"Spring Awakening" by Kristian Thomas Senior Youth Co.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Based on Frank Wedekind’s ground-breaking and controversial play (once banned in Germany), Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s rock score and emotional book take the story of sexual awakening, youth revolt, and self-discovery into a new century. 

It’s 1891, and grown-ups hold all the cards. Headstrong Melchior and naive Wendla stumble into each other's arms, passionate and curious, while anxious Moritz struggles to live up to the stringent expectations of society. With only each other for guidance, this group of young men and women travel the fraught and rocky path of adolescence, discovering their bodies, their minds, and themselves along the way. 

An exciting celebration of youth and rebellion, "Spring Awakening" fuses issues of morality, sexuality, and rock and roll into a story that packs a powerful emotional punch, which is as relevant today as it was when first written, although not quite as controversial in today's age as it was back in 1891, but just as shocking with some of the issues this piece of theatre deals with.

This musical also shows that not all musicals performed today are all "happy-clappy". With child cruelty, peer pressure, suicide, abortion, death and extreme emotion, this is a real gritty production and a production that merits a larger audience than in on Thursday's opening night. Some may prefer not to spend their money on a piece of theatre that may be unknown to them, but this production shows how good we have it today and how being open and honest with our children, and ourselves reap benefits. There are many lessons to be learnt from the messages in musicals such as this.

The big cast make a massive impact, especially in the ensemble numbers and completely fill the stage, not only presence wise but with their big vocals as well. A large cast can make choreography look a bit cramped but not here, every move fitted perfectly on the Duchess Theatre stage. A job obviously well worked out by choreographer Shannon O' Donnell.

The casting of the main characters were also perfectly chosen.

Stan Cook (Melchior) would be the equivalent of a high school jock if this were something akin to High School Musical or Grease. Good looking and the guy that all the girls fancied. What struck me more than anything else in this production was his voice. He has a beautiful falsetto which we get to hear in Act Two in the very emotional "Left Behind".

Nadia Potter (Wendla) is another young actor who has an incredibly good voice and for one so young, a wonderful vibrato, highlighted in "Whispering". It was a shame that in her opening number, "Mama Who Bore Me", there was an issue with the mic, meaning we could not hear her singing. This was very quickly rectified though and there were no further sound issues.

Dominic Wood (Moritz) acted his socks off in this production. His face contorted with the inner suffering, you really felt his pain and he made sure that he showed it. I have seen "Spring Awakening" before, so I knew what was to come, but Dominic's performance still made the hairs on my neck stand up as if this were my first time of watching. He also has the ability to interpret passion through his singing and I loved hearing the hurt through his vocals, highlighted in "I Don't Do Sadness", as well as his acting.

Lottie Stone (Ilse) also gets to show off her vocal skills in a gorgeous closing number in "The Song Of Purple Summer".

Someone else who I though played a really good part was Oliver Ridgeway as the teacher and authority figure. A good mature performance.

Very well directed by Katy Maclaughlin, as this is not an easy production to stage.

Produced by Kristian Cunningham. Anything with Kristian's name attached is bound to be worth the ticket price.

An excellent musical score under the direction of Tom Bond, who was also responsible for the sound design, with lighting designed by James Cladingboel.

I loved the uniformity of the costumes and the subtleties of the changes with the school uniform and the reform school uniform. Sometimes less is more when making a difference.

This is not the easiest piece of theatre to watch, and with the messages given in the story, quite rightly so. We should be made to feel uncomfortable as that shows that the actors, director and producer have all done their job.

Kristian Thomas Company are no strangers to taking risks but they always make sure that those risks pay off, and again it has paid off as this is a brilliant, hard-hitting production which pulls no punches, and deserves to be seen by a full theatre audience.

Take some tissues because you'll need them!

"Spring Awakening" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 29 January. Tickets are from £11 to £13.