We went to see my cousin Jason Robert Brown's new musical 13 at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown L.A. tonight. It opened a couple of weeks ago and is about a Jewish kid who moves from NYC to Indiana after his parents' divorce. He's turning 13 and getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah (Wikipedia entry for you non-Jews) while adjusting to life in a small town, trying to make friends, and finding his place.
Obviously I'm not the most impartial critic, but Zadi and I loved it and thought it was incredible that the cast featured 13 teens and the entire BAND was also all teenagers (except for one guy)! Amazing! It was funny and full of energy, and the whole thing was musically ambitious and wholly entertaining. The cast is great and engages the audience at a number of points in the show. If you're in or around Los Angeles and looking for a great night of musical theater normally reserved for Broadway, get your tickets while you can. Hopefully this coming week we'll get to interview everyone in the show for JETSET before the run in L.A. wraps and the show goes to Broadway. 13 has a book by Dan Elish and is directed by Todd Graff. Quite a creative team. In case you think I'm full of shit, Variety said that the show was "...sheer bliss."
Afterwards we had dinner with Jason and talked about what he likes and doesn't like about the show. The guy is amazingly versatile. For anyone who knows theater, chances are you've heard of Parade, The Last 5 Years, or Songs for a New World. Such different animals from 13. Jason won the Tony® Award for Parade and moved out to L.A. a few months before we did, which is fairly ironic, since I think we were perhaps the two least likely people in our family to ever leave New York City. I think he was 27 when he won the Tony®.
Anyway, go check it out, you won't be disappointed. Also watch Grease: You're the One That I Want on NBC on Sundays. Georgia Stitt, Jason's very talented wife and my "cousin-in-law," is the vocal coach for the contestants and appears on the show. Fun times!
This ends raves for embarrassingly talented family members. :)
emily said:
i wanna do this show sooooooooo bad! it sounds so cool! Are there going to be any more auditions???
Steve Woolf said:
I'm not sure if they are still holding auditions for the show in New York. It's opening on Broadway at some point. Check Jason's site for the latest info!
