Parental advisory? Explicit content?! This isn’t your grandma’s Broadway musical!
The Hollywood Reporter says McG is in talks to turn the musical “Spring Awakening” into a film. The Broadway show enjoyed a fairly successful run and racked up eight Tony awards in 2007, including Best Musical.
“Spring Awakening” was based on the 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind (that name should sound familiar to you silent movie fans–and I know you’re out there–who are acquainted with the Louise Brooks classic “Pandora’s Box”). The play dealt with the sexual awakening of a bunch of teenagers, which, as you can imagine, made it quite controversial at the time. The Broadway version raised some eyebrows even today, with its blunt depiction of the joys, terrors, and frustrations of teen sexuality. It drew acclaim, though, for having a genuine rock score, written by Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater (Broadway has produced a number of shows with pseudo rock songs, but the real thing has been pretty rare).
McG got his start in music videos, so this would seem like more of a natural step for him than might be thought by those who only know him as the director of action movies like this year’s “Terminator Salvation.” This won’t be an easy job, though, as a lot of its appeal is in its inherent theatricality and the energy that came from the almost-concert-like performances. But it’s worth a shot. All I ask is that they cast some people who have some rock singing chops, not a bunch of bland Disney channel teenybopper pop singers. I know, good luck with that wish.
