With the West End teaming with reality TV winners and films-adapted-to-stage, refreshing doesn’t even come close to doing new musical Spring Awakening justice. Daring, original and impassioned the production succeeds where the likes of the The OC, 90210 and Gossip Girl fail, it paints a frank and honest picture of the exhilarating but turbulent journey into adulthood, with all the heartache, confusion and drama that goes with it.

With music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Steven Sater, this brave new production based on Frank Wedekind’s 19th Century play about a group of repressed German school children who struggle with their burgeoning sexual desires, initially enjoyed a Tony Award-winning run on Broadway before opening at the Lyric Hammersmith earlier this year, followed by its West End transfer last month.

In keeping with the original script (which was banned by the official censors before it was even published) the wide-eyed cast are dressed in bloomers and smocks, while by contrast the indie-pop-rock soundtrack is very much positioned in modern times.

Reflecting this dichotomy, the traditional school gymnasium set is adorned with rave-esque neon lights, which are used to dramatic effect.

Hinged on a fumbled act of love between the beautiful but naïve Wendla (Charlotte Wakefield), whose innocence extends to asking where babies come from, and radical intellectual Melchior (Aneurin Barnard), who you will inevitably fall in love with, the play is not afraid to embarrass its audience and expose them to squeamish truths about the sexualisation of these teenagers – from masturbation and erotic dreams, to homosexuality and repressed needs – while simultaneously tackling the very real tragedy at the heart of the play.

Pivotal to the success of this production is the powerful soundtrack that provides the layers and transports the audience back to their own adolescence, when you would withdraw to your bedroom and play that song at full volume.

Numbers such as The B**** of Living and Totally F***** express the characters’ angst and frustration, while Mama Who Bore Me is the perfect anthemic pop tune to open the show and The Word of Your Body, which compares love to a wound, is a haunting ode to lustful romance. In addition, the troubled Moritz, played with crushing intensity by Iwan Rheon, single-handedly dispels the myth that rock ‘n’ roll is dead with his rousing performance of Don’t Do Sadness.

With touches of Dead Poet’s Society about it and a talented young cast who never shy away from the challenging script, this emotionally-charged production will take you back to feelings you had long forgotten and some you still secretly harbour.

Spring Awakening is booking at the Novello Theatre until Saturday, October 31. Tickets: www.novellotheatre.com (£20-£54)