`Spring Awakening' seizes Capital City

"Spring Awakening," last season's big Tony-winning musical, is on the road and finally heading through Columbus.

The show, which won eight 2007 Tony Awards including best musical, officially opened its North American tour back in Sept. at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. The musical is set to stop at the Palace Theatre Feb. 3-8. Check Metromix.com on Wednesday for a review of the touring show.

The musical appearance here is somewhat bittersweet as it just closed it doors on Broadway in New York just a few weeks ago, one of many Tony-winning best musicals that have done so due to declining ticket sales as a result of the recession. Those also recently departed include "Hairspray," "Monty Python's Spamalot" and "Grease."

 The tour has already hit up such cities as Washington, Toronto, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Houston, Tempe, Ariz., Louisville, Ky.,  and Tampa, Fla. Other cities still on the show's route include Cleveland, Boston, Providence, East Lansing, Mich. and Baltimore.

Productions are also planned for London, Vienna, Toronto, Helsinki, Seoul and the Philippines.

"Spring Awakening," a pop musical adaptation by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater of Frank Wedekind's classic German drama, began life off-Broadway during the summer 2006 at the Atlantic Theater Company. Later that year, it moved to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it also had its last Broadway performance Jan. 18.

Set in provincial 19th-century Germany, the show tells the story of a group of teenagers trying to come to terms with life and their own sexuality.