspirants, the call was a positive experience. “Everyone was really nice,” said Manuela Rodriguez, 18, who had prepared “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” “I’ve made some new friends. I’ve reunited with old friends that I met in my college auditions. It isn’t tense at all.”
Loren Delemo, 23, who was collecting her bag after her audition (“Yoü and I” by Lady Gaga), looked entirely relaxed. “I feel really good,” she said. “Normally I feel panicky after auditions. But here I feel just really proud and good.”
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