Spring Awakening/Tear Jerker

• "Those You've Known," "Left Behind," "And Then There Were None," and "Whispering" from Spring Awakening
• Moritz's monologue after "Don't Do Sadness" is what does it for me. I could barely enjoy "Totally Fucked" when I first saw it because I was still crying.

"So, what will I say? I'll tell them all - the angels - I got drunk in the snow, and sang, and played pirates... Yes, I'll tell them, I'm ready now. I'll be an angel."

• "There are those who still know, they're still home. We're still home..."
• "You watch me, just watch me. I'm calling, I'm calling. And one day all will know..."
  • "You watch me, just watch me. I'm calling... from longing."
• This troper didn't care for the show at all the first time she heard it... until reaching both the German and English versions of "The Dark I Know Well". God-fucking-dammit.
  • Martha and Ilse clinging to each other in pretty much every version, and the various ways the song has been staged since then (including one in Vienna where Ilse helps Martha symbolically stab a pillow and it bleeds.
  • "Ilse! Ilse! Story time!"
  • Martha and Ilse's actresses frequently get contacted from fans who suffered abuse, and too many people seem thankful that it captures helpless/embittered rage instead of sadness or fear.
• In the original play:
  • The Masked Man last words to the protagonists, "To you [Melchior] the doubt about everything, to you [Moritz's ghost] the certainty about nothing."
  • Although Moritz already brought his eternal inevitability, Melchior gives Moritz some meaning in Moritz's life after all. Melchior tells him "no matter if my personality was to change a hundred times, you will probably be [my closest friend]" Melchior walks off with the Stranger leaving Moritz behind. Moritz is saddened to rest in eternal rot but realizes that he can rest, straighten his grave with dignity, and sleep with a smile on his face.
  • (Also in the Roundabout workshop production, though I don't know about the show proper): Wendla's discussion with her mother about her childish dress. Some of her innocent remarks have grave overtones if you know how the rest of the show goes. It quickly disabused this troper of the notion that Wendla was simply a stupid girl who (holy victim-blaming, Batman!) deserved what she got.
• The reprise of "The word of your body". While the two boys are kissing each other is incredibly sweet considering all the dreary stuff going on at the same time, all of the chorus standing around them singing "You're gonna be wounded" gives the dark implication that their lives are not going to be easy in the future.
• Really depends on how the cast pulls it off.
  • Herr Stiefel breaking down and sobbing at Moritz' grave after Melchior touches him. Especially when you consider how stoic and cold he has been for the whole play.
  • How about Moritz's last monologue before he commits suicide? "Yes, I'll tell them, I'm ready now. I'll be an angel..
  • "You watch me, just watch me. I'm calling... one day all will know."
  • In the original play Melchior's giving Moritz's ghost a farewell (after the ghost deviously tried to drive Melchior to suicide) and telling his friend something among the lines of "if my personality was to change a hundred times, you might be my closest friend". The Masked Man last lines "To you [Moritz] the soothing consciousness that you have nothing, to you [Melchior] the enervating doubts about everything." Although Moritz is upset that he will continue to rot in his grave, he realizes he can smile in dignity as he lays down to eternal rest. This can also be partially listened to in the 2001 Workshop.
• The painful conversation between Wendla and her mother about her "little girl dress". "But Wendla, you are already -- in bloom." (And in the Workshop Cast, when Frau Bergmann finds out about the pregnancy. Her mother screaming at her and Wendla just completely uncomprehending, crying and saying that she didn't understand what happened or why she was bleeding afterward. This troper came into the show expecting a cloyingly "innocent" heroine and instead found a frightened, confused little girl.
• Ilse and Moritz's last scene together is an uncomfortable Truth in Television; a lot of depressed people are either too afraid to accept help even if they want it, or they can't stand needing it in the first place.
• At Moritz's funeral when each are taking their turns to put flower on the open casket. Everyone pretty much reacts the same, except Ilse. It usually depends on the actress, but she seems to be the only one to cry.
• One of the times this troper saw the show, they also had Martha not only cry, but kiss the flower before dropping it in the grave. Given the fact that it is established that she had a crush on Moritz, this adds a whole new tear jerker to an already very sad scene.
• "Whispering."
• The two abused girls (Martha and Ilse) have crushes on the guy with a Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality. This can't be an accident.