Spring Awakening

Murray’s production plays it stripped-down and raw. As a result, many moments still have the power to stun, as when Melchior beats fellow teen Wendla at her request because the sheltered girl—her mother still insists that storks bring babies—craves a physical sensation, even if it’s pain.

Owing in large part to the actors’ collective facility with Wedekind’s beautiful but potentially difficult language, the script rings as true as it did the day it was written. Sure, the play originated as a critique of fin de siècle Germany’s sexually oppressive mores, but throw in a father/daughter purity ball and cast Sarah Palin as Frau Bergmann, and “Spring Awakening” could have been written last year. Yet the show truly comes alive in the pauses, every cast member making reliably inventive choices, imbuing their actions and physical relationships with truth and complexity. Standouts Sara Gorsky, Nick Lake and Devon Candura are particularly impressive. With a sinuous voice and easy physicality, Gorsky specifically, is larger-than-life yet authentic, a difficult feat.