Young performers showcased in two very different local productions

Theatre Ancaster’s Spring Awakening is a bold rock musical that may cause some discomfort, while The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical from Curtain Call Performing Arts Company is a whimsical, all-ages fantasy.

Although many theatre companies will launch their seasons next month, two area organizations have summer options for musical-loving locals. Opening Aug. 9 and running until Aug. 18, Theatre Ancaster presents Spring Awakening while Curtain Call Performing Arts Company presents The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical from Aug. 15 through Aug. 17. While the former has adult themes and the latter is more family-friendly, both productions will showcase the talents of younger stage performers.

Focused on a group of teenage students in late-19th century Germany, Spring Awakening has been described as a coming-of-age rock musical merging themes of morality and sexuality. Theatre Ancaster’s synopsis calls the musical “electrifying” and “exhilarating.”

Spring Awakening the musical is a modern adaptation of a play by the same name, written in 1890-1891 by German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It was Wedekind's first major play but wasn’t performed until 1906 due to its subject matter. The original play was often banned or censored. The musical version was developed by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik beginning in the 1990s.

In the two-act musical, young people navigate a sexually repressive society in which ignorance and the heavy-handed authority of adults leads to rebellion, exploration, discovery, and tragedy. Theatre Ancaster director Nupi Gokhale says that the story’s power is in the way it captures the “essence of curiosity, vulnerability and frustration” in the journey from adolescence to adulthood. 

The Broadway production of Spring Awakening premiered in 2006 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score with a cast featuring actors Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele. The original cast recording won a Grammy, and an award-winning Broadway revival was mounted in 2015. Spring Awakening has also had international success, including a West End run which received four Laurence Olivier Awards, including one for Best New Musical.

Gokhale calls Spring Awakening “a bold, unapologetic direction for our company that may cause discomfort.” Some may dismiss the parallels to present-day realities of youth, sexuality, and reproductive rights. Gokhale encourages audiences to “dig deep” and hopes Spring Awakening will open up “necessary conversations” as well as entertain.

There will be no nudity in Theatre Ancaster’s production, though an intimacy director was involved to “establish safety” for the cast as the show does include moments of simulated masturbation and sexual intercourse. Other warnings include physical violence, language, use of intense flashing lights as well as plot points of suicide and abortion.

The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical is an all-ages musical presented as the culmination of CCPAC’s theatre intensive summer program for teens and young adults. The cast is composed of individuals who aspire to professional theatre careers with many already participating in arts-based post-secondary programs. Its performers have been rehearsing over an eight-week span.

Set in the present day, the story follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson who experiences a fantastical turn of events on a school trip. It turns out that Percy is the half-blood son of a Greek god, making Percy a demigod. The boy soon finds himself saddled with new, uncontrollable powers and a challenging quest he could not have foreseen. In an action-packed plot, Percy must prove his innocence after a theft from Zeus himself and prevent a war among the gods. The Chicago Tribute has said of The Lightning Thief that it has “one foot in Harry Potter and another in Dear Evan Hansen.”

It is a two-act musical based on a 2005 bestselling book by Rick Riordan with music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki and book by Joe Tracz. In 2014, an hour-long version of The Lightning Thief premiered at the Lucille Lortel Theatre off-Broadway and returned in expanded format to the same venue three years later after a national tour. During that time it was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards. The dramatic comedy opened in 2019 on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre and closed in 2020. Since then the show has seen well-received productions in the U.K. as well as Japan.

Curtain Call Performing Arts Company (CCPAC) calls The Lightning Thief a “whimsical and hilarious show.”

NEED TO KNOW

Spring Awakening
Theatre Ancaster
Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre
357 Wilson St. E., Ancaster
Aug. 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 11, 17 & 18, 2 p.m.
Tickets available here

The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical
Curtain Call Performing Arts Company
Gasworks Theatre
141 Park Street North, Hamilton
Aug. 15 & 16, 7 p.m.
Aug. 17, 2 PM & 7 p.m.
Tickets available here