‘Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known’ Gets HBO Premiere Date

HBO announced today that its feature documentary Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known, from director Michael John Warren, will debut on the premium cabler on May 3rd at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and will also be available for streaming on HBO Max.

The film picking up 15 years after the smash Broadway run of Spring Awakening watches as the original cast and creative team reunite for a spectacular, one-night only reunion concert to benefit The Actors Fund. Chronicling their whirlwind journey back to the stage, it follows the players as they reconnect and rediscover the beauty and timelessness of the hit musical, examining the show’s underdog origins, its path to Tony glory, its universal themes of teenage repression and angst, and the unconventional love story of breakout stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele.

Spring Awakening forever changed the lives of its mostly unknown teenage cast and inspired a generation of fans by laying bare taboo issues of teen love, abortion, abuse, sexual identity and suicide in an unapologetic, edgy rock musical set in the 1890s. The doc pulls back the curtain to showcase the reunited original cast and creative team at rehearsals, in their homes and backstage, and features performances from the reunion concert in November 2021, as well as newly filmed interviews, candid archival video and photographs, and performance footage from the original 2006 show that went on to sweep the Tonys, winning eight awards, including Best Musical.

Featured participants include cast members Groff, Michele, John Gallagher Jr., Lauren Pritchard, Lilli Cooper, Skylar Astin, Gerard Canonico, Jennifer Damiano, Christine Estabrook, Gideon Glick, Robert Hager, Brian C. Johnson, Krysta Rodriguez, Stephen Spinella, Phoebe Strole, Jonathan B Wright and Remy Zaken; original Broadway director Michael Mayer; lyricist and playwright Steven Sater; score composer Duncan Sheik; and lead producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman.

Dave Sirulnick and Meredith Bennett produced the film for RadicalMedia (HBO’s David Byrne’s American Utopia), with Groff, Jon Kamen, Jonathan Meyers and Warren exec producing, and Pritchard serving as co-producer. Sara Rodriguez served as senior producer for HBO, with Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller also aboard as EPs.