Jason Robert Brown

Broadway musical “13” has tween market to itself By Frank Scheck Hollywood Reporter, Tue Oct 7, 2008 6:18am EDT NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Broadway has plenty of shows for adults and several (nearly all of them courtesy of Disney) for young kids. But until now the tween market has largely been neglected, despite the mega-success of such musical acts as Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. The musical “13,” which opened Sunday at the Jacobs, is an attempt to rectify that situation, and because the stage version of “High School Musical” is taking its sweet time getting here, “13”Read More »

Musical Mazel Tov For Heartland Teens By BARBARA HOFFMAN New York Post, October 6, 2008 RATING: 3 out of 4 stars I can’t remember the last Broadway musical with a big Torah number. Then again, I can’t re member a leading man six years shy of legal drinking age. All that (and more) adds up to “13,” the disarmingly charming new musical that opened last night. With a raw, rousing score by Jason Robert Brown sung by a cast of 13- to 17-year-olds, it’s Sondheim for MySpacers – the perfect show for those too old for Disney, too young forRead More »

Stranger in Strange Land: The Acne Years By BEN BRANTLEY New York Times, October 6, 2008 Youth isn’t only for the young, at least not as a marketable commodity in popular entertainment. On Broadway as in Hollywood, there will always be generation-crossing shows displaying fresh-fleshed things in hormonally induced states of agony and ecstasy. Think of musicals like “Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “Spring Awakening,” all of which appealed to those demographic rarities, theatergoers in their teens and 20s, but still spoke to older folks who remembered their own years of acne-dotted angst and laughed or sighed in sympathy. That said,Read More »

Is ’13’ The Next ‘High School Musical’? New musical, with songs by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, is a more dysfunctional, realistic take on growing up. By Jim Cantiello, with additional reporting by Garth Bardsley MTV News, October 6, 2008 The senior class of East High from “High School Musical” might have to watch their backs: There’s a new batch of singing and dancing teenagers about to enter the world of pop culture. But you won’t be able to catch these kids’ adventures on a mouse-themed basic-cable network or in an upcoming movie. Nope, the new class of talentedRead More »

Charming teen stars far outnumber inventive scenes in ’13’ By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY October 6. 2008 NEW YORK — With the High School Musical franchise raking in the dough for Disney and shows such as Spring Awakening and Legally Blonde luring younger fans to Broadway, it was only a matter of time before producers banked on a project aimed squarely at the tween set. The musical 13 (**1/2 out of four), which opened Sunday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, is neither a soaring, sobering account of troubled youth nor a glib commercial enterprise. It actually has more inRead More »