13

I have to admit to never hearing about or seeing the musical ‘13’, so it was with great interest that we were invited to see the performance by this NODA award winning group.

The story begins with young Evan Goldman (excellently played and narrated by Charlie Toland) looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah, as he is becoming 13, the age when Jewish boys become men. He hands out the invites to his New York friends during a very vigorous and energetic song which provided a great opening number.   Suddenly he is told by his mother that she is getting divorced and they are moving to Indiana where he will not know anyone. It’s a story of desperation,  trying to fit in with the new kids and ending up hurting the friends you need the most and then learning one of the most important lessons in life,  be true to yourself.

Once at his new home he meets Patrice and Archie who are looked on as ‘Geeks’ by the rest of the school. Unpopular Patrice who lives next door and Archie, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and has to use crutches, are definitely not cool kids.  Patrice (Heather Nye) had a beautiful voice and showed her intelligence and maturity on stage. Falling in love with Evan even when he shunned her, she showed her courage at not becoming one of the pack; winning him in the end.  Archie (Oliver Gardner) kept his cheeky characterisation going all through the show and was incredible on his crutches never giving us any reason to believe he was ever going to give up on his dream of trying to get a date with the school cheerleader Kendra.

The gang at the school is led by Brett (Matt Barnes), the handsome but dense, junior high school football star and his dim mates. He is dying to have a date with the dizzy beauty Kendra excellently played by       ( Phoebe Walsh), but Lucy (Hope Davis) her ‘best friend’ has other ideas. as she wants Brett too and will do anything to get him. Good characterisation and facial expressions by Hope gave us someone to almost boo and hiss at. We were ready to believe that she would do anything to get her man even if it meant she would hurt her best friend. Nice characterisations too by ‘The girls’ Cassie (Olivia Khatter) Charlotte (Lois Chapman) and Molly (Amy Hollingsworth) each with great voices but for me ‘The Boys’ Malcolm (Reuben Beard) Eddie (Matt Wickham and Richie (Jack Toland) are the real stars, showing you don’t have to have the lead role to shine. Their owned the stage with their songs and body language and brought so much fun to the show.

I loved the use of the simple revolving flats that made the entrances and exits almost seamless and the use of the two flights of stairs for the much younger members to sit on. It was great to see these little ones really enjoying being part of a production; and getting to act in it. The choreography of all the dances was brilliant as the stage at The Cramphorn is not that large and to see all the cast so energetic, enthusiastic and obviously enjoying every scene was a real treat. The music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown were a joy and very funny.

We thoroughly enjoyed the show which was really a leap of faith for this society to produce but they were obviously onto a winner and I hope other young societies think about producing it is very well worth the effort. Congratulations to all cast and crew and I look forward to seeing your next production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.