Spring Awakening
Directed by Michael Arden
“The adult roles, a collection of fearful and oppressive types, are deftly juggled by Camryn Manheim, Marlee Matlin and Patrick Page. Page’s unmistakably deep, textured bass, applied to characters ranging from a monstrous schoolteacher to a misguided father, reinforces how powerful an instrument the voice is for a performer”
“Mr. Arden’s cast also includes a few notable names: the Oscar winner Marlee Matlin and Camryn Manheim share the half-dozen adult female roles, and Patrick Page portrays many of the stern male authority figures, alongside Russell Harvard. All are terrific.”
“It ranks among the most emotionally charged renderings of a musical to come to Broadway in the past decade, one that all who love the genre should rush to see... This revival features, among other familiar names, Russell Harvard of ‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘Tribes,’ Marlee Matlin of ‘Children of a Lesser God’ and the blessedly ubiquitous Patrick Page, whose solid-gold bass voice is so rich-sounding that you wonder why they bothered to mike him.”
“Best of all, though, are Emmy winner Camryn Manheim and Patrick Page, who seamlessly segue from toughness to tenderness in a variety of adult roles.”
“All four adult performers— a group that includes the sonorous-voiced Patrick Page and the excellent deaf actor Russell Harvard–bring authority, welcome notes of caustic humor, and fully-formed stage presence.”
“No one foreshadows that more than Patrick Page, who serves as one of four actors playing all the adults (the other three are the kindly Marlee Matlin, the terrifying Russell Harvard, and the hilarious Camryn Manheim). Page embodies the cruelty of the hearing world, regularly shouting at the deaf characters as if that will make them hear him. When he forces Moritz to recite Latin using his voice we are reminded of the ugly legacy of oralism (a form of deaf education that eschewed ASL in favor of speech and lip-reading). As if there were any doubt, this performance solidifies Page’s reputation as Broadway’s foremost portrayer of villains.”
“The overly strict adults are played pitch perfectly by Camryn Manheim, Marlee Matlin, Patrick Page and Russell Harvard.”
“The show has been spiked for Broadway with some star-fire from the casting of Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, Patrick Page, Camryn Manheim and Krysta Rodriguez.”
“Patrick Page is a fine character actor who won awards as the “Green Goblin” in Spider Man on Broadway, also made a super Baron de Guiche in the last revival of Cyrano de Bergerac, He is always welcome as he brightens any season in which he appears.”
