Following a critically acclaimed premiere Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2006, Spring Awakening arrived on Broadway Nov. 16, 2006, and officially opened Dec. 10. As of its final performance, the new musical will have played 859 performances and 29 previews on Broadway.

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik penned the score to the musical with book and lyrics by Steven Sater. The duo earned Tony Awards for their musical, which allowed the repressed teens of Wedekind's work to break free from life in a series of explosive rock songs performed directly to the audience.

Playbill.com spoke with Tony-winning book writer and lyricist Sater about the conclusion of the Broadway run. "Spring Awakening has been a dream come true and part of that dream now is ending," Sater said. "And it's heartbreaking for those of us involved, who dreamed the dream all those years. That said, it's been remarkable to see how many people have been touched and affected by the show."

He added, "At the beginning of the process, which was 1999, I made this determination with Duncan that we would touch the troubled part of youth around the world. I think we never could have imagined that we would do just that in such a way. The response of young people and young audiences everywhere has been phenomenal."

In addition to winning the 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical, Spring Awakening earned eight Tony Awards, including honors for director Michael Mayer, choreographer Bill T. Jones, Duncan Sheik (Best Score and Orchestrations), Steven Sater (Best Book and Best Score), lighting designer Kevin Adams and actor John Gallagher Jr., who earned Best Featured Actor in a Musical for originating the role of the ill-fated Moritz. The original company also featured Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele. The Broadway production of Spring Awakening currently stars Gerard Canonico as Moritz, Hunter Parrish as Melchior and Alexandra Socha as Wendla with Blake Daniel (Ernst), Emma Hunton (Ilse), Matt Doyle (Hanschen), Andrew Durand (Georg), Amanda Castaños (Martha), Gabriel Violett (Otto), Emily Kinney (Anna), Caitlin Kinnunen (Thea), Christine Estabrook (Adult Women), Glenn Fleshler (Adult Men), Zach Reiner-Harris, Morgan Karr, Alice Lee, Eryn Murman, Jesse Swenson and Jenna Ushkowitz with understudies Tony Carlin and Frances Mercanti-Anthony.

In addition to the current U.S. national tour, international productions of Spring Awakening are planned for London, Vienna, Toronto, Helsinki, Seoul and the Philippines for 2009.

<p songs="" featured="" in="" the="" tony-winning="" score="" are="" all="" that's="" known,"="" and="" then="" there="" were="" none,"="" blue="" wind="" don't="" do="" sadness,"="" left="" behind,"="" mamma="" who="" bore="" me,"="" my="" junk,="" bitch="" of="" living,"="" dark="" i="" know="" well,"="" guilty="" ones,"="" song="" purple="" summer,"="" word="" your="" body,"="" those="" you've="" totally="" fucked,"="" touch="" whispering"="" mirror-blue="" night."=""></p><p> For further information visit www.springawakening.com.</p><p></p>