Riverdale Rewind: What should season three’s musical be?

2. Spring Awakening

Riverdale is well-known and well-liked, for the most part, because it’s dark and edgy. If there were ever a musical to match that tone, it’s Spring Awakening. There is no other show about teenagers that is as brutally raw or honest.

Furthermore, season three will apparently focus on actual school-related topics. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Aguirre-Sacasa spoke about that narrative decision at SDCC.

"“It’s junior year, it’s the first time they’re thinking of college and we’re going to try to infuse this season with a lot more high school stuff. We’re going to talk about the SATs, applying to colleges, advisers, extracurriculars, etc.”"

Presumably, the show will explore also the anxiety that students experience during the process of applying to college. Though it’s set in the nineteenth century, one of Spring Awakening‘s major themes is the destructive pressure to succeed academically that parents put on their kids.

I could definitely see Penelope Blossom (Nathalie Boltt) and Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) being those kinds of parents. (I know Cheryl is emancipated now, but I doubt she will be entirely free of her mother’s influence.) And I’d be surprised if Betty (Lili Reinhart) doesn’t put extreme academic pressure on herself, even if Alice (Mädchen Amick) doesn’t.

Spring Awakening would fit in perfectly with an arc about that anxiety and pressure. Another prominent theme of musical is teen sexuality, a topic from which Riverdale also does not shy away. In these ways, a Spring Awakening adaptation would likely be appreciated by and relatable to Riverdale‘s target audience.

It is important to underscore exactly how dark Spring Awakening is, though. I’m not saying Riverdale shouldn’t adapt it, only that the producers would need to do so carefully. They tend to sensationalize murder. They absolutely cannot approach physical and sexual abuse and assault as well as suicide, all of which are depicted in Spring Awakening, the same way.

Riverdale has actually already depicted sexual assault, attempted suicide and emotional and physical abuse in Cheryl’s (Madelaine Petsch) storylines. However, the depictions could be seen as sensationalistic to an extent, and the aftermath of the trauma has unquestionably only been explored rather shallowly.

Riverdale would have a chance to bring important issues to the forefront with Spring Awakening, but it would need to do it right.

Spring Awakening was most recently adapted for television earlier this year on NBC’s high school drama Rise, which has since been cancelled.