Somewhere in those awkward teen years, touch takes on a meaning it never had before, awakening something deep inside – and you know your life is changed forever.

If you’re one of the boys in Spring Awakening, that something will inspire dreams – wet and otherwise – and unexplained stirrings you are not equipped to cope with. Those hormonal teenage years, so full of confusion and promise, dangers and delights, are the subject of Spring Awakening, now in shakedown cruise through Aug. 31 at the Balboa Theatre. Michael Mayer directs.

Based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 German play Frühlings Erwachen (which was instantly labeled pornographic and banned), Spring Awakening takes the stories of those late 19th-century German kids, updates it with a pop rock score, lots of neon lights and energetic choreography, and gives us the musical that won eight of the 11 Tonys (including best musical) for which it was nominated in 2007.

The show centers around three teens in a small provincial German town in the 1890s. Melchior Gabor (Kyle Riabko) is the handsome rebel, forever reading, thinking and questioning the Latin master, getting away with it only because he’s the best student. His buddy Moritz Stiefel (Blake Bashoff), at the other end of the academic scale, struggles with Virgil and equations and tries desperately to measure up to his father’s goals for him. Moritz is haunted by erotic dreams he doesn’t understand (“Please God, give me consumption and take away these sticky dreams,” he pleads). Pretty Wendla Bergmann (Christy Altomare) begs her mother to tell her where babies come from (“I’m an aunt for the second time and I don’t even know how it happens,” she whines), but is brushed aside by an adult unable to talk about sex.

But Spring Awakening isn’t just about sex, masturbation and rock ‘n’ roll. Considered the precursor of German expressionism in drama, Wedekind’s teens live in a dark world which includes abuse, abortion and suicide.

His abhorrence of the repression of 19th century German society shows in his portrayal of the adult roles, all of them played by Henry Stram and Angela Reed. Whether teacher, parent or school official, all are caricatures of oppression. You’ll recognize a few from your own past.

Teens will love this show, with music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Most of the songs are not earsplitting hard rock (the band consists of guitar, bass, drums, cello, violin, viola and keyboard) but softer, pop rock type ballads. The singers have been miked sufficiently but not too much (it’s amusing to see them pull hand mikes out of their school uniforms), so that most of the words are decipherable. For my money, the tunes begin to sound alike after a while, and the lyrics aren’t anything special, but I’m grateful for comprehensibility.

The piece that brings down the house is “Totally Fucked,” with which all of us can identify, but my favorite is “The Bitch of Living” that sums up mankind’s dilemma (“It’s the bitch of living/With nothing but your hand/Just the bitch of living/As someone you can’t stand”).

With the exception of Riabko and Bashoff, this is an all-new cast, and it’s a fine one. Riabko is gorgeous and talented, Bashoff fun and heartbreaking, with that electrified hair. Your heart will go out to Altomare’s Wendla, and Steffi D is alluring (especially to Moritz) as the free-spirited Ilse.

I question the placing of audience members on either side of the stage, a move apparently meant to draw the viewers in. To me it looked like a basketball game.

San Diego has a special relationship with this show: it began in 1999 as a workshop at La Jolla Playhouse. Spring Awakening is the first Broadway show to play the newly renovated 1924 Balboa Theatre (closed for two decades) since its reopening in January.

The excitement and terror of youth are on display in Spring Awakening. If that’s not something you care to relive, send your kids. They’ll love it.

Spring Awakening plays through Aug. 31 at the Balboa Theatre. Shows Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday at 1 and 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 6 p.m. For tickets call 619-570-1100 or Ticketmaster at 619-220-TIXS.