Jonathan Groff On His Emotional Journey Back to Melchior for ‘Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known’ [VIDEO]

I had forgotten just how emotional the music to Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening is. I hadn’t listened to it for so many years, and it rips right through you. If I felt like that re-listening to the score, imagine what it felt like for Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff to experience the entire show nearly two decades later. For Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known, executive producer Groff is taken back to one of the most turbulent times of his entire life. It’s a beautiful documentary about how art evolves.

The documentary could’ve solely spent time reminding everyone of Spring Awakening’s rocky road to Broadway, but the film is more than a journey to the Tony Awards film. The cast spent their formative years performing sexual acts and taboo topics on stage when they themselves were at the tail end of their own coming-of-age.

Groff was closeted when he made his Broadway debut, and he brings a voice to kids who struggle with not just their sexuality but feeling insecure about playing a straight character in a love scene. If you are gay and played a love interest on stage, that one exchange in this film will resonate with you.

Groff owes so much to Melchior. It’s beautiful to watch him not only reunite with him but thank him.

Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known is streaming now on HBO Max.