13

Busy, busy, busy! With all the stock market craziness, work has been just action-packed. Therefore, some of my normal blogging time was consumed with frantic calls from bankers’ wives screaming for their husbands to sell, sell, sell! We actually hit $11 a share at one point - ouch. Nothing like having your beach house and retirement plan melt away before your eyes. Luckily, I am burdened with none of the above. So I’m just now catching up writing reviews for a couple of shows I saw this past week.

Although I didn’t love 13, I’m encouraged to hear they are actually taking advantage of the preview period and doing some real revising and making changes. I grudgingly may have to revisit it - granted I can get a cheapo TDF ticket. As we left the theatre last Thursday, the first thing Trish said to me was that she thought it should just be one act, no intermission. Lo and behold, today on All That Chat someone posted that last night’s show was indeed intermission-less and two (really bad, IMO) songs have been cut! Perhaps Trish should look into becoming a show doctor.

As for the show, it’s cute, I guess. But who wants to shell out $100 for cute!? I can get that for free walking Chris and Dan’s dog. The storyline is thinner than Mary Kate's waist and just about as substantial: NYC-raised teen Jew moves to Indiana and tries to get the cool kids to attend his Bar Mitzvah. Of course, there are no other Jews at his new school because everyone knows that Jews only live in NYC. How does he do it? By guaranteeing the coolest guy in school some tongue time with the hot chick. No, really. The whole first act is devoted to the pursuit of French kissing. Throw a brainy handicapped kid and nerdy girl outcast (who happens to be way prettier than the hot chick everyone is pursuing) into the mix and you’ve got a Broadway show. Thankfully, Jason Robert Brown’s score saves the evening with his always tuneful, folksy-pop ballads and some insightful lyric writing suitable for a 13-year-old. Unfortunately, the book writer thinks he’s writing a "Friends" episode, having teenagers spouting one-liners way too sophisticated and knowing for their tender 13 years on earth. Imagine teen age Ross, Monica and Chandler belting show tunes on an ABC After School Special but without the teen pregnancy, booze and drugs to keep us interested.

As for the 13 child actors (get it? 13 actors playing 13-year-olds? Clever, aren’t we?), no denying they are talented, but that’s not enough to sustain a show. The three lead nerds are exceptionally good, especially Allie Trimm who plays Patrice. She has more control over her belt/mix/chest voice than most adults I know and her acting is sincere and unfussy. I hope she doesn’t turn into a total bitch when she realizes she’s more talented than everyone else. Otherwise, the rest of the cast runs the gamut from “very good” to “just fine.” As much as I can appreciate how talented these young people are, without any adult (read: experienced) presence on stage to anchor the production, many of the young performers (unintentional, I think) drift into cheesy overacting and one-dimensionality. It’s not helped by the audiences’ over-enthusiastic response to any remotely impressive sung note or dance step. The night we attended, the house was clearly papered with family members and friends. I must note that Trish and I (and the gay couple in front of us) were kept entertained by the beauty-pageant-worthy cheesiness of one young actress who shall remain nameless. Her consistent sh*t-eating grin and blatant winking to the audience called to mind the best of Junior High School dance recitals and kept us quietly chuckling through the whole evening. Brava!

On the whole, unless some radical changes are made to the book, it’ll be just another great JRB CD to add to the collection.