This past weekend saw the opening and closing of Hooligan Theatre Company‘s fall musical, “Spring Awakening”!  Starting on Friday evening at 8pm, the company brought on its rendition of the award-winning musical in our very own Schoenberg Auditorium, and henceforth had three more shows throughout the weekend, ending on Sunday afternoon’s matinee showing.  Although tickets were sold to the public for $25 each, UCLA students got to see the show for free if we flashed of our Bruincard at the Central Ticket Office to pick up a voucher.

My favorite scene in the musical was the moment my friend Brian sang his first note, soaring above the men’s ensemble with his crisp tenor timbre.  We were so proud of him and so happy to see a fellow group member of our a cappella group excel at something he clearly loved to do, that is to sing, combined with a whole new dimension of choreography, stage presence, and continuity that performing a cappella music doesn’t provide in shorter segments of back-to-back songs.

The show was true to its Broadway original, complete with bawdy jokes and suggestive screenplay.  However, most important of it all was the profound nature of the themes that transcended the audience’s laughter and reminded us of important issues experienced in teenage discovery and are a part of growing up.  Hosted on a college campus, the number one place where bright and open minds congregate, the production targeted and enjoyed the college crowd just as much as we enjoyed it.  As director Becca Kenigsberg hoped, we enjoyed the satire, understood the themes, and took its lessons quite seriously.  All in all, it was an eye-opening, stimulating and inspiring experience, and yet another reminder of how much we have going on at UCLA and all the great performances and events we  have access to for cheap or for free.