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Spring Awakening <\/i>catapulted stars Lea Michele<\/strong><\/a>, Jonathan Groff<\/strong><\/a> and Skylar Astin<\/strong><\/a> to fame when it hit Broadway in 2006 \u2014 and created an original musical that inspired a generation.<\/p>\n \u201cI just learned that Dan<\/strong> [Radcliffe<\/strong>\u2018s Merrily We Roll Along<\/em>] understudy, Coby<\/strong> [Getzug<\/strong>], came to see Spring Awakening<\/em> when we were on Broadway when he was 16. Now we\u2019re on Broadway together,\u201d Groff, who made his Broadway debut<\/a> in the show at age 21, exclusively told Us Weekly<\/em> in June 2024. \u201cI was just talking to him about the documentary. It\u2019s incredible. Yeah, theater really saved me. Looking back, I didn\u2019t realize it was saving me \u2026 I was so compartmentalized and so closeted that I didn\u2019t realize at the time what a lifeline getting to sing and dance and emote and cry and be joyful at all of that was when I was that age.\u201d<\/p>\n Spring Awakening was inspired by Frank Wedekind\u2019s 1891 play of the same name. Nearly a century later, Duncan Sheik<\/strong> and Steven Sater<\/strong> came together to pen the music, book and lyrics. The show follows a group of 19th century German teenagers as they discover their sexuality. Michele and Groff, who became BFFs<\/a> during the Broadway run, played leads Wendla Bergmann and Melchior Gabor, respectively.<\/p>\n Spring Awakening was eventually revived on Broadway in 2015 by Deaf West Theatre Company, integrating American Sign Language (ASL) into the choreography.<\/p>\n