Accents in Spring Awakening

It is an interesting topic to raise. I am not a fan of Australian accents on stage unless it is a story set in Australia, in which case it would not make sense to have it in another accent. This is because I find the exaggerated version of Australian used (it often seems to reflect the Western Australian dialect) to be very unfriendly to the ear, particularly when being sung.

Because of the impure placement of Australian vowels and the predominance of diphthongs the voice often comes off as being flat and lacking in resonance, which in this case is not necessarily that the vocalists lack of pitch but is a problem with vowel placement. In my opinion it takes a very skilled vocalist to make singing in an Australian accent attractive to the ear.

Now, I know that this is purely a gripe from the music direction side of things which is why I accept the use of Australian accents in Australian settings but as a listener I would prefer to hear the accents used as British or neutral American.

As for Spring Awakening specifically, I have heard an interesting point made. That considering the style of music the show contains (grunge rock, indie etc) and that these styles are generally sung with more American inflections, that it could make sense for the show to be done in an American accent.

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I've spent a great deal of time reflecting on this very question. Why do so many of us feel that we can’t embrace our own accent in musical theatre and are we ashamed of our own voice?

I think the simplest explanation is something that I've experienced a number of times in my journey through musical theatre: we often hate our own distinctive wonderful Australian voice in all it's ugliness and complexity.

I can't begin to say how many times I've heard performers say "I would prefer to hear a British or neutral American." By the way... what the hell is neutral American accent? I've never met a netural American in my life and I've heard plenty of American accents lacking any resonance and pitch.

As Australians we have our own distinctive voice and we should be aiming to celebrate this regularly and LOUDLY..... and it seems a show with an open script, such as Spring Awakening, is the perfect vehicle to do this. Our voice is one which has grown from something shared between our first inhabitants and the settlers who came to this place, it's a voice that tells stories of drama and humour equally well. It's a voice with love and compassion.

And it's not fu^cking American.....

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Isn't Neutral American GenAm? Or is that just Standard American?

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A neutral accent (in my mind) uses the pure Italian classical vowels.

They are just that, pure, and have no dipthongs or any other alterations.

Some would say that means you'd be using an Italian accent but I think not.

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My experience has led me to this conclusion...

If something is set in a neutral territory, for example Into the Woods is neither American, English, Australian or anything else other than just "The Woods" I tend to focus on the Librettist.

James Lapine is American and around the time he authored the book for Into the Woods he was a resident of New York City and surrounded by all the cultural references of that city.

If I was directing Into the Woods, I would ask my cast to take on American Accents as i would think the script has been penned by an author who was influenced by that toungue whilst writing it and would have had that tone in his head. Not saying that is certain. But I would like to think that. No doubt specific rhyme and also possible character intention and background can be found in that.

For example, I find the story telling banter of the Witch during the prologue to be rather Jewish/American. "but that's another story, never mind etc etc" I would imagine Lapine was surrounded by many Jewish Americans on broadway in New York!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that is the way I try to think about it. It's not always right, and different productions have different results and writers, but often if you can approach the performance in the native toungue of the writer, on a show that is based nowhere, it's a safe bet.

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As someone that didn't see BLOC's Spring Awakening but is an avid, if not completely obsessed, fan of Spring Awakening (seeing both the Broadway and American Touring cast), I question why accents other than the neutral ones of the performers would need to be used.
The premise of the entire musical is that these children can't express themselves due to the completely repressive nature all authorities place upon them - even communicating and opening up amongst themselves proves difficult and confrontational and ultimately tragic, hence the notion of becoming 'rock stars' and voicing their innermost dialogues through song is their only true release. To add an accent other than the performers' own natural one would prove to be confusing to this notion and probably against Slater's vision - their own scripted dialogue is already so constrained, using accents would most likely deflect from the contrast of the songs compared to the dialogue. The fact that this show is set at the turn of the century in provincial Germany - yet set with a modern folk-rock score- proves that accents are irrelevant - this musical is aiming to be accesible to all with is poignant themes and relevancies to adolescent issues...not to be tied up to a specific accent to only address a certain people.

I think the majority of musicals being performed here that use American accents are simply performers or artistic teams getting too tied up in cast recordings. Obviously in musicals or plays with relevant geographical or historical references accents should be applied, but Bryce is right - our accents should be embraced where deemed appropriate, and Spring Awakening is the perfect example. There is no need to 'ocker' it up, but there is also no need to hide behind the dialects of an accent that isn't our own if not necessary. After witnessing the brilliant Rachel Beck on Monday night at Jason Robert Brown's concert, I was surprised that she flipped to an American accent to sing - perhaps if she stuck to her own accent her performance would've hit home more and JRB's beautifully crafted tales of love and expectations would've resonated more with an Australian audience. Ultimately, I believe that as performers that is our goal - to connect with the people watching - and hiding behind the facade of an accent that isn't your own when not necessary can hinder that element of connection with an audience.

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I think that in general, as a society, we are so used to viewing stories on screen or on the stage in accents other than our own, that it becomes strange to see stories set in the mysterious 'somewhere else' portrayed in our own accents. Because we are so used to seeing fantasy places with people who have english or american accents, we expect it. Even little kids playing games will put on american accents because they are imitating all the stories they see on television and the movies. We grow up with everyone in stories having different accents to our own. Our brains are telling us that people in stories always have different accents. We see it so much that we expect it and when it is not as we are used to, it doesn't seem to fit right in our brains. It's not hard to see why this is so ingrained in us, because all the storytelling media we see is full of people speaking accents other than our own. Especially so when the story is set in other fantasy places (look at Lord of the rings, Labyrinth, Willow), or are people speaking in another language (like the Sound of Music, Les Mis).

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I agree with the first comment wholeheartedly.

BLOC should be applauded for using the Australian accent. The musical has been adapted to appeal to the youth of today. Why should the actors go around speaking in an American, or even a German accent? I would find that sterilizing and working against the very essence of the play. We too often see amateur performers in Australia using "Standard American" accents and stumbling over their lines. Why should we, in a play that has no need for American accents, be forced to follow the mold of the Broadway recording? Do we want to see young performers falling over their lines? Especially when Spring Awakening is already using such difficult language, not to mention subject matter.

If we are going for authentic, then why don't we start singing the entire score of Les Mis in French... NO WAIT! How PREPOSTEROUS! French Revolutionaries didn't sing... If we want authentic, we should just jump in a space ship and go back through time and sit through the actual events... THRILLING.

As for the comments re: dipthongs and the closed vowels etc., I can see where you are coming from, from a CLASSICAL perspective. Spring Awakening is a folk/rock score. And excuse me if I am incorrect, but I don't see Missy Higgins being told that she was flat due to her 'vowel placement'. Singing in musicals does not have to be perfect, that's what Operas are for. If all musical singers had to have the best training in the world, then we shouldn't have Elaine Stritch in Company or Glenys Johns in A Little Night Music.

I feel that the Australian accent has been lost in musical theatre from those wishing to copy our American counterparts. Nowhere in Spring Awakening does it allude that we are in Germany, bar the names. The writers have made a conscious effort to rid the play of any reference to Germany (or America) so as to make the play appealing to their target audience, the youth of today.

Sure an accent has its place, however I applaud those who defy the Broadway recording and use our native sound.

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There seem to be a lot of references in the discussion so far that using Australian accents makes it more relevant. I've personally never felt that the use of any particular accent has made materiel feel more relevant to me, so I ask, why does this make people feel this way? That it is more relevant by having an Australian accent?

Also I think my comment about vowel placement and dipthongs etc as been misinterpreted. I am not talking about a lack of clean, classical singing due to the accent. More that the timing of dipthongs and just how closed a vowel is is something that should be closely monitored to avoid the voice becoming to thin in resonance and uncomfortable to listen to. For a lot of people who sing mainly contemporary music this comes as second nature and yes, often it is Americanized because many of the pop/rock singers they listen to as they grow up are American or were themselves influenced in a similar way.

Because of this many people, from my experience at least, are not used to singing in an Australian accent and therefore it takes some thought on the technical side of things.

And yes singing doesn't have to be "perfect" in musical theatre, however it doesn't hurt if it is of a higher standard. Similarly one could say that acting doesn't have to be perfect in Opera, that's what the theatre is for, but that thought process is changing and now more emphasis is being placed on the characters and the story telling.

I have only experienced the STC version of Spring Awakening and have not seen any of the Victorian versions, but I found the accent very jarring.

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When it comes to accents, you need to A) look at the script, and B) consider what will work best to hi-light the text, sometimes employing a particular accent as a convention, rather than as an indication of where the narrative is set, if it is set anywhere.

Using Les Mis as an example, it was originally written in French - a story set in France. As an English adaptation, we sing it in classical voices with an English influence, because the sounds of these vowels go hand in hand to propel the score. This is a convention employed to allow the music to sound its best, and effectively convey the story.

I made the following point in my recent review of BLOC's Spring Awakening; the book does not call for an Australian accent. If you listen to the text, it is clearly written drawing on 19th century language, and it is obvious that the characters simply do not relate to each other in a way that would be indicative of using a modern Australian accent. In this instance, I would say that drawing on a convention of choosing an accent that best conveys the text is the most appropriate way to proceed with this show. Not because we're Australian and want to stick up for hearing the Aussie accent on stage. Not because Broadway did it in American to make it relevant to a country of people who for the most part don't appreciate UK or Australian stories. Not English because Les Mis did it, and not in German because the story is set there.

In this case, the director of the show needs to make a choice, and if that choice is made to best hi-light the text, then I commend the director behind it. But, I don't think "We live in Australia, which makes it relevant to my audience to use an Aussie accent" best hi-lights the text, and therefore I would say it is the wrong choice.

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I think that to be comparing the question of accents to other shows such as Les Mis or Woods is out of place in the discussion. Reasons?
SA is not your regular musical. Along with many new musicals SA experiments with removing the different musical theatre elements from the story and readjusting to create a new and interesting piece of theatre.
The original production (and script) makes strong distinctions between spoken dialogue, songs, staging.
These elements have been isolated and interpreted differently.

As a result of this I believe that SA does one very important thing (I may be wrong).
SA is a musical staged and performed as a direct story telling to its audience.
My understanding of the shows concept is that the story is being told to us by a group of young actors.
When I sit down to watch SA I expect to be told a story exploring sexuality, family, religion, education and authority.
I personally believe that the most effective way for an audience to really be receptive to the performance, the characters should perform with neutral accents.
Neutral to me means impartial, not a mimic of another accent. I am not saying the characters shouldn't act. Simply that I feel an audience would receive a stronger message/ performance if they felt a connection to the storytellers.
I believe that the strongest way to perform SA in Melbourne would be to watch the actors perform in their individual neutral accents and tell us a story of teenagers struggling in a 1890's German society.
If during this storytelling they feel the best way to express their emotions is through awesome alternative rock ballads then bring it on.

PS: Spring Awakening is totes awes as.

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Too much discussion.. there is no need to waste time justifying artistic decisions this simple, until the cows come home. Do whatever, just do it consistently and properley. I think that's where the problem lies...bad production teams not being detailed and honest with the actor who just can't do a good convincing neutral, American, British or whatever accent. My problem with BLOCS's accent choice was it was a blend of nunawading, kath and Kim, toorak and sth African on the one stage. The intent to bring the story home may have been there, but badly realized in performance.

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I would like to commend BLOC for being brave and fully committing to the Australian accent, unlike the recent CPCA production, in which the performers spoke with Australian accents, then sang in American. This lack of continuity was confusing to begin with, then became more and more irritating, as some of the performers struggled with their fake accents and dropped in and out of it, with some leaning towards a more British sound, and others heading to the Deep South. In comparison, BLOC's accents were far more uniform across the entire cast, and I felt that the Australian sound was refreshing to listen to.
It seems to me that for Australian performers performing on the Australian stage in a production which is not especially location-specific, it should be perfectly acceptable to use their natural accents. It seems ludicrous to ask performers to affect a foreign accent unless absolutely necessary.
To 'Accents?', I wonder which of the performers you are referring to who apparently had a 'South African' accent?? And why didn't I or any other audience members pick up on this??

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Louise I'm not sure if we saw the same "refreshing" production. I'm not one to publicly name and shame, and if I was I certainly wouldn't stop at the accent direction. It is quite obvious that this production was not of the same calibre as BLOC's 2010 season. Bland performances, lack of constructive direction and minimal innovation have left it wide open for another company to "get it right".

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I didn't see the production and have no comment on the direction. But I'd like to say this to "Accents?" Why don't you put your name to these comments? As a genuine rule of thumb, I love exceptionally deep debates - but only when people actually put their names to their opinions.

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Seeing as this debate is ‘still’ going on I feel compelled to say something as a member of the creative team from BLOC’s Spring Awakening.

When I was first asked to be involved in this production of Spring Awakening my first question was about accents. I was a little stunned to hear back from the Director that he wanted ‘natural/Australian’ accents. Like (what feels like) most people, I had previously been conditioned into thinking that musical theatre means American accents. It was just the ‘done’ thing. I have since matured from that narrow-minded idea of the artform and realised that the only country outside America that seems to be obsessed with this idea, is Australia.

Spring Awakening is a German play, set in Germany that was first translated into English and staged in New York with American accents in 1917. Adapted as a musical, it opened on Broadway in 2006 using American accents. In 2008, Spring Awakening opened in Sweden, using not only a Swedish accent, but the whole show was translated into Swedish. In 2009 Spring Awakening opened in London, with English accents. Since then, Spring Awakening has been staged in Helsinki in Hungarian, Germany in German, Austria with Austrian accents and Tokyo in Japanese. In all countries, it made sense to them to stage a production of Spring Awakening using their native language or accent, seeing as the play is set in Germany and therefore deems American accents completely unnecessary.

Then in walks Sydney Theatre Company in 2010, staging a production of Spring Awakening using Australian accents. Following suit as set by every other company in the world, STC felt it appropriate to stick with the ‘local tongue’. YABC then opens a production containing a mix of Australian dialogue, and American song. For political reasons, I’m not going to comment on that choice. BLOC then decides to follow the logic of all other companies, and use the natural Australian accents of our cast members. Not only did it avoid bad, forced whiney teen-angst accents, but it allowed for both cast and audience to relate to the story being told, without that ‘barrier’ of a false accent getting in the way. I did a lot of research on Spring Awakening when I first began working on this production, and I read many, many anecdotes from both Sheik and Sater about how they wanted these kids to be ‘real’ and particularly when they sang, they needed to be ‘real’ teenagers with ‘real’, ‘contemporary’ issues. Putting an American accent unnecessarily in front of that just creates an unnecessary obstacle in the way of the whole point of the show.

It astounds me how many people walk into shows expecting to hear their cast recordings. The whole “My CD uses American accents, so therefore, your cast should use American accents”. I’m sure if you walked into the West End with the same attitude, you’d be shot.
This brings me to the user on this thread who cowers behind the ‘Accents?’. I had to laugh when I read the line “My problem with BLOCS's accent choice was it was a blend of nunawading, kath and Kim, toorak and sth African on the one stage”. I challenge ANYONE to please walk outside into a crowd of people and tell me who has ‘the’ Australian accent. ‘How’ and more importantly ‘why’ would any company try and blanket any show with ‘one’ Australian accent is beyond me. I don’t know anyone in Australia that speaks with the same tones and pronunciations as the next. Go into any school yard at lunch and you’ll be confronted with a blend of accents tinged with generations of lingual influence. As was clearly reflected in BLOC’s production of Spring Awakening.

The issue here isn’t with BLOC, STC or anyone else using Australian accents in Spring Awakening. It’s with the Australian accent. We hate listening to ourselves. I know there are a myriad of reasons why, and I’m not going to bother going into them. I truly believe that if a show isn’t specifically set in America and has a string of international productions behind it, all utilising this logic, then there is no reason why ‘amateur’ or any other level of theatre should feel bound to bow down to cast recordings.

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• 237 votes

Bones is correct - Peter Allen had a distinctively mashed up Aussie/American accent.

See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnh40I5eaAQ

The clip is worth watching for the segment of Peter dancing in bike shorts alone...

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Just sayin, I absolutely love this thread. For all the discussion it generated, BLOC's Spring Awakening was a beautiful show, and we are all still proud as punch to have been involved. As they say, haters gonna hate. We just deal with it, bounce back from the criticism, and get on with our careers in this harsh industry, all the while understanding that dealing with narrow-minded, critical people is a part of our day-to-day lives, and we have to push past that if we want to succeed. Love x

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