Perhaps the audience wasn't quite prepared for all the humping. But as far as I'm concerned, there wasn't nearly enough whooping and hollering for this raunchy, energetic musical (at least not at the show I attended). A roomful of schoolboys humping their desk chairs—not artful choreography implying subtle groin action, but full down-on-the-floor chair-fucking—deserves more than scattered, polite applause. I wanna hear whistles, okay? The crowd got into it more as the night went on, but I had the distinct impression that some people were expecting more sweet romance and not that extended masturbation scene.

Spring Awakening is the five-year-old rock musical that launched the careers of Glee's Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff and reminded people that contemporary musicals can still innovate. (The original review in the New York Times said, "Broadway may never be the same.") Based on an 1891 German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening was musicalized by playwright Steven Sater and singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik, perhaps best known before this for his 1990s single "Barely Breathing." (Which you should look up on YouTube right now, because ha-ha! The '90s!) Awakening is about teenagers and sex and repression, but Sater and Sheik kept the 1890s Germany setting, so everyone speaks formally and dresses in period costume, only to break into songs like "The Bitch of Living," "My Junk," and "Totally Fucked."

It seems to be marketed as a romance, but there's little of that. In this version at least, the leads have decent-but-not-great chemistry and a hell of a lot more horny curiosity than star-crossed love. The lovers, Melchior (Brian Earp) and Wendla (Diana Huey), go from bland conversation about charity to a little light BDSM in the forest to a center-stage sex scene with something sinister under the surface. "Oh, I'm gonna be wounded/Oh, I'm gonna be your wound/Oh, I'm gonna bruise you/Oh, you're gonna be my bruise," they sing in a precoital duet.

It's not exactly bruising. The cast is really young, quite a few of them in high school. The energy is there in an exploding, exuberant youthful joy, which is tons of fun. You can lose yourself for stretches in the sheer spectacle of big group choreography or intense individual performances (belting it out more than anyone is Jerick Hoffer, aka Jinkx Monsoon, as Moritz), but it's more difficult to wholly buy into the story. There's something a little sloppy and unpolished, especially in the transitions, like it could use another week of rehearsals—though director Erik Ankrim deserves immense credit for bringing out the completely nothing-held-back performances, as do the actors. Earp wields a magnetic power over his peers and the audience like an actual high-school cool kid, and Hoffer's crazy-eyed pain and anger is bracing—it's invigorating, then it breaks your heart, then it's a little over the top. Here's the best way to enjoy this Awakening: Get there early and hit the bar to blur those rough edges, be glad they cast some hotties (holla, Melchior!), and enjoy the balls-out (not literally, but almost) performances. And clap louder, damn it. recommended