The Stage

Musical Spring Awakening to make British production debut at the Lyric Hammersmith

Published Wednesday 21 May 2008 at 16:05 by Lalayn Baluch

The Lyric Hammersmith is to present the first British production of US musical Spring Awakening, based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial play of the same name, as part of its 2008 autumn-winter season.

The creative team behind the Atlantic Theatre company’s New York production will come to the Lyric to work with a British cast. The show, which will have a six-week run from January, will feature an original Grammy Award-winning score by composer Duncan Sheik and lyricist Steven Sater.

The season will see artistic director David Farr direct his last show for the Lyric before he joins the Royal Shakespeare Company early next year. Farr will take the helm of Spyski! by Peepolykus, a fabricated story of the poisoning of a Russian dissident in London.

Other highlights will include the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of 365. The play follows the lives of young people bought up in the care system, and will be directed by the Scottish company’s artistic director Vicky Featherstone.

Melly Still, who directed the National Theatre’s 2006 production of Coram Boy, will direct Christmas show Cinderella, and Frantic Assembly will present a modern adaptation of Othello.