TIrEATE BY MICHAEL GILTZ verything's coming up roses for "Spring Awakening," the critically acclaimed Broadway musical that's on its way to being a genuine from-the-ground-up hit.</p><p> It is that hoped-for Holy Grail: a Broadway show that can cross over to a young, pop/rock audience a la "Rent." And the young, mostly unknown actors who give it life are what theater dreams are made of - talented, ener- getic, and beautiful.</p><p> E = c o cLiberally adapted from a German play by Fram Wedekind - written in 189I, flrst produced in 1906 and controver- sial for its time - the new "Spring," still set in the I890s, captues the turbulent voice ofteenagers grappling with sex and desire and lust and love in a world where their parents brely mention the words.</p><p> And it does it with a mod-"The othernight, Rosie O'Domell came to the show," says Gallagher, a na- tive of Wilmington, Del "She came back- stage md her first words to me were, 'It's 'Rent" times a thousand.' "If you'd told me when I was 14 and blning the 'Rent' soundtrack in my liv- ing room and pretending to be the chil- \ acters that I would be starring in a show that someone would refer to as going leaps md bounds bevond that show that I loved, I would have thought you were crazy." For the hmdsome md engaging Jonathan Groff , 2l - who plays the shou/s heart and soul. the smart. restless Melchior - experi- encing the groMh of "Spring Awakening" - first its off-Broadway incarnation, then onto the Great White Way and now into a potentia.lly long-M- ning hit - is a thrill, especially after the Iancaster, Pa., native's frrst Broadway show was the notorious flop "In My Life." "The audiences just keep getting big- ger and bigger md we keep doing bet- ter," says Groff, whose first big breakwas playing Rolf in a touring production of "The Sound of Music " "During previews, we couldn't sell half the house- Now that we've opened and word is getting out and people are com- in8 back again and telling their friends, it's spreading.</p><p> It's really exciting " Lea Michele, 20 - bom and raised in Tenafly, N J. - plays the female lead, Wendla, who is seemingly sweet but with dmk serual urges that stun wen Melchior She says nothing prepued her for "Spring Awalening's" roclry joumey.em, bold and sexy story maried to a sophisticated Out mdeni- / ably citchy; score by Steven I o=uz = ct Fo N o N e.</p><p> G l o o ISater md Grammy-nomi- nated pop-rocker Duncan Sheik, in his first musical John Galagher Jn - who plays the magnetic, spiky- haired, sex-obsessed Moritz with a ferocious, punkish ener- gy- knows about rock'n' roll His prents are folk mmicims, md Gallagh- er hm been playing in bmds all his life, including his cunent group, called Old Springs Pike Gauagher,22, admits that he felt so out of place at the auditions, he initially walked out.</p><p> He wasn't a Broad- way baby, even if, c a kid, he had fallen hard for musicals like'West Side Stort'' md "Rent.""When we came to Broadway, it was right around the time that 'The Times They Are a-Changin' was closing, and 'High Fidelih/ wasn't doing so well," she says (both shows have since gone dark). 'I remember lauren Pntchard [who plays Ilse, "Spring's" rebellious lonerl cme up to me, wide-eyed and dead se- rious, saying to me, 'What if we close? What if this doesn't work out?' "I looked at her and didn't know what to say.</p><p> This is my fourth Broadway show [after "Ragtime" and the recent reviv-aI of "Fiddler on the Roof',1, and I,m supposed to know what to do - and I didn't Then I sat in the audience and we were Iighting and Lauren got on the stage and she sang 'Blue Wind,' her duet with John Gallaghdr And it was so beautiful - that was the flrst time I cried during this whole experience I Just started crying! "I looked at her aftemard and said, 'if every night you do what youjust clid, we'll be fine ' That's rea.lly how I felt ,, As word of mouth spreads - and theshuw becomes a must-see for lourists and hip New Yorkers idike - it's cleil "Spring Awakenirrg" will certainly be a touchstone in the cueers of all ihree pertomers "The people that are in this show mean so much to me," says Groff. "We've really gone through so much together We knew the show was so- ing to be special when we stanedlwe spend every waking moment togeth- er And we share an even more soecial bontl, because we get to watch eich rb i \3nlrr(tildr) ,.,i&'\i . other eYery night on stage "We're just so wlnerable md open in this show. and everybody is pou- ing their hearts out and so happy to be there.</p><p> I've no doubt these pmple re go ing to be in my life for a long time..</p><p> O , : tr ,,ii iit ,
