How To Make A Musical For The Deaf 

I'm not the only one who thinks they're all attractive, am I? And participating in something like this (as both a deaf or a hearing person) makes them even more attractive...

I'm so glad musicals and Broadway are making a journey into pop culture without being considered "lame" or "dorky" or "gay."

They deserved a Tony... no offence to Hamilton tho, it's awesome, but seriously, it's a deaf version of Spring Awakening, they deserved a recognition for the choreography at least ._.

spring awakening is my favorite musical and the fact that its being re-done to cater to deaf people makes me so incredibly happy

Spring awakening is such a good musical too 👌🏼

I wish they had spoken with the director, Michael Arden, about this genius idea. This production was so artfully done and he really deserves a ton of credit for bringing it to audiences.

Finally, a BuzzFeed video I actually care about! I hope it gets more attention to Spring Awakening when people watch this, because it's one of my favorite musicals.

No one will understand how much I love Spring Awakening, it's completely ridiculous how much I love it.

daniel durant and alex boniello are two very different types of attractive and I think it's beautiful that this production of spring awakening gave people with wildly different tastes the same opportunity to get a crush on moritz

I wish it was compulsory for every school in the word to teach sign language because then, regardless of what language you speak or if you are deaf, everyone will be able to talk to one another. It would be amazing.

a video about Deaf people and no captions?

I've always wondered how the deaf could appreciate musicals. This kind of fulfilled that curiosity. Thanks Buzzfeed.

Andy Mientus

WHY ARE JOSH AND ANDY SO INCREDIBLY ADORABLE

Argh people in the comments - get your facts straight!! Sign language is NOT universal, it is different in every country and some countries even have more than one sign language. Also sign language isn't based on the spoken language of a certain country. So for an example the sign order is usually different from the word order of a certain language. Deaf people CAN speak if they are willing to practice, but many of them don't want to learn it, which is understandable since sign language is their natural language. Sign language isn't just some kind of language aid that some one has come up with to help deaf people. Sign languages are completely natural languages that have developed by themselves in the deaf communities around the world.

The deaf west production of spring awakening is actually what has inspired to learn sign language!

Having seen the broadway, first national, second national and regional productions of Spring Awakening, I have to say that the Deaf West's version by far the best version I've seen of the show. I've been a die hard "Guilty One" (SA Fan), of the show and casts. This adaptation however brings a whole different element to not just the story-telling process, but the actual story of miscommunication, angst, and just wanting to be heard. Bravo to this production and so glad to see it highlighted on such a notable pop-culture based medium such as Buzzed.

Did you see Moritz reach for the gun at the end? 😭

deaf people look like the most fun people ever, because of how much emotion they put into their face because they use their movements

During the signing parts, I just turned the volume off because I could understand them, as I speak ASL almost daily to my parents.

First we saw a blind guy flying an airplane and now we see a deaf guy doing something that a person has all senses can do... We live in an amazing era!

SOBBING REPEATEDLY OVER THE FACT I SAW THIS

I myself am hearing impaired. I was born deaf and my mom didn't find out until I was two years old. Right now I'm thirteen and throughout the years, my mom has fought to keep me happy. When I was about six or seven, a school I was going to kept trying to get me to learn sign language and my mom didn't want that. Thinking about that back then, I wanted to be able to use my voice rather than my hands to speak. Of course I hated being deaf and I still do, as it makes me wish I wasn't, but either way that's who I am so I can't change that about myself. Since I'm hearing impaired, I can hear a little. Some of my friends are jealous of me because I can just take my hearing aids out whenever it's storming or there's something I don't want to hear. I can kind of hear the storms even with my hearing aids off, but that depends on how loud it is. This video made me happy.

YES YES YES DEAF WEST SPRING AWAKENING IS THE BEST THING EVER YES YES YES

I think buzzfeed should do Deaf culture and what's okay to do and not okay to do( I'm in asl and its surprising how hearing people don't know what's okay to do ) :3

2:57 this guy's signing actually hypnotized me its so fluid and artistic

Fresh 2 deaf.

Does Daniel Durant play Matthew from Switched at Birth? He looks so much like him.

OH MY GOD SPRING AWAKENNG *fangirling*

Fuckn sick as h*ck

Wow this vid is indescribable, it's just magical.

As a hearing person highly invested in sign language and deaf culture, I was extremely excited to see that Buzzfeed posted this.

Wow he's cute. Time to learn ASL

YASSSS switched at brith

I had no idea this was a thing. I'm learning ASL and have an obsession with musicals. Hell yeah

**takes deep breath** AAAAAAAAAAALL THIIIIIIIIINGS AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL THIIIIIINGS plz don't kill me

It makes me really happy to see people opening up to the deaf community. I have 2 deaf parents and signing to them is a daily thing. It's so beautiful to see others realize that it's not as hard or as separated from english as you might think.

I totally used to be roommates with Daniel Durant up in LA. I wonder if he remembers me.

I love how Keith´s voice matches perfectly with the expressions of the guy

Daniel's facial expressions kill me. I love how expressive people who communicate through sign are with their face.

jfc that spoiler at the end lol

I think it's truly amazing that the Deaf community has been able to be apart of this and how hearing people have made this musical accessible for the Deaf. It's also raising awareness to the hearing world about Deaf culture

My mom is deaf, and whenever she comes to see me perform in a musical or play, I'm always bummed because she has to focus more on the script we give her to follow along rather than our hard work on stage. So this is an awesome and beautiful opportunity for people like my mom. I wish there would be a way for her to see something like this in our hometown.

this is everything I love in one video and musical especially Andy mientus

"I love music, it's really been wonderful" I hope you could really hear music.. it's more than wonderful :)

Isn't that guy from Switched At Birth?

THIS IS MY FAVORITE MUSICAL OF ALL TIME AND THE DW VERSION IS MY FAVORITE VERSION. I didn't know this interview was a thing; I love all the artists in this whole thing, Andy & Alex in particular also Michael is such a genius for putting it together.

FABULOUS production! Seamless interaction between deaf & hearing performers--the signing is beautiful & musical, & the choreography/staging is perfect. Really happy I got to see it in L.A.; New Yorkers are so lucky that it's heading East!

sign language is just so beautiful.

It annoys me that a lot of people think of the deaf community as disabled or handicapped. Doesn't make any sense to me, since they can do almost anything a hearing person can, like driving, reading, writing and sometimes talking. They just can't hear, that's all. I wish a lot more people were involved with the deaf community and knew sign language, it's a pretty cool language to learn.

I love Spring Awakening so much!!! I haven’t seen this version though

Incredible. I always knew Spring Awakening was stunning (it's probably my favorite), but you guys have changed it and have made it even more accessible and relatable. In doing that, you have also made it more beautiful. Fantastic. Well done.

For once buzzfeed makes a video that i actually want to see

Is that fucking Keith translating the esl?

This was the most moving piece of theater that I've ever seen. It added a whole new level of emotion to the already beautiful Spring Awakening! Amazing!

Ive seen this play twice and everytime i loose myself in it. As a student of ASL and a human being in general, i feel everyone should see this play . It is amazing, beyond amazing . I cry and laugh and enjoy it everytime. Thanks for this video buzzfeed 👏🏾

I would _love_ to do something like this, I want to become fluent in ASL so I can try to become part of a group like this. I've always loved theater and I've been interested in signing since I was really little, I'm finally going to have the chance to take a class for both in the spring and it would be awesome to incorporate both into my future somehow.

This was such a great production!

THIS IS AMAZING! Spring Awakening is one of my favorite musicals. It's amazing that they've brought this to the deaf and the production seems like it would be beautiful

I've been so stoked to see this musical come to back broadway and to start getting all the attention that the new version deserves. It's so awesome to see that all their hard work is going to pay off

OH MY GOODNESS HOW WAS I NOT AWARE THAT BUZZFEED HAD DONE THIS

Lol Keith was his interpreter(?) (i mean he wasn't the one signing what the other actor was saying, but he was his voice..)

OMG when I saw this I was so happy, Spring Awakening is one of my all time favorite musicals ever and to see it brought to the deaf community makes me so happy and also adds so much more depth and emotion to the show, I hope to see it and others like it in the future!

This is a really incredible way of giving a larger range of people the opportunity to act and perform! Plus this is one of my absolute favourite musicals so it's really awesome to see some background on this version!

I didnt know Alex voices Moritz in this!!!!! I saw him in dear evan hansen! He was fantastic! But I didnt know that!!!!

Anyone else watch switched at birth!? :D

Absolutely beautiful. It's amazing to see things like this happening. Never limit yourself to what you've been told you can or cannot do.

Moritz' hearing actor giving him the gun at the end is such a cool artistic choice. This production deserved so many more awards

ALEX BONIELLO

ok tho but did they legally took that bootleg in the start LMAOOOO

One of my absolute favorite musicals to this day. This version, not even the original. It’s so good.

I'm SO excited for this. Love Spring Awakening. This is a really awesome twist to it.

Hey the guy at 0:30 is from Switched at Birth :P

This is cool...... I like tacos

This is the video that peaked my interest and made me fall in love with Deaf West's Spring Awakening and its cast so thank you.

This is amazing. I feel so overwhelmed by their hard work and how they brought up the idea to make it come true!

Please don't get offended but can't deaf people talk?

Like you're alive , comment if you're dead

The passion in that guy's eyes is amazingly inspirational.

My favorite musical, my favorite actor in the musical (Andy Mientus), and deaf theater, which has been beautiful the few times I've had the privilege of witnessing it. I am so excited for Spring Awakening to be coming back and reaching new audiences!

Deaf people facial expressions give me life tbh

I wonder if they use the vibrations from the drums and bass to help the actors

I saw this production of Spring Awakening in LA and oh my gosh it was one of the most beautiful shows I've ever seen

Truly wonderful!! Mixing the cultures, breaking down barriers is what truly being human is about, hearing or deaf. Love love love! Smiles!

Andy, austin, josh, miles, sean, krysta, ali, kathryn and lauren are all reasons I'm bi

thats bitchin :D

i love that whole cast so much oml this is what i wanna see from buzzfeed

I love this so much. My sister's fiance is deaf and I love to do musicals and perform. He's never been able to see me or any musical because he can't follow along. This makes me so happy to see and I hope in the future we all will see more productions like this for him to enjoy like we all do :)

Hello Everyone

That guy from the beggining.... isn't Andy Mientus?

wow this is literally the best thing ever. I love Spring Awakening so to know of it to be performed this way is so awesome. kudos to all who participate in doing things like this!!! wish I could see it live!

I love it how they also express their motions dramatically its so cool to watch

176 dislikes? wtf is wrong with this generation??

What I if told you That you read that wrong

My dad is deaf, and when I showed this to him it made his day because people a actually willing to incorporate the Deaf and hearing to make music. I think that this is wonderful! We can't see it though because we are to far away :( , but keep doing what you guys are doing, and you will please many people

I got to see this show for my sign language class. It was so incredible. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen.

At 1:30 and on, is Daniel looking at someone signing behind the camera???

OMG DANIEL DURANT!!!! I LOVE SAB! But his character was so cruel!!! So thumbs down on the character but thumbs up on the acting!

I think this is amazing. I'm a drama student and it opens your eyes to a different side of theatre that you simply don't hear enough about. Absolutely amazing

can't even say how happy this makes me spring awakening is one of my favorite musicals and I love ASL and have studied it for a few years now this is amazing!