Jason Robert Brown's 13 - Reviews (in LA)

LA Weekly is positive (it has a GO button next to it, whatever that means):

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Elish’s coming-of-age book though sometimes predictable, is fresh, funny and sometimes touching. And it provides ample opportunity for Brown’s high-spirited songs, and dances by Michele Lynch. But it’s the terrific teenagers, singing, playing and dancing up a storm, who make it all worth while. David Gallo’s wonderfully versatile set, Candice Cain’s stylish costumes, Mike Baldassari’s flashy lights and David O’s sharp musical direction are all top notch.
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http://www.laweekly.com/stage/theater/theater-reviews/15359/
Great so far!

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Updated On: 1/8/07 at 08:07 PM

LATimes is not so good:
http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-thirteen9jan09,0,4516129.story

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Racism and other forms of bigotry are magically held in abeyance here. Prejudice is rampant, but only where it concerns physical attractiveness and the price of designer jeans. This is a high school world in which the blond bombshell can date the African American jock and only have to consider whether she should allow him to French kiss her. And it takes a cameo from Evan's rabbi to suggest that maybe it's not so easy being a Jew in this largely Christian Midwestern town.

The story whitewashes experience in order to reassure us that we all see ourselves as different at some point. Of course, the truth is that some people really are viewed as different, and in ways that can't be happily resolved in a peppy song-and-dance finale.

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Gold stars should be awarded to Sara Niemietz, who plays Evan's nerdy friend with a natural manner and lovely singing voice, and Degerstedt, who dances with a grace well beyond her years.

As for the star, Ashley holds the show together with an appeal that occasionally brought to mind a pre-"Graduate" Dustin Hoffman. Although his character's joyful bar mitzvah ending is all too predictable, it couldn't have happened to a more affable guy.
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People complain that there's no colorblind casting and then they discredit 13 for having its popular football player played by a black actor. I've seen the show with him and I've seen it with his white understudy - IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO THE SHOW. They can't have it both ways.

What other papers normally review LA shows? I think those are the three big ones...

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Haha, I love how you have to clarify. :)

Yeah, every element seems to get a decent review but since the title is "The kids are alright, but the show...", I made a judgement call. He's pretty cynical about adolescence.

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Hollywood Reporter is eh...

"The reviewers who are reviewing this show as if it's a show for adults, fail to understand it. This is a show for teens, not for middle-aged audiences or even for people in their 20's. To try and compare this show to the dark and R-rated Spring Awakening would be a a mistake."

In other words, it's a show for those who don't know any better.



Mrs. Paroo
River City, Iowa

Updated On: 4/13/07 at 11:12 PM

Okay here is my take on this:

1) It is not a Broadway show and therefore this thread doesn't belong on this board
2) As far as the reviews if I am paying the price for a ticket I believe the reviewer should write a review for an adult. Children need an adult to buy them a ticket!
Don't make excuses because you are insulted or don't agree with a review. These kids are professional kids ...If they can't take the heat GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!

Bloomberg also compares it to Spring Awakening:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aQZ5rsKpuaJI&refer=muse

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The joy of ``13' comes from watching energized performances from so many young talents making the most of an opportunity to work under accomplished professionals like Todd Graff, an actor and writer in his debut as a stage director (he directed the cult comedy film ``Camp,' about teen performers run amok), and Michele Lynch, a seasoned Broadway choreographer.

It's just too bad the actors were not given more inspired material. Brown, 36, recalls in an article for the show's program that he ``just hated being 13,' for his inability to fit in, feeling ``a Rage, something so deep it deserves a capital letter.'

Maybe it's because Evan and his friends appear so wholesome and soft that Brown's capital-R Rage never makes it to the Taper stage. Discomfort, sadness and disappointment, sure, but not rage.
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LA Daily News liked it, but has much of the same problems (3/4):
http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_4972535

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Ashley is quietly effective as Evan, and Mann does good geek as Archie. Mann, in fact, gets the musical's thorniest moment. The show has reached its ultra-fuzzy, youth empowering conclusion, and even Archie gets a bit of wish fulfillment, if just for a moment. When he tries to clutch it, it pulls away. But of course the music continues. The song, after all, is titled "Brand New You."

The makers of "13" throw this bit of jaggedness out there and let it evaporate into the air. The Evans, Bretts and Patrices, we suspect, will be just fine. If drugs, isolation and sex (beyond second base, that is) await, Appleton's brightest aren't there yet.

Maybe in "15" the musical, which probably isn't coming from this team.
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These reviews are actually a lot more favorable than I was expecting. Hooray! I love this show.

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We are talking about the Mark Taper Theater here. This is not Radio City Music Hall. We are talking about real theater, Not Barney! If you are comparing this to Elmo, well then this is the wrong board for sure! Personally I have not seen this show I only have read about it on this and other boards and in the trades, I happen to like JRB's music and I loves the Movie Camp. I would be in the corner for this show to work , but obviously it is bubblegum! And certainly not not for anyone over the age of 13.

The quote below was taken from the Mark Taper Website, when I buy a ticket to a show at this particular theater I expect more than bubblegum!

"Since it opened in 1967 the Mark Taper Forum has been honored for its development of new plays and voices for the theatreand for its continuing commitment to serve the broadest possible audience. It has received virtually every theatrical award including the 1977 special Tony for theatrical excellence.

With Michael Ritchie as its Artistic Director and Gordon Davidson its Founding Artistic Director, the 745-seat Mark Taper Forum is one of the top resident theatres in the country.. The theatre has guided and developed an impressive number of Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, including Children of a Lesser God, The Shadow Box,The Kentucky Cycle and Angels in America. The Taper was distinguished by having two of its plays The Kentucky Cycle and Angels in America (Part One - Millennium Approaches) receive in consecutive years the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, the first time for plays produced outside of New York."

"Since it opened in 1967 the Mark Taper Forum has been honored for its development of new plays and voices for the theatreand for its continuing commitment to serve the broadest possible audience."

And this show isn't doing this? This show seems to fit the very essence of the Taper's mission statement. By opening up the genre of musical theater to a new, younger audience they are going to bring in the next generation of theatergoer, and serve the "broadest possible audience".

This show never attempted to pass itself off as anything that it isn't. It doesn't take itself seriously. As I said it IS bubblegum, and it tries to be. Knowing that full well, why would you ever purchase tickets to a show that doesn't interest you? Not every show the Mark Taper produces has to interest YOU, it just has to interest somebody.

Heaven forbid the Mark Taper or Jason Robert Brown attempt something different than their status quo. Isn't that was creating art is about? Pushing your personal limits and boundaries, playing outside the box?

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I didn't expect good reviews. I am SO impressed by what happened.

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Gee I hope their target audience are NOT teens. Mark Taper's subscribers are mostly adults (like 40 yrs old and up) and they may or may not have children who are teenagers.

Although I haven't seen the show yet, from the photo on the web page, it reminds me of "BIG."