JRB's Thirteen - anyone dubious?

I am possibly one of Jason Robert Brown's biggest fans. I'm lucky enough to have seen all of his musicals in production, the man himself in concert and I thought his solo album was fantastic too. His CDs play regularly in my house.

But, listening to the material he is slowly releasing on his official website, I'm getting increasingly dubious about the content of his latest show Thirteen. Jason Robert Brown is an adult writer; he has an acute understanding of adult issues, adult emotions and captures them with both a subtelty matched with such wonderful appropriate music. His lyrics are, dare I say, some of the best ever written. Songs I've heard from his upcoming Broadway 'adult' projects sound excellent, and I can't wait to see these shows materialise.

But in Thirteen it sounds like he's sold out to Broadway. The music sounds like a sickly sweet combination of Hairspray, Rent, anything poppy and bright and loud that says 'YEAH!' to the 'new generation'. And that's patronising. I remember what it was like to be thirteen, and what JRB seems to have done is made a chart of all the issues a thirteen year old should feel and dramatised that with lyrics such as:

'Being a geek is the loneliest thing in the world'
'When you're cool you're the epitome of charm and grace, if you want to get to second base, when you're cool you know you've got a shot'
'I wanna get rich, wanna get drunk, wanna get out, I wanna get my braces off, wanna get my nose pierced, wanna grow my hair long and all I keep hearing is 'no you're not ready'.'
'A friend is a person who most of all, cares about what you feel'

What's lost - thrown out the window - is the subtlety that commands his work. It sounds like he's stereotyped his subjects, crammed every angsty-issue in so everyone can 'identify' with someone. Then a friend mentioned to me the other day that surely it was no coincidence that JRB has a huge teen following, and that this musical would be a great opportunity for them to accessibly perform his work in high school? Cynical? Or right?

All I've heard is samples of four songs, maybe I'm wrong. It just sounds like the genius has been watered down to American Idol for Kids. I can't wait to hear the cast album when released, and I am dying to be proved wrong. I just thought I'd see if anyone else shared my doubt that this is one show that might not set new musical theatre writing on fire as his last three shows have done.

Well I will be seeing the first performance TONIGHT at the Mark Taper Forum. Once I will return I will write a review. However, I have a friend who is an understudy in the show; the script and score seem great, and I cannot wait to see it performed!

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(This isn't organized at all, and I apologize in advance.)

13? When I first heard about this project, I thought to myself, "What the hell is he doing?" I thought that my favorite composer was throwing his career out the window.

I remember reading his blog entry about how he wanted to reach out to his younger audience. And all I could think in responce is that he has already reached out to me. He said something along the lines of how he couldn't understand how teenagers could relate to The Last 5 Years. But, that's just the beauty of his work. I can relate to all of his shows. I feel the ache of Woman 1 in SFANW, I feel the determination of Leo from Parade during This Is Not Over Yet, and I most closely relate to both Jamie and Cathy from L5Y.

(I'm 16.)

JRB writes what he knows. (Or, has done in the past. I'll get to a point.) What he knows becomes his songs. His songs become his shows. And I relate to them. I think with 13, he's a little lost. "Wanna get drunk .. Wanna get my nose pierced" from the title song, for example.

And yet, I can still relate. It may be my least favorite of the four I've heard, but I can:

"But all I keep hearing is No, you're not ready. No it's not time yet. No it's not right now."? I can guarantee that at some point, everyone in the world has felt that way.

To me, there's one exception - "Being A Geek". (I much prefer hearing JRB sing it, than Ricky Ashley. That is a whole other story.) To go back to what I was trying to explain about JRB writing what he knows, this song is classic JRB.

Have you heard his album, Wearing Someone Elses Clothes? There's a track, "Nothing In Common." It was a wedding song written for JRB's brother, and it tells the story of their relationship growing up. His brother was the golden child, and JRB was the kid who wrote songs and didn't have many friends.

But if I couldn’t find a friend
(Which happened more than I’d have liked),
I’d go where he was and sulk around him.
He’d say, “You don’t know how to throw,”
And “Just don’t play your stupid songs,”
And then he’d toss the ball my way.

I see so much of this feeling in "Being A Geek". There is so much yearning in the character of Evan and it translates to a wonderful song.

There is no point in this comment, but I thought I'd share my scattered two cents.

Updated On: 12/22/06 at 11:29 AM

I was outside the Mark Taper the other night (which is next to the Ahmanson Theater here in LA). I thought about trying to sneak in to see if I could watch a bit of rehearsals, but I figured I didn't want to go to jail and miss Edward Scissorhands. I'll be seeing 13 in January with three teenagers..and I hope it is great! Can't wait to read the reviews.

I've got a friend in the ensemble, and I'm definitely excited to see this damn thing, childish or not. Still, could the same be said for, say, Vin Diesel, a very adult action star who 'dumbed himself down' for "The Pacifier," or perhaps for M. Night Shyamalan, a very adult director who went soft for "Stuart Little"? There are plenty of people who like to reach out to material that's not exactly the best at showing what they're most apt to work with. I DO agree with you somewhat, as the lyrics seem a bit pedestrian, but I think it's completely fine for JRB to reach back to his earlier years (he's still young, after all; who else could write a great musical about such an age if not him?). Why not? Let him have his fun.

I am always dubious of adults writing for kids voices (both literal voices and emotional voices), because it can often come off as forced and trite (Princesses seemed to suffer this fate with its lyrics), often trying to force in slang that has already expired its shelf life by the time the production opens. But if anyone can pull off a smart musical that doesn't dumb itself down, and deals respectfully and truthfully with teen problems, its probably Brown.

I am excited for the score, the cast, the set and maybe most of all the fact that even the band is made up of teens. That is going to bring an amazing young energy to the production.

Akiva

Updated On: 12/22/06 at 04:46 PM

I think it makes sense. Kids don't neccessarily hide their emotions the way adults do; there isn't as much subtlety or elaborate language. He has to make it realistic that KIDS would say these things, not adults in a rocky relationship or a man on trial for murder. I'm not going to judge it unless I see it, but I applaud him for not trying to overcomplicate the language and realizing that these are kids dealing with issues. whose communication skills are more simple and to the point.

I'm torn because what I heard from the song "13" sounds pretty bad (it reminded me horrendously of RENT) but I looove "What It Means to Be a Friend" and I assure you that the lyrics actually are something like a kid would say... er... sing. Normally I can't stand kids' singing, but I kept listening to that one over and over.

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