Deaf West Theatre’s ‘Spring Awakening’ livestreamed from the White House today
A scene from Deaf West’s production of Spring Awakening.
The cast of Deaf West Theatre’s revival of the musical “Spring Awakening” will give a special performance of the show today at the White House and it will be live-streamed from 1 to 4 p.m, PST.
The performance of selected songs from the musical is part of “The White House Convening on Americans with Disabilities and the Arts: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusion,” which marks the 25th anniversary year of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The production by L.A.’s Deaf West Theatre, which had critically acclaimed engagements last fall at L.A.’s Inner-City Arts and earlier this year at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, is now playing on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
The cast, including Oscar and Golden Globe Award winner Marlee Matlin and Emmy and Golden Globe award winner Camryn Manheim, who joined the Los Angeles cast for the New York production, has traveled to Washington for the production.
President Obama won’t be in attendance, but about 100 local students from the Washington area will be in the audience.
“Spring Awakening” is based on a racy-for-its-time 1891 German Expressionist play by Frank Wedekind and was originally adapted for Broadway in 2006, with music by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik. The angsty, sexually charged story juxtaposed the 19th century setting with a modern rock-pop score, touching on abortion, homosexuality, child abuse and suicide. It won eight Tonys, including best musical that year.
In the Deaf West revival directed by Michael Arden, the characters are performed by both deaf and hearing actors who blend sign language and song, choreographed movements and music. One of the main characters, the sexually curious Moritz Stiefel (played by both deaf actor Daniel Durant and hearing actor Alex Boniello) is the deaf son of hearing parents.
To further celebrate the ADA anniversary, 25 tickets per performance of “Spring Awakening” on Broadway can be purchased for $25 on Ticketmaster.com from November 19-25.
To live stream today’s performance, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/live
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