Spring Awakening Synopsis

Act I
Wendla Bergmann, an adolescent in late-nineteenth century Germany, laments that her mother gave her no
way to handle things and has not taught her the lessons she is meant to know as a young woman (Mama Who
Bore Me). She tells her mother that it is time she learned where babies come from, considering that she is
about to be an aunt for the second time. Her mother cannot bring herself to explain the facts about conception
clearly to Wendla, despite knowing her daughter is reaching puberty. Instead, she simply tells Wendla that to
conceive a child a woman must love her husband with all of her heart. The other young girls in town appear to
be similarly innocent and are upset about the lack of knowledge presented to them ("Mama Who Bore Me"
(Reprise)).
At school, some teenage boys are studying Virgil in Latin class. When Moritz Stiefel, a very nervous and
intense young man, sleepily misquotes a line, the teacher chastises him harshly. Moritzs classmate, the
rebellious and highly intelligent Melchior Gabor, tries to defend him, but the teacher will have none of it, and
hits Melchior with a stick. Melchior reflects on the shallow narrow-mindedness of school and society and
expresses his intent to change things ("All Thats Known").
Moritz describes a dream that has been keeping him up at night, and Melchior realizes that Moritz has been
having erotic dreams which Moritz believes are signs of insanity. To comfort the panicked Moritz, Melchior,
who has learned sexual information from books, tells Moritz that all of the boys at their age get these dreams.
The burned-out boys share their own sexually-frustrated thoughts and desires ("The Bitch of Living"). Moritz,
who is not comfortable talking about the subject with Melchior, requests that he give him the information in the
form of an essay, complete with illustrations.
Some girls are gathered together after school and tease each other as they fantasize about marrying the boys in
the town. At the top of the list is the radical, intelligent, and good-looking Melchior ("My Junk"). Meanwhile,
Hanschen masturbates as he looks at an erotic postcard, and the piano student Georg indulges in some lively
fantasies about his shapely female piano teacher. Moritz has eagerly digested the essay that Melchior prepared
for him, but complains that his new knowledge has only made his dreams even more vivid and torturous.
Melchior tries to calm and comfort his friend, but Moritz runs off in frustration. All of the boys and girls
express their desires for physical intimacy ("Touch Me").
Searching for flowers for her mother, Wendla stumbles upon Melchior. The two reminisce on the friendship
they once shared as children and share a moment while sitting together in front of a tree. Each of them considers
what it would be like to give in to their physical desires for one another, but they do not do so ("The Word of
Your Body"). Meanwhile, at school, Moritz sneaks a look at his test results and is thrilled to learn that he has
passed his midterm examinations. However, the teacher and schoolmaster, who claim they cannot pass
everyone, decide to fail Moritz anyway, deeming his passing grade still not up to the school's lofty standards.
Martha, one of the teenage girls, accidentally admits to her friends that her father abuses her physically
(including sexual abuse) and that her mother is either oblivious or uncaring. The other girls are horrified to hear
this, but Martha makes them promise not to tell anyone, lest she end up like Ilse, a friend from childhood who
now wanders homeless and aimless after her similarly-abusive parents kicked her out of the house ("The Dark I
Know Well"). Later, Wendla finds Melchior again at his spot in the woods and tells him about Martha's abuse.
Melchior is appalled to hear this, but Wendla convinces him to hit her with a switch, so that she can try to

understand her friends pain. At first Melchior is determined to do nothing of the sort, but reluctantly complies.
He gets carried away in the beating, taking his own frustrations out on Wendla and throws her to the ground.
Disgusted with himself, Melchior runs off as Wendla is left lying on the ground, weeping. Alone, Wendla finds
that Melchior has left his journal on the ground. She picks it up and takes it with her.
Moritz is told he has failed his final examination, and his father reacts with disdain and contempt when Moritz
tells him that he will not progress in school; rather than attempting to understand his son's pain, Moritz's father
is only concerned with how the others in town will react when they see 'the man with the son who failed'.
Moritz writes to Melchiors mother, his only adult friend, for money to flee to America; she tenderly but firmly
denies his request and promises to write his parents to discourage them from being too hard on him ("And Then
There Were None"). Devastated by the refusal and feeling he has few choices left, Moritz begins to contemplate
suicide.
In a stuffy hayloft during a storm, Melchior cries out in his frustration at being caught between childhood and
adulthood (The Mirror-Blue Night). Wendla finds him once again, telling him she wants to return his journal,
and each apologizes for what happened in the forest. Before long, they begin to kiss. Wendla resists his
advances at first; she doesn't really understand what's going on between them and is reluctant to partake,
sensing that what they are doing is something very powerful and unlike anything that she has known before. As
Melchior becomes more insistent, he overpowers her objections with a combination of affection and sheer
force. They continue, and they have sex in the hayloft ("I Believe"). At the very moment Melchior commits the
act, Wendla cries out against it, and the darkness falls. (Note: This scene was slightly softened from the show's
Off-Broadway run, when the act as a rape without Wendla's consent was more straightforward. Later, as staged
by the Broadway show, Wendla still objects to Melchior, but gives in without understanding what he is actually
trying to do, leaving the question of consent still ambiguous on many levels.)

Act II
Wendla and Melchior are finishing their moment of confused intimacy in the hayloft; they reflect on and
discuss what has just happened (The Guilty Ones; in the Off-Broadway production, Act II began with "There
Once Was A Pirate.")
Moritz, having been thrown out of his home, wanders the town at dusk, carrying a pistol("Don't Do Sadness")
when he comes across Ilse, an old childhood friend of his. Ilse, who is secretly in love with Moritz, tells him she
has found refuge at an artists' colony, and they reminisce in some childhood memories and "remarkable times"
("Blue Wind"). She invites him to come home with her and join her in sharing some more childhood memories
and maybe something more. Moritz refuses and Ilse does everything she can to change his mind ("Don't Do
Sadness/ Blue Wind"). After coming close to kissing and admitting their mutual feelings, Moritz refuses and
Ilse leaves, distraught and upset. Realizing his true feelings for her, he quickly changes his mind and calls after
her, but it is too late; she is gone. Alone and believing that he has nowhere to turn, Moritz shoots himself.
At Moritz's funeral, each of the children (including Ilse) drops a flower into his grave as Melchior laments the
passing of his friend while touching on the factors that led to his death, including Moritz's treatment by his
parents ("Left Behind"). Back at school, the schoolmaster and teacher feel the need to call attention away from
Moritz, whose death was a direct result of their actions. They search through Moritz's belongings and find the
essay on sex which Melchior wrote for him. They seize the opportunity to lay the blame of Moritz's death on
Melchior, and although Melchior knows that he is not to blame, he knows there is nothing he can do to fight
them and is expelled ("Totally Fucked"). Elsewhere that night, Hanschen meets up with his shy and delicate

classmate Ernst. Hanschen shares his pragmatic outlook on life with his classmate before seducing him ("The
Word of Your Body (Reprise)").
Wendla has become ill, and her mother takes her to visit a doctor. He gives her some medication and assures
them both that Wendla is suffering from anemia and will be fine, but takes Wendla's mother aside and tells her
that Wendla is pregnant. When her mother confronts her with this information, Wendla is completely shocked,
not understanding how this could have happened. She realizes that her mother lied to her about how babies are
made. Although she berates her mother for leaving her ignorant ("Why didn't you tell me?"), her mother rejects
the guilt and insists Wendla tell her who the father is. Wendla reluctantly surrenders a passionate note Melchior
sent her after they consummated their relationship. She reflects somberly on her current condition and the
circumstances that led her to this difficult position, but resolves with optimism about her future child
("Whispering"). Meanwhile, Melchior's parents argue about their son's fate; his mother does not believe that the
essay he wrote for Moritz is sufficient reason to send him away to reform school. When Melchior's father tells
his wife about Wendla's pregnancy, she finally agrees that they must send Melchior away, which they do
without telling him that Wendla is pregnant.
During this time, Melchior and Wendla keep contact through the use of letters, with Ilse delivering them back
and forth. At the reform school, Melchior gets into a fight with some boys who grab a letter he has just received
from Wendla and use it in a masturbation game. As one of the boys reads from the letter, Melchior finally learns
about Wendla and their child, and he escapes from the institution to find her. When Melchior reaches town, he
sends a message to Ilse to have her get Wendla to meet him at the cemetery at midnight, but she can take no
action as Melchior "hasn't heard" about Wendla. At the cemetery, Melchior stumbles across Moritz's grave and
swears to himself that he and Wendla will raise their child in a compassionate and open environment. When
Wendla is late to the meeting, Melchior begins to feel a little uneasy. Looking around, Melchior sees a grave he
hadn't noticed before. He reads the name on the stone Wendla's and realizes that Wendla has died from a
botched abortion. Overwhelmed by shock and grief, he takes out a razor with the intention of killing himself.
Moritz's and Wendla's spirits rise from their graves to offer him their strength. They persuade him to journey
on, and he resolves to live and to carry their memories with him forever ("Those You've Known").
Led by Ilse, everyone assembles onstagenow, in some stagings, in modern dressto sing about how although
the adults may still call the shots with their upright, conservative views, they won't last forever, and the seeds
are already being planted for a new, liberal minded, progressive generation ("The Song of Purple Summer").