13 - A New Musical

This is a new Rock Musical which tells the story of a 13 year old growing up.    When his parents divorce he moves from the centre of New York City to Appleton in Indiana.

The young company revelled in the rock music and their singing reflected this.  The choreography was appropriate to the music.

James Price as Evan Goldman was on stage most of the time and so became the “narrator”.  He acted and sang the part very well as he struggled through his first year at his new school, desperately wanting to make friends so that he could have guests at his forthcoming Bar Mitzvah.  

There was well controlled comedy from Dominic Birch as the character Archie, who has special needs.

The female leads Patrice (Hannah Walton), Lucy (Chelsea Brownsword) and Kendra (Mollie Joynson) together with the boys, Brett (Jude Leath-Yates) Eddie (Michael Blakemore) and Malcolm (Rhys Gregory) were all very strong in their roles – at first they were antagonistic towards Evan but in the end his Bar Mitzvah was a success.

The principals were ably backed by the large ensemble of enthusiastic youngsters who put a great amount of energy into their musical numbers.

The Orchestra was located at the back of the stage, most of the time being in full view of the audience.    The scenery was very simple – stairs which were turned to represent certain scenes and two panels representing locker rooms.   All these pieces were moved very quickly and efficiently by some of the older girls.

Congratulations to the Company for presenting something different.   It was great to see a new show which was for  the younger generation.

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