John Gallagher Jr.: A Year of Firsts at Spring Awakening
About the author:
Since the phenomenon that is Spring Awakening opened on Broadway last fall, its youthful stars have developed a devoted following—and none more than the charming and talented John Gallagher Jr., who has just been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. As Moritz, an angst-filled teen with a distinctively high-flying hairstyle, Gallagher gets things jumping in Act One with his lead vocals in "The Bitch of Living," then turns touching in Act Two with "Don't Do Sadness." It's an assured performance from a young performer who'd been building a solid reputation as an actor in plays, particularly the works of David Lindsay-Abaire Rabbit Hole, Kimberly Akimbo and the London production of Fuddy Meers. Nowadays, music is foremost on Gallagher's plate, juggling performances of Spring Awakening with those of his band, Old Springs Pike. As this essay demonstrates, Gallagher is still as down to earth as he was a year ago, when his journey with the show began off-Broadway.
This time last year, tech rehearsals were just about to begin for the Atlantic Theater Company's off-Broadway production Spring Awakening, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's rock musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's play, directed by Michael Mayer. As always seems to be the case before a show I'm working on begins performances, I was tearing my hair out. After rehearsal one day, I headed uptown to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre see John Doyle's Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. I was floored and mesmerized, totally blown away, in love with the production and the beautiful theatrical space that housed it.
If you had told me then that in seven months Spring Awakening would be playing to ecstatic audiences in the same theater, I would've had no choice but to laugh. Truth is, I am still laughing—but it's taken on a different meaning. I laugh in stunned disbelief at the fact that I appeared on MTV, The Late Show with David Letterman, The View and the Today show, all within several months. I laugh insanely and happily as I try to fathom the weight of becoming part of the Broadway community and having what started as a small word-of-mouth show nominated for multiple awards this season. I laugh at the genuinely funny moments my castmates bring to life on stage.
What can I say about the fans? I've never done a show where an actual throng was waiting just outside the stage door after every performance. Our move to Broadway, along with the release of our original cast recording and our network television appearances, multiplied our following to the point where autograph seekers from around the world crowd the sidewalk outside of the Eugene O'Neill waiting to say hi and collect pictures and signatures. I understand where this desire comes from, because if I weren't in Spring Awakening, I would undoubtedly be a fan.
Some of our supporters have gone far enough to create and frequent a message board related to all things Spring Awakening called theguiltyones.org. It really makes you realize just how for our once-semi-unknown show has come in the past six months. It's a tremendous feeling to know you have such support and loyalty from your audience night after night.
Spring Awakening has given me so many firsts this past year. Looking out into an audience filled with standing, cheering people from all walks of life is a first I will never forget. I definitely got remarkably lucky in having this as my first venture into musical theater. I often think of Spring Awakening as a "little show that could." Opening at the Eugene O'Neill Theater was the cake, and everything since then has been the icing—and it really, truly is sweet.
