Spring Awakening film adaptation: everything you need to know
© Stephen Wright
As it turns out, the much-loved musical's writer Steven Sater has been teasing things in the last year, though it's worth remembering big-screen ambitions for the piece have been going back well over a decade.
Winner of eight Tony Awards, Spring Awakening follows a group of teenagers in late 19th century Germany, coming to terms with their own sexuality. It is based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play of the same name, and was a big star-making vehicle for the likes of Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff when it first ran. Spring Awakening has music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Sater.
A Hope Mill Theatre Manchester revival, directed by Luke Sheppard, won the Best Regional Production award at the WhatsOnStage Awards in 2019.
Plans for a film have been going back to 2009 (we've actually found our first report on the potential news here), when it was suggested that Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol, who has worked on the likes of Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Terminator Salvation, was hoping to helm the silver screen version.
After that, there were a series of teases that filming could commence in 2013, and 2014, and that there would be a new song involved in the film. But, sadly for the musical community, nothing came of it.
Well, all might be looking up as plans might not be off the table just yet! Sater recently (well, just before the pandemic) took to Twitter to state that the project may finally be back in motion.
Fingers crossed, it looks like we may finally be moving forward with the #springawakening movie. #aliceanswers https://t.co/qqTQhZC1tJ
— Steven Sater (@StevenSater) February 4, 2020
In terms of casting, who knows? Who would you love to see in a big screen version of the hit musical?
Even if a silver screen version never came to, there has been rumours that the show may be back at a theatre in the near future, though we wouldn't want to spoil anything before it was confirmed…
