Review: 13: THE MUSICAL at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center

"I think it's a show for 13-year-olds to own. That was the intention - to create a show that kids could call theirs. I really fought hard against any perception that it's just a kids show, but at the same time, I wanted 13-year-olds to look up there and recognize themselves."

Back in 2007, composer Jason Robert Brown spoke the above-quoted words to a theater writer from the Los Angeles Daily News (OK, it was me) discussing his new musical, 13, which was about to experience its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum. At the time, one of the very cool things about Brown's creative spin on a thorny age (and unlucky number) was that the musical would employ exactly 13 actors and that every single one of the cast and band members would be within the teen demographic. I originally thought that every company member and musician would, in fact, be 13 years old. But nope...I misremembered. The players were all between 12 and 17.

Now, 17 is most certainly not 13, and although high school aged teens can certainly act like middle schoolers (and if they're playing a role, they are jolly well supposed to), we do need to be able to buy into the "everyone is 13" without the visuals getting in the way. When a character talks about potentially offering "what comes after second base," the message lands differently when she looks like she would not be out of place at the senior prom.

These issues come ever so slightly into play in the staging of 13 by Panic Productions and Born to Perform Studio at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. By and large, the kids are more-than-allright; occasionally a little rough around the edges, but then again, so is this musical. In this his third staging of the musical, frequent Panic helmer Barry Pearl, music director Lloyd Cooper and a rocking company of 19 give this heartfelt ode to self-discovery both the sizzle and friskiness it deserves.

13 is an enjoyable and fairly tame musical, not a game-changer. Brown with his book writers Dan Eilish and Robert Horn sand off the more jagged edges of early teen-dom and package it for easy handling. Yes, some kids treat each other terribly. Yes, everybody - popular or otherwise - is experiencing the same hormone-powered angst. Yes, the cream will rise to the top and good instincts will triumph over nastiness and some of us can kiss (or hug) and make up at the party.

No, not the prom...this time it's a planned bar mitzvah party where our soon-to-be-rited hero, Evan Goldman (played by Ethan Daugherty) joins in with his fellow thirteen-ers in a song titled "Brand new You" and ultimately, also in the much more fitting "A Little More Homework." Note to Panic: It would be great to actually hear those lyrics clearly. Although the SVCCA is a cozy venue, body mics were spotty on opening night, making acoustics a problem on opening night.

To the play...Evan's journey has taken him from NYC to the hinterlands of Walkerton, Indiana as a result of his parents' divorce. As if being 13 isn't bad enough, he is uprooted from everything he knows to a town with nothing to do and where he will ultimately be the center of attention at the biggest party of his young life. The bar mitzvah is, symbolically, when a Jewish boy becomes a man. But for Evan, if he doesn't get the party just right, with the right crowd in attendance, he may end up forever ostracized from the cool kids. Dubbed "The Brain" because he comes up with some good slightly devious ideas, Evan plots and schemes his way into setting up school Jack Brett (Lucas Panczel), with Kendra (Olivia Zenetzis), a cheerleader who likes Brett as much as he likes her. Trouble is, Kendra's conniving best friend, Lucy (Calista Loter), wants Brett for herself and will scheme as only a backstabbing 13-year old can scheme in order to get him.

And these are the popular kids. Evan's new best friend - until he does her a couple bad turns - is his next-door neighbor, Patrice (Mia Akemi Brown), a misfit routinely tortured by the rest of the school. And then there's Archie (Peter Umipig), whose affliction with muscular dystrophy does nothing to earn him any friends. Archie also likes Kendra, and he'll do whatever it takes to get near her, including blackmailing Evan. So Evan's order is a tall one: appease the cool kids of the school so they'll come to his Bar Mitzvah while at the same time do right by the unpopular kids who are his real friends. And become a man.

(Incidentally, while it's doubtful that the makers of 13 and THE PROM put their heads together, one wonders how Indiana got to be the popular choice as the designated "lamest place in the world?" For that matter, between Mr. Goldman and Mr. Hansen a decade later, the Evans of the world may start to get quite the rep for uncool behavior).

But back to Panic's 13...Other than a brief video appearance by Evan's rabbi (played by David Shukiar), the show is all kids, all the time and Pearl, Cooper and choreographer Michelle Elkin have harnessed some real vocal talent and fantastic energy among their cast and put it to great use. The ensemble numbers (most notably the opening "Thirteen" and the aforementioned "A Little More Homework.") provide a window into all of the characters while letting all of their collective hormones, exuberance and doubts run rampant. As a group, these actors cook.

Individually, many of these characters fall into stock categories: dumb brutish jock, naïve beauty queen, etc. The actors do their best to break them out of the stereotyped shackles of Eilish and Horn's book, but it's not an easy battle. The misfits fare best. Brown's Patrice deftly mixes humor, neediness and pride making Patrice pretty much the only character with a consistent moral compass; honestly given how winning Brown is, we're almost rooting for her to ditch Evan for the feckless lout that he is. Complicating matters is this production's lack of strength at its center. While his singing is solid, Daugherty feels lost as Evan, rarely tapping into the character's brains, sadness or inner turmoil.

Umipig does strong work with Archie. Infusing crippled Archie with wryness, a dollop of Machiavelli and not a hint of self-pity, the actor gives this complicated kid some real heft. He is, not surprisingly, the subject of the decidedly un-woke song "Terminal Illness," a number which this production ickifies by putting the female chorus in borderline sexualized nurse outfits.

13: The musical, it should be noted, is enjoying a bit of a moment thanks to a recent film adaptation for Netflix that, of course, uses adult characters. A flashback to the credit list of the original Broadway production, reveals that the show marked the debuts of Graham Phillips and Ariana Grande.

The Panic!/BTPS players may be bound for similar success. They've got some homework to do (as what teens don't), but if their work here is any indication, they're well on their way.

13 THE MUSICAL plays through September 18 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center

Photo of (L-R) Mia Akemi-Brown, Peter Umipig and Ethan Daugherty courtesy of Panic! Productions.

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