Spring Awakening comes to Dublin

So, this post is not going to be about writing at all. I want to talk about “Spring Awakening”, the musical.

Irish Premier at the Helix

The Irish premier launched last week. I went to see it on Friday and it was amazing!!!!! I really didn’t have high expectations as it wasn’t the West End production but one put on by the National Youth Theatre. I had no idea there were so many talented young actors/singers in Ireland. It was a flawless performance (bar a few bum notes here and there) and some of the actors could easily end up in the West End or on Broadway some day (especially the actress who played llse, but I didn’t buy a programme so I don’t know her name). That actress stole the show and in my opinion could have played the lead but she was a bit older than the rest of the cast so I can see why she got the part of the older sister, but still, she was without a doubt the most talented, in my opinion.

The lead girl who played Wendla had some real talent, her rendition of “mama who bore me” was excellent and really set the tone for the entire night. She was a very good actress. The guy who played Melchior was very  good, and he  looked freakishly like Jonathon Groff(who played the lead in the original broadway production) but his singing may have let him down once or twice.  The actor who played Moritz was fantastic. He really drew the crowd in and had an excellent voice. He really helped to enhance the show. As I already mentioned the girl who played llse was unreal. I can’t get over how good she was!!! The actor who played Hanschen probably had the most talent in terms of acting out of the guys, and was hilarious at parts. I’m just picking out a few who stood out to me, but the entire cast was fantastic! I loved the teachers, Wendla’s mother and Melchior’s mother, also the piano teacher(who only had a minor role) was very funny.

They did seem to cast the roles to people who looked like the original broadway cast. I know that was just a coincidence though. The girl who played Wendla looked exactly like Lea michelle and as I’ve already said, the lead looked like Jonathon Groff. However, it was a professional show and the set design was fantastic. The harmonies were excellent and because it was in such a small venue you could really connect with the people on stage. I think the reason why the show didn’t fare very well in the West End is because they tried to make it “too big”. A show like this really needs to be intimate.

There was a standing ovation at the end and even now, three days later, I’m still in awe. It was the best show I’ve ever gone to see and if I had money coming out of my pores I’d go see it every night until it closes at the end of this week. The cast and crew should be so proud of what they have achieved and I hope there is a demand for the show to run for a much longer period than just one week.

Brendan Mcl

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not dead

So, it’s been a while. Yes, it has.

Summer has been hectic, kinda crap, but busy. I have my heart firmly set on college now and I cannot wait until I start back. I was going to transfer into just law, but at the twelfth hour i decided to stick with my course. So i’m still going to be studying law with some economics on top of it, but economics isn’t that bad, i guess. Plus, I’ve been told it’s better to have a multi-disciplinary degree.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the leaving cert and offers lately. A lot of my friends will be starting college this year and it was interesting to see how they reacted to their results. Obviously, some were delighted and others were upset but the interesting crowd to me were the people who actually managed to convince themselves that they “could have” gotten 600 points if they had have been “bothered” to study. I’m sorry, but it really annoys me when people say “oh i could have gotten well over 500 points but I just didn’t study”. Well of course anyone can get 600 points if they study hard enough, it’s kinda how the entire system works. You study, and depending on how much you study and how hard you work you get a set amount of points reflecting said study. Fact.

Oh, I almost forgot. I’m driving! Yes, the roads of Dublin are no longer safe. I finally bit the bullet and bought a car and got my insurance sorted. It’s taken me two years but it’s done now. I was one of those people who got their provisional the day they turned 17, took lessons and then never drove. But now I do drive, a lot. I’ve noticed how little the police care about learner drivers. I drive a lot without a fully licensed driver, and have driven past the police about 20 times in the past week, and they just don’t care. But we knew that already.

So, that’s been my life. I’ve finished up working for the summer and I now have a car. I can’t wait until college starts back!! Also, I’m really excited about a show I’m going to see in a few weeks. “Spring Awakening” is coming to Ireland. It’s a multi-award winning musical and it better be amazing or i’ll be pissed!!!

Brendan McL

Perspective

Every once in a while something happens to us that makes everything else seem so unimportant. It grabs on like a leech and will not release us until we have acknowledged its importance. Time slows down and life just becomes a blur, a tangled mess of nothingness. Life is fragile, the blink of an eye can be so momentous but it isn’t until afterwards that we realise it. They say hindsight is twenty:twenty, well so is foresight.

 I guess we’re supposed to see it coming; the accidents, illness, even death. But we never do, we sit around hoping that all the bad stuff will simply bypass us, we think that we are immune from the hardships of life until they eventually catch up with us.

It feels like I have been wearing goggles which have fogged up. I’m just waiting for them to clear so I can absorb the enormity of the situation