"13" Revisions: From First Preview To Press Preview — Page 2

I loved 13. I really hate that they cut opportunity, it was a really good song, one of my favorites.
It is annoying that their trying to make it less edgy and more high school musical-like.

I LOVED 13 TOO!

I saw it this afternoon. And I thought it was really funny. Even the guys next to me (I was sitting in D10 were catching on, and they were laughing at almost every joke. They had SOME sense of humor. And it was a lot of fun. My friends Eamon, Max, Delaney, and Charlie are all in it, and they must be glad that they are working with such an INSANELY talented group of kids. Because they ARE insanely talented.

If there are any teenagers out there who still refer to things they dislike as "lame" or "the lamest," please reveal yourselves and then STOP IT!!!

THANK YOU BUSTOPHERPHANTOM. I am also glad that people like StephenSondheimWHOO, tylerphillipsmusic, iluvtheatertrash, ashley0139 and WishingOnlyWounds2 are on my side!

As a side note, the song "Here I Come", in my opinion, would be a great song for JRB to sing at one of his concerts. Maybe it's just me, but that's one of his songs I could really hear him sing that I haven't yet.

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Posted this in my own thread--but I'll post it here too:

So I heard about the 13 dollar tickets for the show and decided that while I was in the city tonight, I'd stop by the theater to see if any tickets were left. Surely enough, there were.

So, I had heard mixed things about the show--I was looking forward to it though. I don't usually hate on shows for the quality of the show, but this show was pretty awful. It was ALL OVER the place. The idea is interesting, but I don't think Broadway (or maybe it's just me) is ready for a show filled with 13 year olds.

The acting was pretty mediocre. The singing was pretty horrible at times, but there were definitely some very talented kids. The dancing was best part.

I think this show is going to have a very hard time finding an audience... the subjects the show deals with are very... immature. They are things 13 year olds would deal with, I guess... but the material was very inappropriate and even offensive at times. I'm not usually that easily offended, but the fact that there is song joking entirely about a kid's terminal illness? Tasteless.

It had some adult humor (like that) at times, and then at the very end, it suddenly became an episode of Full House... back to being appropriate for teenagers. It doesn't seem appropriate for younger teenagers (who it should appeal to), but it deals with issues 13 year olds deal with, which does not appeal to most adults, I don't think.

The last number (Brand New You) was very enjoyable--but completely random. Where did the tap number come from? All the dancing? It seems like they were just trying to give the audience a number filled with as many talents from the kids as possible.

This is not a usual JRB show. I wanted to like it... but it just left a very bad taste in my mouth. If anything, this show belongs off-Broadway. Not to say it didn't have some nice moments--it did, but I was very disappointed with this show overall.

The cast was alright... I don't think it's right to have an entire cast of teenagers in a BROADWAY show. The only person who I felt truly stood out (in a good way) was the boy who played Archie. He was adorable and actually hilarious. He was a wonderful actor and my attention was always drawn to him.

I guess the show was worth my 13 dollars.

I'll be interested to see what kind of reviews it gets...

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I just read the lyrics, and I felt kind of "ehh" about them, too- I don't think it's funny that the mom wouldn't say no to him... just seems pretty tasteless.

CATSNYrevival- I disagree with you-I think the joke IS about Archie having a terminal illness-one lyric is

"So who could complain? Except for you because you're dying"

I think that that is a horrible thing to say, and I do have a sense of humor to all the people who think that since a lot of people don't find this funny they have no sense of humor, but I don't enjoy jokes about children or people of any age that are dying...just saying-I'm sure the show is better than when I saw it, and maybe if I can bring myself to see it again, I'll be able to say for myself-but right now in time, I do not like it-at all. I think it's lucky it's opening-and I wish it the best of luck with the reviews and with trying to find an audience.

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Since when has it been ok to go up to a child with a terminal illness and make jokes about them dying?

I don't care how old you are--it is not funny.

How would the Broadway community feel if a show was written with jokes about somebody with AIDS?

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That wasn't directed at you--but for the people who think the song is funny.

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The disabled kid wants something and the only way to get it is to use his terminal illness as an excuse. I thought it was kind of in poor taste but it didn't stop me from LOVING the show.

Well as much as I did find it in poor taste I did laugh...I guess I'm going to hell?

I found it kind of amusing. It felt like an Avenue Q song, which could have been aided by the fact that the boy playing Archie sounds like Rick Lyon as Nickie. In the show, Archie is the one who started using his terminal illness as a tool to get him what he needs. Evan/JRB is just trying to put that exploitation to good preteen use. I laughed. It was a cute number.

~Steven

I dunno, I think the song tries too hard to be "edgey" and funny.

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If you trace back to my original thoughts on the show (I believe I gave it a half a star...) you'll see I totally agree with everything Parks is saying about the offensiveness of the terminally ill character.

It's done very tastelessly...or at least it was when I saw it. And there's nothing wrong with kinda satirizing the idea that people can't say no to someone with a terminal disease but they make it so cringingly awkward, out of place, poorly written, and the character's disease is never mentioned in the show unless it's a punchline of a joke. I mean they don't even develop the fact that he's dying very much beyond the jokes. Which aren't even funny. And all of this may not be true now (mind you I saw the free teen dress rehearsal) but that's my thought on the song and character.