Josh Radnor as Lou "Mr. Mazzu" Mazzuchelli, an English teacher at Stanton High who wants to reinvent the school's drama presentations. He takes over the Stanton drama club and pushes to perform Spring Awakening.
Marley Shelton as Gail Mazzuchelli, Lou's wife who supports his plan of taking over the drama department of his school
Rosie Perez as Tracey Wolfe, the assistant director who was previously offered the director job before being replaced by Lou, though she stays on and supports Lou
Auliʻi Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, a high school student and member of the Stanton drama club cast in the lead role of Wendla, who has problems with her mother at home
Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne, the starting quarterback of the Stanton football team, who is cast in the lead role of Melchior; he also visits and takes care of his mother at a hospital.
Shirley Rumierk as Vanessa Suarez, Lilette's mother who has an affair with the football coach and keeps secrets from her daughter
Joe Tippett as Coach Sam Strickland, the headstrong and strict Stanton football coach who values sports over the arts
Ted Sutherland as Simon Saunders, a student born into a very religious conservative family, who is usually cast in the lead roles in the Stanton club theater productions, but later is cast in the role of Hänschen
Amy Forsyth as Gwen Strickland, Coach Strickland's daughter and member of Stanton drama club, who has problems at home due to her father's affair; she is usually cast in the lead female roles, but is cast as supporting character Ilse.
Rarmian Newton as Maashous Evers, a homeless student who is the lighting designer for the drama club
Casey Johnson as Gordy Mazzuchelli, Lou's son, who is having problems with alcohol
Taylor Richardson as Kaitlin Mazzuchelli, Lou's daughter
Recurring
Ellie Desautels as Michael Hallowell, a transgender student, previously a member of Stanton's choir and now a new member of Stanton's drama club, cast in the role of Moritz.
Shannon Purser as Annabelle Bowman, a member of Stanton's drama club
Sean Grandillo as Jeremy Travers, a new member of Stanton's drama club, cast in the role of Ernst, Simon's partner in the play
Alexis Molnar as Lexi, a student in the drama troupe
Tiffany Mann as Cheryl, a student in the drama troupe
Caroline Pluta as Violet, a student in the drama troupe
Jennifer Ferrin as Denise Strickland, Gwen's mother who serves as costumer for Spring Awakening
Diallo Riddle as Andy Kranepool, a teacher at Stanton who is attracted to Tracey
Tom Riis Farrell as Mr Baer, the Stanton High Band director
Niloy Alam as Sundeep, the Stanton High guitarist
Billy Joe Kiessling as the Stanton High violist
Sumi Yu as the Stanton High violinist
Pance Pony as the Stanton High cellist
Liam Herbert as the Stanton High acoustic guitar
Episodes
Music
The show had cast members perform songs from Spring Awakening, including the new song "All You Desire" that Spring Awakening creators Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater wrote specifically for the show.
Rise Season 1: The Album
On May 11, 2018, a soundtrack from the series was released. It included all Spring Awakening songs performed by the cast, as well as covers of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect," Alessia Cara's "Scars to Your Beautiful," Fun's "Carry On" and Macklemore's "Glorious." The album consists of 24 tracks.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 59% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 6.22/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 59 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Out magazine expressed concern about straightwashing, saying that the changing of the original book's real-life source, about a gay man, into a straight man, was "cultural theft and erasure" of what "should have been the story of a complicated LGBTQ hero".
