White curtains, a taped-out floor and a company grinning at the camera: the first photos from the rehearsal room of Spring Awakening are out, and with them come the six understudies and swings who complete the Off-Broadway company at Studio Seaview.
Producer Seaview released the pictures on October 19, with Danya Taymor’s revival now in rehearsal. Performances begin on Friday, November 27, opening night is Sunday, December 13, and the run is booking through Sunday, April 4, 2027.
Frenie Acoba, from the original Broadway cast of Matilda, covers Wendla, Ilse and Martha. Christiana Clark, a 2026 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow whose Broadway credits include Roundabout’s Doubt, covers The Adult Women. Hennessy Winkler, from the original company of the Broadway Sweeney Todd revival, covers The Adult Men; Winkler made history as the first out trans man in a Broadway musical.
Sam Yousuf covers Melchior, Moritz, Georg and Hanschen. Erik Houck is a swing for Moritz, Ernst, Hanschen and Otto. Both are making their Off-Broadway debuts. Lilly David, a contemporary dance graduate of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, swings and covers Anna and Thea.
David came out of the production’s open call in July, which saw 2,532 performers. So did two of the principals already announced, Jack Bateman and Antonio Porciello.
The principal company is led by Tyler Jordan Wesley as Melchior, Ashlyn Maddox as Wendla and Ryo Kamibayashi as Moritz. Lilli Cooper and George Abud play every grown-up in the piece, as The Adult Women and The Adult Men, casting first announced on October 8. Bateman plays Georg and Porciello Hanschen, with Jada Simone Clark as Thea, Leif Coomer as Ernst, Nando Morland as Otto, Khadija Sankoh as Martha, Grace Slear as Anna and Amalia Yoo as Ilse.
Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s rock score sets Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play, once banned, about late-19th-century German teenagers finding out about sex with no help from the adults around them. The musical opened on Broadway in 2006 with Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele and John Gallagher Jr. and went on to win Tony and Olivier Awards; Deaf West Theatre brought it back to Broadway in 2015 under Michael Arden. This staging puts it in a much smaller room.
Taymor, a Tony winner, works with choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall and music supervisor Or Matias. Sets are by Christine Jones and Brett Banakis, costumes by Kaye Voyce, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, sound by Cody Spencer and special effects by Jeremy Chernick. Cynthia Meng is music director and conductor, Ann James the intimacy coordinator and Drew Leary the fight coordinator. Casting is by The TRC Company.
Tickets for Spring Awakening at Studio Seaview are on sale now.
