If you've never heard of or seen the musical "Spring Awakening," you are missing out on important wisdom. The musical came out in 2006 and is a rock musical. The music was written by Duncan Shiek, and the book and lyrics were written by Steven Sater. The musical takes place in 19th century Germany and follows the main characters Wendla Bergman, Melchior Gabor and their friends and families.

This show has impacted my life in so many ways, and I fully believe it's under-appreciated. The main plot is about how Wendla is becoming an aunt for the second time and still does not understand where human life comes from. Her mother shelters her and cannot bring herself to tell Wendla the truth. On the other hand, Melchior is fully aware of all the aspects of human life and because of this, his teachers are angry with him being an atheist. Melchior's best friend, Moritz Stiefel, cannot concentrate on his schoolwork because he keeps having fantasies that he cannot explain. He studies so hard but does not get promoted to the higher class. In turn, his parents are so angry with him he ends up killing himself. Meanwhile, two of Wendla's friends are being beaten and raped by their fathers, and the mothers are teaching them that's how men love. They share this information with Wendla, who then becomes curious about being beaten and also sex. Melchior is willing to help and since Wendla is under the impression that "rape is how men love" and she is not aware that sex leads to children, she lets Melchior rape her. She eventually becomes pregnant and then dies during her abortion.

This show at the surface may seem really dense but the music brings it to life. The whole show captures how society shelters people and thinking away from the norm is frowned upon. Society puts so much pressure on people to be perfect that they end up falling apart. My favorite quote from the show is in a song called "All That's Known"—"Thought is suspect, money is their idol and nothing is OK unless it's scripted in their Bible." I think that it captures how many churches corrupt the minds of society into not being able to think outside of the norm.

This show has so many lessons and themes that people can really take away and think about. I recently had the opportunity to see the show live at a community theater and being there in the same environment brought a whole new feeling to the show. I often re-watch it on YouTube when I can, and I listen to the beautiful soundtrack all the time. This show makes you really think about what is important and teaches people they cannot live a sheltered life because it only does harm. I highly reccomend this show to anyone because it really is under-appreciated.