Spring Awakening

ACT ONE

In late nineteenth century Germany, Wendla Bergmann, a curious and naive 14-year-old girl, laments that her mother has not taught her how to navigate life (“Mama Who Bore Me”). About to become an aunt for the second time, Wendla asks her mother to explain where babies come from. When her mother cannot bring herself to explain sexual relations to Wendla, she tells her daughter that babies are conceived when a woman loves her husband with all her heart. The other young girls of the town appear, similarly innocent and upset by the lack of knowledge being given to them about their bodies (“Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)”).

At school, the boys are in Reformatory School, studying Virgil in Latin class. Moritz Stiefel, a nervous and intense young man, sleepily misquotes a line and is chastised harshly by his teacher. His friend, the rebellious and intelligent Melchior Gabor, comes to his rescue, trying to defend Moritz. Their teacher refuses to hear their pleas and, angered by