Wendla Bergmann is visually exploring the recent physical changes brought on by puberty. She turns first one way and then another, surveying her new curves with a mix of curiosity, surprise and delight.

Wendla then confronts a vexing mystery: She knows babies aren’t really brought by storks, but she doesn’t know the mechanics of human reproduction. Timidly she begs her mother to tell her how babies are made. Her mother dodges the question.

Elise Levin’s star turn in that touching yet tragic scene gets Manoa Valley Theatre’s production of "Spring Awakening" off to a superb start. The Tony Award-winning 2006 musical — a take on a controversial 19th-century German play by Fred Wedekind — features a rock score by Steven Sater and singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik.

Be warned, Hawaii. This is not a show for prudes. On the other hand, mature-minded folks who can handle the content — including a song with a title that can’t be printed in this newspaper — will find MVT’s production thought-provoking. Many of the issues that bedevil Wendla and her friends transfer to 21st-century America uncomfortably well.

Levin brings a delicate swirl of conflicting emotions to the scene where Wendla seeks understanding of corporal punishment by having a male friend flog her with a switch. Stronger still is the climactic scene in which Wendla — cautious yet attracted to a sensitive young man, and still unaware that sex can result in pregnancy — gives in to circumstance and has sex for the first time.

Jonah Ho‘okano (Melchior) and Garett Taketa (Moritz) are neatly balanced as the male protagonists. Ho‘o­kano, tall and slender, plays Melchior as frail yet intense, a social rebel for whom everything comes easily. Taketa, physically larger than Ho‘o­kano and looking bulkier and more awkward as well, submerges himself in the role of a tormented young man for whom nothing is easy. Moritz knows nothing about human sexuality; his "sticky dreams" about a woman’s legs cause him such mental torture that he tries to live without sleeping. Melchior writes Moritz a detailed 10-page, fully illustrated sex manual, but that only heightens his emotional turmoil.

Taketa caps a powerful performance in a demanding role with his final big vocal number, "Don’t Do Sadness," in Act 2.

Other talented actors shine as well. Niki Badua (Martha) owns the show during her emotionally charged performance of "The Dark I Know Well," a song about corporal punishment and incest.

Joel Libed (Hanschen) is excellent in two scenes that provide comic relief. In one we watch as Hanschen’s solo sexual activities are interrupted by his father pounding on the bathroom door. In another, Hanschen — cynical, pragmatic and self-assured to the point of arrogance — seduces a timid and sexually naive classmate. Libed earned laughter and applause on opening night with his work in both scenes.

Gerald Mandac (Ernst) is spot-on as Libed’s foil in the gay seduction scene. Seth N. Lilley (Georg) adds comic content as a young man who fantasizes about his piano teacher.

The adults are played by Craig Howes and Liz Stone. Howes plays a series of brutal and/or self-righteous adult men. Stone demonstrates her talents as a comedian in a fantasy number in which Georg’s dreams of seeing his teacher’s underwear come true.