Last night I attended the Opening Night for Spring Awakening at the San Jose Repertory Theatre. I attended not only to work the press table and help with patron video reviews (as part of my job) but also because after hearing so much about this wild rock-musical I just had to see it. I have to admit though, the first thing that got me interested in watching this show was the fact that it was going to be choreographed by Sonya Tayeh (of So You Think You Can Dance fame.) I’m a fan, what can I say?!

The show was AMAZING. I’m not fully skilled in proper theatre/musical critic language – so really my opinions consist of “awesomes”, “amazings”, and perhaps a few “radicals” thrown in there for good measure.

I’m a musical fan, but I don’t get out to see much new ones. More recently I’ve only seen Avenue Q (twice!) and Wicked (OMG). Spring Awakening is way more raw than any of those shows. Here’s the description –

COMING OF AGE IN A SOCIETY CLOAKED IN TABOOS
Caught between their sexual urges and society’s contradictory teachings, a group of teenagers reveals their alluringly melancholy story of self-discovery and coming-of-age anxiety as seen through the eyes of young teenagers. Set in repressive 19th-century Germany, these students attempt to reckon with the thrilling, complicated and confusing time of their sexual awakening. This haunting and provocative rock-musical is a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion in a daring fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll.

The singing was amazing and I loved the songs – so much that as soon as I can, I’m gonna get a soundtrack to listen to.

So while manning the press table with my colleague Elisabeth, I immediately froze as I saw Sonya Tayeh walk from the elevator out to her friends sitting outside the Rep. She was clearly nervous about the show and running around. She came back in and I literally walked right passed her. I didn’t dare stop her because a) I’m a chicken-shit but more so b) she seemed to be in a big hurry (show was literally about to start) and I kept thinking she probably didn’t want to be bugged by some goofy fan.

No worries. I got to see her in all her awesome mohawked-glory!

It was time for us to get into the show and we did with seconds to spare. The Rep’s Artistic Director Rick Lombardo got on stage to greet the audience and announce there was a special guest. I thought he was going to mention Sonya, but he actually mentioned that Tony Award winning playwright Steven Sater was in the house! He’s the writer and lyricist of the show! So that was pretty cool.

Ok like I said above, the show was amazing. But what happened later.. hehee!

The show ended and I made a dash for the entrance where my other colleague Danny was set up with his video camera ready to take patron reviews about the show. We’ve done this for a previous show and have continued the process into this new season.

So I grab the mic and proceeded to catch a few people and ask them if they enjoyed the show, etc. Then, Elisabeth decided to see if Sonya would be interested in giving an opinion. The message was relayed and I saw Sonya’s friend (?) run off to get her.

“OMG I am going to interview her?!” I’m such a dork – my body went numb and I swear my arm (holding the mic) started to shake. Haha. Danny kept laughing at me.

Sonya made her way down the stairs, stopping to talk to Steven Sater, some fans, Rep employees/head-cheeses and then she made her way to me. She was full of smiles and apologized for the delay – I of course said no worries, she’s in high demand!

I asked her a few questions along the lines of what did she think of the opening night performance, how does she feel about the difference between choreography for a theatre production versus something like So You Think You Can Dance, and asked about her experience here in San Jose. By the way she said she loved the coffee shop down the street (Philz Coffee!)

I didn’t want to take up too much of her time so we ended the short interview and I thanked her and took my moment and told her I was a big fan and it was great to meet her. Shook her hand and she was on her way. She was super nice (not surprised) and friendly and loved the performance.

What a great experience! And check it out — a pic of me interviewing Sonya! (Taken by Elisabeth!)