'90210' Burning Question: Can you awaken 'Spring'?

On Tuesday night’s two-hour premiere of 90210, the kids at West Bev were prepping their school musical, current Broadway darling Spring Awakening. Truly, the scene was heinous with doting Kansas-to-Beverly Hills transplant Annie (Shenae Grimes, pictured) warbling “Mama Who Bore Me” with all the sad panache of a bobblehead.

But that’s not the point: What really struck us here at EW.com was simply the use of Spring Awakening. Sure, with its contempo, Duncan Sheik-penned tunes, it’s a hot property and one of the edgiest productions on mainstream Broadway right now. Perfect for what’s supposed to be a hot teen show. But, as we suspected and is customary for productions currently running, Awakening isn’t actually available to for licensing for high schools or community groups. As of right now, it’s illegal. So, then, why show a TV high school (albeit a totally fake one) singing the tunes? To sell tickets for the Broadway production, of course! Reps for the show said they were “flattered to be included in the season premiere of 90210” but that, of course, “subsidiary rights for productions [will be] held until the completion of the Broadway and National Tour engagements.” And it’s probably not closing any time soon. Sorry, kiddos — guess it’s back to Hello, Dolly!

Of course, 90210 is far from reality — actually, it’s much more like fantasy — but, PopWatchers, do you think it’s fair to viewers to give them a taste of something they can’t actually have? Discuss!

addCredit(“Shenae Grimes: Jordin Althaus”)