Programme
Welcome to Spring Awakening - our final production for 2021!
Book & Lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Orchestrations Vocal Arrangements String Orchestrations
Duncan Sheik AnnMarie Milazzo Simon Hale
About Spring Awakening
The winner of 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical - told by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater through "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade" (Entertainment Weekly) - Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. The landmark musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll that is exhilarating audiences across the nation like no other musical in years.
It's Germany, 1891. A world where the grown-ups hold all the cards. The beautiful young Wendla explores the mysteries of her body, and wonders aloud where babies come from, till Mama tells her to shut it, and put on a proper dress. Elsewhere, the brilliant and fearless young Melchior interrupts a mind-numbing Latin drill to defend his buddy Moritz - a boy so traumatized by puberty he can't concentrate on anything. Not that the Headmaster cares. He strikes them both and tells them to turn in their lesson. One afternoon - in a private place in the woods - Melchior and Wendla meet by accident, and soon find within themselves a desire unlike anything they've ever felt. As they fumble their way into one another's arms, Moritz flounders and soon fails out of school. When even his one adult friend, Melchior's mother, ignores his plea for help, he is left so distraught he can't hear the promise of life offered by his outcast friend Ilse. Naturally, the Headmasters waste no time in pinning the "crime" of Moritz's suicide on Melchior and expel him. And soon Mama learns her little Wendla is pregnant. Now the young lovers must struggle against all odds to build a world together for their child.
Join this group of late 19th century German students on their passage as the navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion in the daring, remarkable Spring Awakening.
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International
All authorised performance materials are also supplied by MTI
www.MTIShows.co.uk
Our Cast
Our show features two casts - both are full time students at Artemis College and have worked on this production over the course of a term (as well as other shows - they like to be busy!).
Our Creative Team
Supporting our student cast are a wonderful team of professional creative practitioners!
Rosie Hill
Director
Rosie (our Deputy Head & Director) has been directing shows for many years, and has a Post Graduate qualification in Directing Text with Young People from the National Theatre and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Rosie will next co-direct Shrek for South Hill Park in Easter 2022.
Charlotte Steele
Choreography & Musical Direction
Charlotte (and Artemis Director) is a professional dancer and singer, and her band Remember Monday is often at the top of the U.K Country charts. Charlotte is also the choreographer for South hill Park productions and will work on Shrek with Rosie in 2022.
Stephen Harrison
Lighting Designer / Sound Engineer / Production Manager
Stephen owns and runs SPH.Services, and is more usually found working alongside stars like Kylie Minogue and BBC’s Blue Planet on national tours.
SPH provide Artemis shows with their services at ‘mates rates’ as Stephen is a co founder of the charity!
Grace O’Sullivan
Asst. Choreography
Grace is an Artemis graduate and fantastic professional performer who gained a first in her Musical Theatre BA degree in 2021. She joined the college in September where she is undertaking formal teacher training. She is a qualified cheer instructor and is Head Coach for our multiple cheer teams - winning four out of four divisions at competition in December 2021!
Hugh Legh
Technician
Hugh has been supporting Artemis with his skills since 2007! He is usually resident at the Kenton Theatre, but also runs his own consultancy offering theatrical services across the south.
Hugh is always popular with students who love his cheerful way of working.
Lauren Slade
Costume Assistant
Lauren joined us as student crew for summer school in 2021 and never left! She has worked on Godspell with us, and now Spring Awakening.
We hope she will join us again for Matilda in February next year, and Legally Blonde in July.
About the original Broadway show;
Produced on Broadway by, IRA PITTELMAN, TOM HULCE, JEFFREY RICHARDS, JERRY FRANKEL, ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY, Jeffrey Sine, Freddy DeMann, Max Cooper, Mort Swinsky/Cindy and Jay Gutterman/Joe McGinnis/Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog Productions/CarJac Productions, Aron Bergson Productions/Jennifer Manocherian/Ted Snowdon, Harold Thau/Terry E. Schnuck/Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois/Elizabeth Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney/Tamara Tunie/Joe Cilibrasi.
The world premiere of “SPRING AWAKENING” was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company by special arrangement with Tom Hulce & Ira Pittelman.
Steven Sater (Book and Lyrics) was awarded the 2007 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score for Spring Awakening along with the Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle Awards for Best Lyrics. With alt-rocker Duncan Sheik, he received the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album for Spring Awakening. In addition, the two received The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk, the Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics' Circle, and Drama League Awards for Best Musical. Steven is the author of numerous plays, including the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You, Doll (the Rosenthal Prize, Cincinnati Playhouse); Umbrage (Steppenwolf New Play Prize); A Footnote to the Iliad (New York Stage and Film, The Miniature Theatre of Chester); Asylum (Naked Angels); Murder at the Gates (commissioned by Eye of the Storm); In Search of Lost Wings (Sanford Meisner Theater) and a re-conceived version of Shakespeare's Tempest, with music by Laurie Anderson, which played London's Lyric Hammersmith and toured throughout Great Britain. In addition to Spring Awakening, Sater has collaborated with Sheik on the NY premiere of Umbrage (HERE), Nero (The Magic Theatre, workshopped at the New York Shakespeare Festival and New York Stage & Film), and The Nightingale(workshopped at the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, La Jolla Playhouse, A.C.T., and New York Theater Workshop). He is also hard at work with System of a Down's Serj Tankian on a musical version of Prometheus Bound, to be directed by Diane Paulus at the American Repertory Theater. Sater is the lyricist for Sheik's critically acclaimed album Phantom Moon (Nonesuch), and together the two wrote the songs for Michael Mayer's feature film A Home at the End of the World (Warner Classics) as well as the independent features Brother's Shadow and Mary Stuart Masterson's The Cake Eaters. Sater is also co-creator and executive producer, with Paul Reiser, of recent pilots for both NBC and Sony/FX, and has developed two projects for HBO, and another for Showtime (with Reiser). He is also at work, with Jessie Nelson, on a feature film and is creating an original movie musical for producer Larry Mark. In addition, Steven works as a lyricist with various composers in the pop/rock world -- recently writing songs with Burt Bacharach, Johnny Mandel, Andreas Carlsson, and William Joseph.
Duncan Sheik (Music). In addition to writing the music for Spring Awakening (2007 Tony Awards for "Best Orchestrations" and "Best Original Score", 2008 Grammy Award for "Best Musical Show Album"), Sheik's other theater credits include: Nero (Another Golden Rome) (currently in development), The Nightingale(currently in development), Whisper House (currently in development). Recorded works include: Whisper House (Sony/Victor 2009), White Limousine (Rounder 2006), Daylight (Atlantic Records 2002), Phantom Moon (Nonesuch 2001), Humming (Atlantic Records 1998), Duncan Sheik (Grammy Nomination "Best Male Vocal") (Atlantic Records 1996). Film Scores include: DARE (2009), Little Spirit: Christmas in New York(2008), Capers (2007) and The Cake Eaters (2007). Producer Credits include: Holly Brook (forthcoming CD 2009), Micah Green (2008), Spring Awakening Original Cast Album (Universal 2007) and Chris Garneau (2006).
AnnMarie Milazzo. (Vocal Arrangements) Composer/lyricist: Pretty Dead Girl, Sundance Film Festival. Vocal arranger: Broadway productions of Spring Awakening and Next To Normal. Bright Lights, Big City at The New York Theater Workshop, and the Paramount feature film, The Marc Pease Experience. AnnMarie is a Grammy nominated singer from The East Village Opera Company on Universal/Decca.
Simon Hale (String Orchestrations) After graduating from the University of London with an honors degree in composition, Simon Hale's acclaimed solo album, East Fifteen, led to recordings with many artists, including George Benson, Simply Red, Jamiroquai and Björk. In 1996 he orchestrated Duncan Sheik's first album, and their musical collaboration has continued ever since. Simon's involvement with Spring Awakening marked his Broadway debut and the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in 2007. He continues to work with Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik on other projects. For more information please visit www.simonhale.co.uk.
