Tony-winning tuner “Spring Awakening” may have nodded off for good on Broadway, where the show shuttered Jan. 18. But it’s rapidly expanding overseas.
The show just opened in London to exuberant reviews, making a West End transfer of the Lyric Hammersmith production increasingly likely. The show is gearing up for 18 international productions — including stagings in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea and Australia — in 14 languages.
Meanwhile, the Stateside national tour also is proving a success, despite concerns that the show’s edgy subject matter of teens confronting sex and death might not attract the same support in red states as it did in liberal Gotham.
ProducerIra Pittelman attributes the lack of controversy to the marketing decision to be as open as possible about the show’s content, so that auds know what they’re getting into before they buy tickets.
And the tuner’s high profile online, cultivated to tap into its youthful target demo, helps boost familiarity with “Spring” not just for potential audience members but also for young thesps aspiring to be in the show someday.
Many of the Brit kids who auditioned for the London staging, for instance, knew what creatives were looking for, thanks to the Internet. “Almost all of them had seen our stuff online,” Pittelman says.
Pittelman and “Spring” producing partnerTom Hulce have other projects on their plate as well, including an oldies-infused bio-tuner about the Temptations.
The producers recently closed a deal for the theatrical rights to the music and life story of the famed Motown group, whose civil rights-era tale would be told using their hits, a la the perennially popular “Jersey Boys.”
No creative team or timeline has yet been set for the project.
Stepping it up on B’way
When the Hitchcock spoof “The 39 Steps” moved to its third Broadway theater last month, a lot of industry watchers wondered if a small-scale show with generally modest B.O. was worth it.
To the producers, though, the slapstick spy comedy has the makings of an international draw akin to a musical like “Mamma Mia!”
“It has a wide appeal in general, but even more importantly, it appeals to people who don’t have English as a first language,” saysRoy Gabay, general manager of the physical comedy-driven show.
When producers noticed the play was beginning to cultivate tourist and walk-up business, they decided to keep the relatively cheap, four-person production on the boards.
“This is such a physical piece, and it’s very reasonably priced,” says producerHarriet Newman Leve, also a producer of Off Broadway long-runner “Stomp.”
Gabay estimates that if sales at the Helen Hayes Theater remain on par with those at its prior venue, the Cort, the smaller Hayes would be sold out 80% of the time.
“I think we’re really going to capture more of the tourists,” Leve says. “Even in this economy, this show will do well.”
More from Variety
Loading comments...
Most Popular
Must Read
Sign Up for Variety Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to ourTerms of Use and ourPrivacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the GooglePrivacy Policy andTerms of Service apply.
Variety Confidential
A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast