‘Spring’ Is Reawakening at the Odyssey

Frank Wedekind’s 1890 “Spring Awakening” (newly translated by Rick Foster) kicks off “ Jugendstil Fest: Young Moderns of 1900,” an inter-disciplinary tribute--by the Odyssey Theatre, Pipeline and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art--to Germany’s turn-of-the-century art movement.

“It’s a major play by a major playwright,” said Michael Arabian, whose staging (featuring a 19-member multiracial cast, aged 16-26) opens Saturday at the Odyssey. “Wedekind was the first to investigate art against the status quo--which inspired Brecht’s work and the German Expressionism that followed. The piece is funny, bizarre, real and true. Music, sound and light effects--it’s got everything. It’s completely satisfying.”

So why is it so rarely done?

“It’s done constantly in European theater,” said Arabian (“Request Concert,” “Phantom Limbs”), “though it’s always been very controversial. In 1890, it was a real slap in the face to society. But it’s very relevant--especially today. A lot of issues in it are ones society still has trouble dealing with: abortion, suicide, child abuse, teen-age sex, violence. I was amazed at how tapped-in Wedekind was to his adolescence.”

Pipeline will open a sister piece, “Firewaves,” at the Odyssey on Jan. 24, featuring choreographer Gilberte Meunier’s “Lilies Gone Mad” (performed by Meunier and Derek Penfield), Betty Nash’s performance dance piece “Reflections” (performed by Nash, Will Salmon and Luis Alfaro) and “Breath,” a solo movement piece by Martin Kersels. How is “Firewaves” connected to the festival? It was “created in the avant-garde nature that personifies Jugendstil, “ according to an Odyssey statement.

Also, at LACMA, “Masters of Jugendstil “--focusing on the decorative arts of the period--is on display through Feb. 19.

CAMP HUMOR: Originally written more than 30 years ago--but stalled by societal reaction to a “comedy” set in an internment camp--Hiroshi Kashiwagi’s “Laughter and False Teeth” receives its world premiere Wednesday at East West Players. Robert Ito directs.

For Ito, the piece is less about life in the camps than the human beings in it. “In most plays, the camps are depicted as terrible things,” said the actor-director, whose own family was interned during World War II. “I don’t think this play wants to dwell on that fact. The (characters) have to deal with life. There are rumor-mongers, people who steal--all of that.

“One character, Madame, attracts lots of men. Another woman, a one-time society matron, tries to do charity work inside: she bootlegs liquor in the camp, ‘dispensing happiness and forgetfulness.’ And her husband--who used to be an insurance salesman, realizes that with the change he can chuck (his old life style), play his flute and be what he wants to be. It shows how we’re all interned in some way.”

AIDS BENEFIT: “Jerry Herman: A Musical Toast” is the theme for the fifth annual S.T.A.G.E theatrical benefit for AIDS Project/Los Angeles, taking place Friday and Saturday at the Variety Arts Center downtown.

The composer--whose works include “Hello, Dolly!” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles”--will be feted by more than 35 performers, including Lucie Arnaz, Jane Carr, Carole Cook, Don Correia, Dorian Harewood and Brad Maule. David Galligan directs, with musical direction by Ron Abel and choreography by Gary Mascaro.

Tickets are $40. Ticket information: (213) 380-2000, Ext. 288.

Meanwhile, the local premiere of another Herman revue, “Jerry’s Girls,” plays at Long Beach’s Studio Theatre through Jan. 28.

CRITICAL CROSS FIRE: Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s Korean War-themed “Stone Wedding,” written in collaboration with the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Latino Theatre Lab and directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, received mostly stony reviews. It continues at the Los Angeles Theatre Center through Jan. 22.

Said The Times’ Sylvie Drake: “Such an eclectic mix of elements presents its problems, yet one must hasten to add that it also has humor, snappy dialogue, some fine performances and some arresting, painterly sets by Gronk.”

From Tom Jacobs in the Daily News: “Collaborative efforts have been known to produce good theater, but not often, and certainly not in this case. At its worst, the writing in ‘Stone Wedding’ comes close to self-parody.”

The Herald Examiner’s Richard Stayton saw “a B horror movie struggling to get out of ‘Stone Wedding.’ Consider the box-office possibilities in the story of a paralyzed Latino war veteran whose secret identity is Huitzilopochtli . . . Title it ‘Mondo Hispanola.’ ”

Said Drama-Logue’s T.H. McCulloh: “The talented company does its best and some of the performances are strong, though their own material often defeats them. It is a scattered work, not saved by Valenzuela’s theatrical but muddy staging, and some of the committee’s ideas just don’t work.”

Groused Deborah Klugman in the Reader: “A production without focus, without the beginning, middle or end of a coherent story line, and with irritating pretenses to profundity and great art.”

Two thumbs up: In the L.A. Weekly, Maryl Jo Fox found that “No doubt because of its collaborative nature, the inevitable rush of events that signifies a unified vision is missing. Nevertheless, visually, aurally and conceptually, this production is remarkable.”

And from the Orange County Register’s Jeff Rubio: “ ‘Stone Wedding’ is obscure; at times it appears contrived. It has some trouble synergizing the cultural forces it tries to harness. Most of the time, though, it’s full of life. . . . It is at the very least a welcome portal to the mind of a culture.”