Lyric's Spring Awakening Up for Best Musical
TMA Theatre Awards to be held at Lyric
Spring Awakening, the musical which received huge critical acclaim when it made its British debut at the Lyric Hammersmith, has been nominated as Best Musical in the prestigious Theatre Management Association Theatre Awards.
The TMA Theatre awards themselves, which reward theatre excellence across the UK, are also taking place at the Lyric on Sunday November 1.
Spring Awakening came to the Lyric in January having achieved a string of awards in America, including a Tony Award for Oustanding New Broadway Musical and a Grammy Award for its score.
Spring Awakening's creators, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik turned Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play about repressed emotion and adolescent passion into an explosive musical about three teenagers' journey into adulthood.
Critics raved about the show - the Stage for example, called it "superb and sensational" and added: "It demands to be seen."
The show proved a sell-out and its original run was extended by two weeks to March 14, and it also inspired a project for young people in Hammersmith and Fulham called Sex, Lies and DVDs which explored some of the issues raised in Spring Awakening.
The musical then transferred to the Novello Theatre in the West End, but closed early at the end of May. However, it still has many fans who are following the careers of its young stars, Aneurin Barnard, Charlotte Wakefield and Iwan Rheon, and a touring production of the show in America is still a huge success.
In the TMA Awards, to be hosted at the Lyric by actress Nichola McAuliffe, Spring Awakening will face off against a touring production of West Side Story, which played at the New Wimbledon theatre, and Spend Spend Spend, which played at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire.
October 5, 2009
