Jonathan Groff appeared on the April 5 broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to chat about the upcoming HBO documentary Spring Awakening: Those You've Known.
HBO's documentary about the Spring Awakening reunion concert, held in November 2021 to benefit The Actors Fund, will premiere May 3 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
Groff tells Fallon, "We came together and we performed the show, and it was so emotional, and it meant so much to all of us and to the audience as well.… [The documentary explores] the legacy of Spring Awakening, how it changed all of our lives, just the way that theatre can change people's lives, particularly the lives of young people."
The stage and screen star also discussed how he wasn't out of the closet when he was doing the show, living what he called a compartmentalized life. "We all weren't quite who we were yet…Every single person in the show, as we all do, in our late teens and early '20s, has that story of the thing that made you become who you are, and for all of us in the company it was Spring Awakening," Groff explains.
Watch the complete interview above, which also features a sneak peek at the HBO documentary and Groff and Fallon rocking out to the Spring Awakening tune "Totally Fucked"
The entire original cast took part in the Spring Awakening concert, with Groff, Lauren Pritchard, Lea Michele, Skylar Astin, John Gallagher, Jr., Gerard Canonico, Lilli Cooper, Jennifer Damiano, Christine Estabrook, Gideon Glick, Robert Hager, Brian Charles Johnson, Krysta Rodriguez, Stephen Spinella, Phoebe Strole, Jonathan B. Wright, and Remy Zaken all reuniting. Original director Michael Mayer helmed the concert.
The HBO Documentary Films presentation also features Spring Awakening lyricist and playwright Steven Sater, composer Duncan Sheik, and lead producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman.
