The Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening was a launch pad for its young cast. Like Rent before them and Hamilton after, the OBC made history together and went on to have successful careers on stage and screen. In 2008, when the original cast departed, this group of teens stepped into blockbuster musical Spring Awakening and was branded "The New Class". Here is where they each are 10 years later.
Andrew Durand (Georg) & Alexandra Socha (Wendla)
These two are paired because right now they are delivering absolutely joyous performances opposite each other in the Go-Go’s new Broadway musical Head Over Heels. Andrew is LOL funny and leading man dashing as the cross-dressing Musidorus, and Alexandra is winning audiences’ hearts as the princess of the people, Philoclea. Since Spring Awakening, Andrew starred in Broadway’s War Horse and gave memorable featured turns in off-Broadway’s The Robber Bridegroom, Gigantic, and Yank!
As for Alexandra, she first returned to Broadway as Nora in the 2009 revival of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, which unfortunately closed nine performances after its opening. Then she was the original Medium Alison in the Public Theater production of the Tony-winning Best Musical Fun Home, for which she received a Lortel Award nomination. She also co-starred in Encores! Paint Your Wagon and off-Broadway’s Actually, Death Takes a Holiday, and The Dream of The Burning Boy (Drama League nom). On screen, she co-starred on TV’s Red Oaks, The Big C, and Royal Pains.
Gerard Canonico (Moritz)
Gerard stays busy! Since Spring, he appeared in Broadway’s American Idiot & Groundhog Day and off-Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen, Bare, The Talls, and Brooklynite. Right now, you can catch Gerard singing his face off as high school bad boy Rich in the hit musical Be More Chill, which transfers to Broadway in February 2019 after an extended sold-out off-Broadway run.
Caitlin Kinnunen (Thea)
The youngest of the bunch, Caitlin went on to star as Kelli O’Hara’s daughter, Carolyn, in the cult Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County. She also toured the country with Next to Normal. This fall, she leads the brand-new Broadway musical The Prom as Emma, a teen lesbian who makes national headlines when she wants to attend her prom with her girlfriend. It’s sure to be a big breakout moment for Caitlin.
Matt Doyle (Hanschen)
After making his debut, Matt has become a musical theatre mainstay. He’s starred in Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, War Horse, Bye Bye Birdie, and off-Broadway’s Sweeney Todd, A Clockwork Orange, Jasper in Deadland, and Brooklynite. He appeared on screen in TV’s Gossip Girl and the film Private Romeo. He’s released two albums and two EPs and co-authored the digital comic Dents. He is currently leading the Broadway-aimed Huey Lewis musical The Heart of Rock & Roll in San Diego.
Emma Hunton (Ilse)
Emma and her one-of-a-kind voice went on to star in Broadway’s Next to Normal, off-Broadway’s revival of Rent, the world premiere of the Disney musical Freaky Friday, and most recently off-Broadway’s The Mad Ones (video above!). She played Elphaba in the 1st National Tour of Wicked. Soon, Emma will co-star on Freeform's Fosters spinoff, Good Trouble.
Hunter Parrish (Melchior)
At the time Hunter was the cast’s most famous cast member thanks to his TV series Weeds and the film 17 Again. Since the show, he’s led the Broadway revival of Godspell and the Hollywood production of Hair. He’s had supporting roles on Amazon’s Good Girls Revolt, Fox’s The Following and ABC’s Quantico. He's also co-starred opposite Oscar winners in the films Still Alice and It’s Complicated.
Amanda Castaños (Martha)
Since her Broadway debut, Amanda appeared as Tia Lily in the Cuban musical Pedro Pan during the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival and most recently appeared on HBO’s Crashing as Julie in 2017.
Blake Daniel (Ernst)
Blake appeared in The Transport Group’s off-Broadway revival of Hello Again revival in 2011. In 2013, he had a recurring role as Colin on Wes Taylor’s series It Could Be Worse. Last year, he made his solo concert debut at Joe’s Pub singing Laura Marling songs and sharing stories from his first 10 years in NYC.
Emily Kinney (Anna)
Since Spring, Emily went on to co-star as fan fave Beth Greene on AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead. She also made memorable appearances on the TV shows Masters of Sex, Arrow, and Conviction. In 2019, she will appear as Staci Hardwick on the new Netflix series Messiah. She’s also released four albums, including 2018’s Oh Jonathan.
Gabriel Violett (Otto)
After Spring, Gabriel performed with SA OBCer Remy Zaken and was part of a six-person tenor group called the Broadway Boys. Then in 2016, Gabriel had a breakout moment as a contestant on the hit singing competition The Voice as part of Team Alicia (Keys).
Onstage Ensemble & Swings
Morgan Karr has a music career as Morgxn; Alice Lee went on to work on screen in film and TV and gained a YouTube following as Alice J; Eryn Murman writes and performs in the band 5j Barrow with her husband; Zach Reiner-Harris continues to perform regionally; Jesse Swenson went on to Broadway’s The Addams Family and then pivoted to becoming a filmmaker, writer, and producer; and Jenna Ushkowitz found TV fame as Tina Cohen-Chang on the now iconic TV series Glee (video above). She co-starred in the film adaptation of Hello Again, the Hollywood Bowl production of Hair, and Broadway’s Waitress. She hosts the podcast Epic Fail and won a Tony for producing the current revival of Once On This Island.
