Navigating Uncharted Waters with "13" the Musical

Do you remember turning 13: the anticipation, angst, joy, of wanting to "fit in" and "stand out"? On December 16-18, presents its production of 13, a grown-up story about growing up.

On a pure plot level, the Broadway musical hit 13 concerns young Evan Goldman, about to turn 13, suddenly swept from his comfortable environs of New York to a middle school in modern day Indiana and his subsequent search for enough cool kids to come to his Bar Mitzvah. Evan must face important decisions about what he is willing to sacrifice to gain popularity.

“Within this quest, the musical brilliantly captures the bluster, percolating hormonal palpitations, confusions, awkwardness, crudeness and cruelty of adolescence,” comments Sampad Martin Kachuck, Mount Madonna School’s longtime performing arts director. “Yet, underneath the costume and affect of the play’s many stereotypically named factions, each character involved—jock, preppie, cheerleader, geek, new age hippie, intellectual, Goth or skater—swims in the uncharted waters between childhood and young adulthood. Whether audience or performer, we can appreciate, perhaps even empirically know, the vulnerability of this deceptively hard journey.

Directors of young adult theatre are often faced with selecting plays filled with characters far from the age of their students or set in historical or vastly different realities,” adds Kachuck. “The Performing Arts Directing Team this year wanted a play that spoke directly to our students’ experiences of growing up either directly or indirectly. 13 is written broadly and brassy, filled with kids far from perfect, behaving in ways that although recognizable, are not always preferable; yet it is through their sincere need to be seen, heard and accepted, that the play speaks to all ages, for their quests are not confined to the young.”    

Showtimes are 7 p.m. on Dec. 16 and 17, and 2 p.m. on Dec. 18. Reserved tickets are available at (408) 847-2717; adults are $15 and students under 18 are $10. The play will be performed at the School’s Hawks’ Nest Theater at 445 Summit Rd., Mount Madonna.

13 was premiered by The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2007, and debuted on Broadway in 2008. The show’s music and lyrics for the show were written by Jason Robert Brown; and the story is based on a book by Dan Elish and Robert Horn, and presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).