In January 2011, Matt Frank was the MD for the Young Australian Broadway Chorus (YABC) production of Spring Awakening. This production was the Melbourne premier and received rave reviews from the Melbourne theatre community. Based on a banned German 1891 play about teenagers discovering hardship and sexuality before their parents deem them ready, Spring Awakening uses modern words (titles of songs include “The B**** of Living” and “Totally F***ed”) and a modern rock score combined with olden style dialogue and dress.
New musicals are now dealing with edgy themes and lyrics that you would expect to hear in more a punk, metal, rap or hard rock song. This is attracting new younger audiences that are taking time to look deeper into the appeal of musicials, instead of disregarding them as uncool.
Part of the appeal of the YABC performance was teenagers playing teenagers. The closeness of the experiences brought a raw energy to the performance that I found totally compelling, and as with all musicals, the music direction played a huge part in communicating the story.
The YABC started in 1995 and is now an extensive after school course for 8-18 year olds. Previous students have performed professionally on stage (The Boy from Oz, Fame), in movies (Charlotte’s Web, Hating Alison Ashley), on TV (Blue Healers, City Homicide) and many other performances.
