“For me with Wendla, it's just always been about her curiosity,” said Ashlyn Maddox, who played Monteen in the Broadway revival of Parade. “That's my way into her, and that doesn't always mean [she’s] naive, necessarily. She can be like a little gremlin sometimes, wanting these answers.”

First Spring Awakening memory: It was the cast album. So many people get introduced to the show through its incredible music, and I found it in high school. It just blew my mind. I got addicted to “My Junk.” It was on repeat, so now to be doing it is just a dream.

Formative musical: Bring It On

Advice they wish they got as a teen: I wish someone had told me to sleep more. In high school, I worked so hard. I was in AP classes and extracurriculars and loading my schedule to make the college application look good. I slept four to six hours a night. Then I got to college and I was like, “What was that for?” It's not that deep; get some sleep.

Totally f*cked?: I was well into the run of Parade. There's a scene where the three factory girls 'fess up, get caught in their lies. Monteen has to trip on her words and spill the beans that they were coached by Mr. Dorsey. Instead of "Mr. Dorsey" — one of my very few lines in the play, mind you — I said "Mr. Frank," which changes the entire plot. Somehow I pretended I misspoke, I got out the actual line, and the play went on.

“Melchior is rebellious. He’s revolutionary. He has so many big ideas. I see that in myself,” said Tyler Jordan Wesley, who’s starred in The Outsiders's national tour. “Being able to lock into this dreamer/idealistic philosopher thing Melchior has going on is really cool.”

First Spring Awakening memory: I got into the television show Rise, which was a show about a high school putting on a production of Spring Awakening and the town's reaction to what that meant.

Formative musical: Hairspray and Dreamgirls

Advice they wish they got as a teen: There’s no such thing as the right answer. I get asked a lot from young artists, "What college should I go to?" "How did you do this in the audition room?" It is so much more inhibiting to try to aim for right than to just be and do and trust that God, the universe, will take you to where you need to be. Just keep moving forward.

Totally f*cked?: [On] The Outsiders tour, in the church scene, somebody in the audience sneezed. I was laughing for a good minute on stage through my lines, through a very unfunny part of the show. Anybody in that audience, I'm so sorry. I did think I was going to get fired walking off that stage, but I didn't.

“I was 10 minutes late to rehearsal today. I was able to say this is all for character study because Moritz is like that,” said Ryo Kamibayashi, whose Broadway credits include The Outsiders, Oh, Mary!, and Pirates! The Penzance Musical. “He gives me permission to be who I am and say 'screw the system' in a really cool way.”

First Spring Awakening memory: I grew up in Japan, and [...] there was a production. I thought it was a Shakespeare piece, so I didn’t go. And then I got to audition, and that’s when I started learning that Spring Awakening is actually not Shakespeare. Then I became a huge fan.

Formative musical: The Sound of Music

Advice they wish they got as a teen: You don't have to be so hard on yourself as a kid. I grew up trying to live up to the high standard. Focus on what your soul desires.

Totally f*cked?: In a production of Damn Yankees [...] we all had [character] last names that are attached to [our uniform]. Mine was Yamasaki, which is very Japanese, and then another character's was a very Russian last name. One day I accidentally wore his uniform [and he wore mine]. I just embraced it.

“Ilse's a little fighter. She's also a little gremlin, and all of these girls are really fighting and yearning so openly and fiercely,” said Amalia Yoo, a Drama Desk Award winner for Broadway's John Proctor is the Villain. “It's really affecting my day-to-day life to get to inhabit her every single day. She just persists and stays hopeful despite everything in her life telling her the opposite. That's really special.”

First Spring Awakening memory: The Tonys performance [by] Jonathan Groff and John Gallagher, Jr. and all the women. It's so iconic. I can't believe that now we're part of this legacy.

Formative musical: Hair

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Everyone around me was feeling the same way that I was, and all the shameful, secretive things I felt, all those icky things were being felt by everyone. I didn't realize everyone else was also in their head. Every girl and boy was as insecure as I was, and I had no idea.

Totally f*cked?: I did John Proctor Is the Villain last summer and walked on so early for a transition. Gabriel Ebert, Molly Griggs, and Sadie Sink were on stage, and I walked on with my backpack on, so confident, ready to do the transition. Gabe made eye contact with me, and my stomach dropped.

“I'm latching on to Martha's light,” said Khadija Sankoh, who has appeared off Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors. “How she carries herself, what she brings to the table, [...] everything she goes through — I'm focusing on the light inside her.”

First Spring Awakening memory: Oh my god, it was Glee. I don't know why I'm ashamed. I can be a Gleek!

Formative musical: Once on This Island

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Someone told me to protect my peace and protect my energy. I had no idea what that meant for the longest time. But as I go into new phases of my life, it's important to protect your inner child, protect how much you give to the world.

Totally f*cked?: For this show, my audition slot was 9 o'clock in the morning. I had to sing "Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)." I was not fully warmed up. I left that audition room, I called my manager, [and] I was like, "Hey, I kind of bombed that.” But luckily, it worked out.

“Hanschen has a really big confidence about him,” said Antonio Porciello, who was cast through Spring Awakening's open-call auditions. “Danya told me that when I walked into the room, I had some sort of swagger, and I was like, 'Wait, really?' I don't feel like I have swagger, but I guess I do. I didn't know that about myself."

First Spring Awakening memory: I watched this TV show called Rise. I was obsessed with it. I didn't really have a connection to the album like everyone had, but I had a connection to the music in the TV show.

Formative musical: Hadestown, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George

Advice they wish they got as a teen: As a teenager, it's hard to ask for help. You feel like you can deal with it on your own. I wish someone told me, "You could come to me with anything you need."

Totally f*cked?: It was my freshman year [of high school], and we were doing a show. I auditioned and I was super excited about it. I got a callback, but I was so nervous about it, and I didn't end up going to the callback. But then I ended up getting cast.

“Ernst is a character that really perceives and watches,” said Leif Coomer, who's making his Off-Broadway debut in the role. “He waits to see what everyone else does. I've learned to be the one to step out first, but I enjoy playing someone who I relate to in that way.”

First Spring Awakening memory: I had no idea about it. I learned about the audition announcement and I sent in a tape.

Formative musical: Hadestown and In the Heights

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Install some methods [for] organization of script and tracks. Though I’m not understudying anyone in this show, I have before many times. Navigating that the hard way is kind of rough.

Totally f*cked?: I was 7 years old auditioning for The Little Mermaid, and halfway through my song, I messed up. I broke down in the corner for about a few minutes until the director cleared everyone out of the room and brought me back out. Then I got [the role of] Flounder.

“I play Thea, but I keep saying I resonate with adolescence in all of us,” said Jada Simone Clark, who’s been on Broadway in Cabaret and Moulin Rouge! The Musical. “We’re all just playing off one another.”

First Spring Awakening memory: I always feel guilty that I didn’t grow up with the music. As soon as I knew I wanted to audition, I binged the whole album every second I could. It feels so a part of me now, and I'm so excited.

Formative musical: The Lion King

Advice they wish they got as a teen: This is advice I actually did get, but I love it: Your emotions are real. My mom would always tell me that, and even if she couldn't handle them, she taught me they were real.

Totally f-cked?: I did an audition once, and I just felt so anxious. I sang one octave higher than the song. I'm not a soprano. I literally hit that first note, not in my range, and had to sing the whole song as the soprano.

“I’m learning a lot about Georg, but I feel like I see a lot of anxiety in him,” said Jack Bateman, another actor discovered in Spring Awakening's open call. “I’m really trying to find a contrast between where Georg feels the angst and the want of his piano teacher, and the beauty his friends bring.”

First Spring Awakening memory: I was coming back from my first day of rehearsal for Rent. At that time, I really hadn't heard of it. I went to Wikipedia to get the world's view on Rent, and in the similar searches, I clicked on Spring Awakening. The first video that popped up is the OBC [original Broadway cast] doing “The Bitch of Living” for a music video. Changed my life.

Formative musical: West Side Story

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Do what you love. At a young age, I felt that I had to be so many different things to fit into societal standards. I found I loved to be on stage and performing. If you know you love it, you know you're good at it, just go do it.

Totally f-cked?: I was going to sing “Maria” from West Side Story for multiple [college] auditions with the aim of singing a high B flat. Sometimes it went well; sometimes it didn't go well. Thank god I'm not going to college!

“I resonate with how Anna always strives to [...] be truthful and honest in all moments, even the hard ones,” said Grace Slear, whose Broadway credits include Jagged Little Pill, The Queen of Versailles, and The Lost Boys.

First Spring Awakening memory: In high school, we had a musical theatre class, and our ensemble number was “The Song of Purple Summer.” I remember working on it and it exposing me to this new form of musical theatre [in] a different genre that pierced straight through my soul.

Formative musical: Once

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Be gentle with yourself. You don't know everything, and that's okay.

Totally f*cked?: I threw up in a college audition. I kept dancing. I go to the singing thing, and they're like, "You threw up." I was like, "Yes, I did." I got into the school.

“I resonate with Otto's full-bodied, 100% commitment to all that he does, and with how he relishes in his youth,” said Nando Morland, who’s been on Broadway in Wicked, West Side Story, and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’.

First Spring Awakening memory: I went to an arts high school. I was not in the theatre department, but they did a production of it.

Formative musical: The Lion King and Billy Elliot

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Your timing is perfect. You are in step with the universe. You are doing the right thing. You have not missed the boat.

Totally f*cked?: I was dancing [at] a final callback. I crashed into the mirror once. They said, "Are you okay?" I was like, "I'm fine. Sorry about that." And then I crashed into the mirror again. No one said anything. You can crash into things. You'll be fine.

George Abud and Lilli Cooper, as Spring Awakening's adults, want to find the similarities between themselves and the teen characters they're, in many ways, distanced from. “We're the youngest people to play these roles,” said Abud, who’s been on Broadway in The Visit, The Band’s Visit, and Lempicka. “It's been very special to find the meaning of that and the connection of our own youthfulness."

First Spring Awakening memory: When I was in high school and into college, I was terrified of it. It was very raw and real. It's wild to see these young actors that were our ages experiencing it for the first time and hearing how they perceive it.

Formative musical: Director John Doyle’s Sweeney Todd revival

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Breathe, don't rush, and let things go. A lot of things are not that serious.

Totally f*cked?: [At] one of my earliest auditions, for a show I won't name, I had to do a Shakespeare speech. I just came from playing a Shakespeare part, and I loved Shakespeare. And I just forgot the freaking monologue. I just could not remember this monologue. And the guys across the table just looked at me like I had no business acting.

“There's no way I'm old enough,” Tootsie Tony nominee Lilli Cooper thought when she was asked to join this Spring Awakening revival 20 years after making her Broadway debut in the 2006 premiere. “I'm currently existing in two realities. I'm existing in my memory and my experience 20 years ago, and I'm in the room today, taking the show in and learning it in a new way.”

First Spring Awakening memory: This is a little-known fact: My very first experience was my audition for the workshop before Off-Broadway. I actually got cast in the role of Anna before I played Martha.

Formative musical: Wicked and Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party

Advice they wish they got as a teen: Patience. Practice patience and gratitude.

Totally f*cked?: I forgot the lyrics to “Defying Gravity” [from Wicked] once. That was pretty bad. Although I pulled it off well enough that the other cast members didn't even realize. My gibberish sounded pretty believable.

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Gillian Russo contributed reporting for this story.