13

STOKE YOUTH MUSICAL THEATRE – 13

Saturday 30th April 2022

From the book by Dan Elish and Robert Horn, with music and lyrics from Jason Robert Brown, Stoke Youth Musical Theatre Company’s latest production 13, lit up the stage at The Rep from the opening number and grew into an absolutely rip-roaring first-class show.

Lively upbeat opening with “13/Becoming a Man”, set the very high bar from the beginning. With great light and shade, the wit and laugh out loud humour in the script was brought to life and allowed to breath by an extremely talented and capable cast.

The show is very much a rite of passage, telling the tale of 12-year-old Evan - Harvey Rowland, giving a superb account in the role; planning his Bhar mitzva in New York, when his world is turned upside down by his divorcing parents and a move to “The Lamest Place in the World”, Podunk Appleton, Indiana.

Evan meets school outcast Patrice – Emily Durber, who defined teenage angst to all present, beautiful, nuanced voice and performance. The third member of the awkward squad, Archie - Miles Lesniak, played throughout on crutches with total conviction and belief.

Their counter parts, the Quarter back, Jocks and Cheer leaders led by Brett - Arran Johnstone; Kendra - Madeline Lusby; Lucy - Emily Marshall were the main components aided and abetted by a very strong supporting cast, all embodied their roles. 

What was particularly good for me personally was the fact that this was an original show, not a collection of crowd pleasing hit songs loosely bundled together, which can and does work but it’s oh so nice to hear great new music. I really enjoyed this music, total contrasts, well thought out, the dark humour of “Terminal Illness”.

Brilliant numbers performed full on by this superb cast. Opportunity, featuring the Cheerleaders was straight from a high school movie, great well-rehearsed choreography throughout the show from Natasha Dawe. The whole cast committed to this show, which was breathtakingly good at times, particularly the full cast numbers, which were slick and on point as well as visually appealing.

The power of ‘fake news’ social media in the number “It Can’t Be True” brought highly emotional conflict between the various boyfriend/girlfriend pairings – let’s face it teenage years are not easy.

There were some truly beautiful touching moments of pure theatre in the scenes featuring Evan and Patrice, realisation of hurt caused and how to hopefully correct it. This against the peer pressure, the wanting to belong, being part of the crowd; the bitchiness and scheming particularly from Emily Marshall as Lucy was brilliantly performed.  

As with every successful show, teamwork makes the dream work, hats off to the musicians, sound, lighting, costumes, and everyone responsible in the production. Director James Dawe knows his stuff, he just seems to get it and can communicate to his cast, the performances he helped this group of young adults attain was astonishing. 

Musical Director Jo Smith worked hard, she must have, the attention to detail, the faultless harmonies were superb, Stoke Youth vocalists were so in sync, importantly they were listening to one another, effortlessly delivered, brash and full on when required, emotive and passionate likewise. The band just simply rocked.   

This was a very welcome introduction to the show 13, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done everyone.

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