'13' Will Straddle a Number of Different Worlds at the Genesee Theatre

This coming weekend, March 19 and 20, 2010, the musical "13" will be presented in downtown north suburban Waukegan, Illinois, in what is believed to be its first professional production in Illinois. The musical, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (a Tony-winner for "Parade"), appeared on Broadway in the fall of 2008, unfortunately opening during that fall's financial crisis. It ran for three of four months anyway, and had its vehement defenders, at the box office and online. A cast album was released. But now, with revision to the script (the book is credited to Dan Elish and Robert Horn) and a few tweaks to the score, the show is being rolled out to what one must assume was always its target market--schools and theater training programs. 

For, you see, the show is about 13-year-olds, and the characters, every single one of them, is an 8th grader. There isn't a teacher, parent or policeman in sight. As written, it concerns issue of fitting in, making out, being popular, being honest and the like. How to move to a new school and be yourself, without losing your values for the sake of being cool or well-liked. Stuff like that. Issues that young teens and their parents always grapple with, and that even adults might need to heed from time to time. 

This isn't "children's theatre," in the sense of kids playing Snow White or Hamlet or some other age-inappropriate characters. And, as I said, this is not a show for adults to perform for audiences made up almost exclusively of children. (Nothing wrong with that, but that's not what this is.) In the production being mounted this weekend at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, produced by the Wishing Star Theatre (located near Libertyville in the town of Green Oaks), real kids, albeit ones with varying degrees of theater training, will sing, dance and act their hearts out for general paying audiences, playing kids very much like themselves.

It's interesting to note that another show about a particular 13-year-old boy, "Billy Elliot," takes up residence in our area this week, for a much, much longer run, with thousands of times more money being spent and a cast of kids drawn from a world-wide, not just a suburban-wide, search. It's all a matter of perspective and expectation, I think. And that is true whether one is a young performer, one of their parents, one of their directors, or a member of their audience. 

On Tuesday night, March 16th, I was invited to a special rehearsal of this particular "13," being held not at the Genesee, but back at the Wishing Star, just off I-94 in a strip-mall-looking office complex. The show had been presented here back in January, to such success that the Wishing Star owners and staff decided to jump to the Lake County equivalent of the big-time. But the set I saw on Tuesday was for "Seussical, Jr.," a scaled-down version of that Broadway musical, that had just played the 100-seat venue last weekend. The "13" set was ready to move into the Genesee, but it wasn't loaded in there yet. So, could I come and see what they were doing anyway, back at the children's theater school with the hybrid proscenium/black box performance space? They'd wear their real costumes.........Not knowing what to expect, I agreed. 

And I'm glad I did. Even though this show, and this particular production, staddles a number of different worlds, I had a good time, and I think that Waukegan audiences, especially audiences of teens and tweens and their parents, will too. I certainly hope so. 

Sure, it's being put on by an after-school and evening children's theatre school, albeit one run by people with professional credits and credentials and one which carries on a regular schedule of public performances (a version of "Little Shop of Horrors" is next, followed by one of "Rent"). And this is not a scaled down "13," but the whole thing, intermission and all, with 22 songs (solos, duets, production numbers, dance breaks, etc.) and a cast of 19 young performers. There's also an onstage band of four, who, in keeping with the composer's intentions, are high school students, and pretty good players, too. (An adult, Nathan Hamilton, conducted.) 

So, in straddling the educational and performance worlds, and by inviting a reviewer to see a run-through in the wrong theater, "13" is doing something of a balancing act. Its characters are doing one too--they are not children, but they're not adults, either. The actors are well cast enough that one can easily see that they are playing roles and having dramatic conflicts that probably closely mirror reality--more closely than the cast of any other show you can name. For the boys in the show, their changing voices show the full range of boy soprano, cambiata, tenor and baritone voice types, with some strain in evidence but being as real as kids' voices can get--in a show about growing up. 

And the cast is displaying a range of training and talent, too. Whether this is a hindrance to enjoying this show this weekend at a $40 top ticket price depends, as I said, on one's perspective. Leading man Nick Moulton (playing the New Yorker Evan Goldman, transplanted to rural Indiana), is charismatic and likable, with good acting chops, fine presence and a strong singing voice. He is (I suspect) the main reason the show is transferring to Waukegan. Bravo to him. As his new next door neighbor, Patrice, Claire Bryant possesses a pretty remarkable voice, with pop/rock weight and inflections that make her solos and duets really enjoyable. Her acting was a little less mature, but her emotional honesty rang true for me. And as Archie, the boy on crutches who works his way into nearly everyone's heart, Christian Klepac knows his way around some comic timing, and he sang well, too. 

The school's star athlete, Brett, is played here by Tanner Spears, clearly older than most of the rest of these actors, but well cast, well trained and a good, mature, contemporary musical theater singer. He will have a future in the business, I expect. The beautiful Kendra is played by the beautiful Paisley Spence, and even though her singing is not her strong suit, she stuck to her guns with poise and played her role effectively. Eddie and Malcolm, the multi-race wisecracking boy duo played by Ross Krakow and Gordon Brown, were always a welcome addition to any scene. Only the young actress playing the "bad girl" Lucy seemed a notch below the other principals in her audience impact, though she had moments when she was fine. Maybe she had an off night. Or perhaps, being a spoiled, manipulative, heartless girl is a hard role for her to pull off. 

The rest of the cast did well with Wade Schaaf's energetic hip-hop and jazz choreography (there is a little ballet in there, too) and they sang with gusto. The work of co-directors Linda Klepac and Jim Shedd was a little hard for me to judge, as entrances and exits weren't happening where they will be this weekend, and all that sort of thing (not the real lighting design either, etc.). But I can tell you that I saw moments of genuine dramatic tension, of character development, of decisions and consequences and beats and honesty and all the things they teach you in directing and acting school. It was happening up there with most of these kids, most of the time. All they needed was the theater of their dreams. 

If you are a hard core fan of contemporary musicals, then you would enjoy seeing "13" being performed as intended, by a cast of young actors and musicians for a general audience. Jason Robert Brown's songs are sophisticated, clever and insightful, like wisdom from the mouths of babes. And the book is funny, meaningful and real. 

But I don't know how this particular production will play at the Genesee Theatre, and those who expect "Billy Elliot" or, for that matter, the non-Equity bus-and-truck "Annie" that recently played the Auditorium Theatre, will probably be disappointed. I suspect that a well-financed area theater which chose to perform "13" and had the budget to utilize the very best child actors in the area would produce a more polished finished product, though some of these kids might deserve to be in it. The parents and friends of these particular kids will, of course, be thrilled with this "13," and deservedly so. The cast will have body mics and professional, adult stagehands, and a beautifully restored, historic venue to sing in. But how about everyone else? How will the general public react, especially grown-ups? I just don't know. I would love to hear from people who attend one of the three performances. 

I had a good time at this run-through rehearsal. Everyone up there was working as hard as they could, and caring very much about the show. Not one kid forgot a line or a dance step. All of them were disciplined, focused, talented, trained and happy. Some adult professionals I know could take a lesson from the kids of the Wishing Star Theatre. 

"!3" will be performed Friday night, March 19 at 7:00, Saturday afternoon, March 20 at 3:00 and Saturday evening, March 20 at 7:00 at the Genesee Theatre, 203 North Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan. Tickets are $40 and $25 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-982-2787. For more information, visit www.wishingstartheatre.com.

Photos courtesy of the Wishing Star Theatre. Top, Jason Robert Brown with the cast and co-directors. Bottom, the cast in front of the Genesee Theatre marquee.

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