'13, A New Musical' Rocks on Broadway Starting Today 10/5

13, A New Musical, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years), which began previews on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 officially opens at The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th  Street) today, Sunday, October 5, 2008. With a book by award winning children's author & songwriter Dan Elish ("Born Too Short, Confessions of an 8th Grade Basket Case") and Robert Horn (Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance), 13, A New Musical is directed by Tony Award nominee Jeremy Sams (The Sound of Music in the West End) and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Christopher Gattelli (South Pacific). 

Evan Goldman has it all – he's popular, has the perfect family and lives in the greatest city in the world – New York. That is until his parents get divorced and he's forced to move with his Mom… to Indiana.  Uprooted from his old life, he has to make new friends and somehow manoeuvre his way through the minefield of High School to become part of the "in-crowd".  The cast is comprised entirely of teenagers, but the stories that come to life are ageless, the emotions they explore timeless, the laughter and the memories they provide priceless.  Featuring an explosive score by Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown, 13, A New Musical is about fitting in and standing out.

The cast features Al Calderon as Eddie, Eamon Foley as Richie, Caitlin Gannas Molly, Ariana Grande as Charlotte, Aaron Simon Gross as Archie, Elizabeth Egan Gillies as Lucy, Malik Hammond as Malcolm, Joey La Varco as Simon,Delaney Moro as Kendra, Eric M. Nelsen as Brett, Graham Phillips as Evan,Allie Trimm as Patrice, Brynn Williams as Cassie.  Also in the cast are Riley Costello, Henry Hodges, Mary Claire Miskell, LiAna Ortiz, Max Schneider, Corey J. Snide and the on-stage teen band members are Lexi Bodick on bass,Zac Coe on percussion, Adam Michael Kaufman on keyboard, Zach Page on guitar, Chris Raymond on guitar, Charlie Rosen (swing musician).    

The production features scenic & costume design by Tony Nominee David Farley (2008's Sunday in the Park with George), lighting design by Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt (The Coast of Utopia Part I) and sound design by Jon Weston (The Color Purple).

13, A New Musical earned the LA Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Production and Best Musical Score for its production at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles (December 22, 2006 – February 18, 2007) and enjoyed a successful run at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT (May 8, 2008 – June 9, 2008.  The musical is produced on Broadway by Bob Boyett,Roger Berlind, Tim Levy, Stacey Mindich, Ken Davenport, Broadway Across America,Jane Bergère, Carl Moellenberg, Sharon Karmazin, in association with The Araca Group.

Jason Robert Brown (Music and Lyrics) has been hailed as "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" (Philadelphia Inquirer), and his "extraordinary, jubilant theater music " (Chicago Tribune) has been heard all over the world, whether in one of the hundreds of productions of his musicals every year or in his own incendiary live performances. The New York Times refers to Jason as "a leading member of a new generation of composers who embody high hopes for the American musical." Jason is the composer and lyricist of the musical, The Last Five Years, which was cited as one of Time Magazine's 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics. Jason won a 1999 Tony Award for his score to Parade, a musical written with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince, which premiered at Lincoln Center Theatre in December 1998, and subsequently won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Musical. Parade was also presented on a national tour in 2000, which Jason conducted. Jason's first musical, Songs for a New World, a theatrical song cycle directed by Daisy Prince, played Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in the fall of 1995, and has since been seen in more than two hundred productions around the world. 13 premiered in January 2007 at Los Angeles's Mark Taper Forum and received the LA Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Production and Best Musical Score.   His next project is Honeymoon in Vegas, a musical adaptation of the 1992 film, written with Andrew Bergman. The Trumpet of the Swan, a piece for narrator and orchestra adapted by Marsha Norman, will premiere this winter at the Kennedy Center.  Jason is the winner of the 2002 Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyrics and the 1996 Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Foundation Award for Musical Theatre. Jason's songs, including the cabaret standard "Stars and the Moon," have been performed and recorded by Audra McDonald, Betty Buckley, Karen Akers, Renée Fleming, Philip Quast, Jon Hendricks and many others.   Jason's first solo album, "Wearing Someone Else's Clothes," featuring his band The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, was named one of Amazon.com's best of 2005, and is available from Sh-K-Boom Records. His collaboration with singer lauren kennedy, "Songs of Jason Robert Brown," is available on PS Classics. Jason's piano sonata, "Mr. Broadway" was commissioned and premiered by Anthony De Mare at Carnegie Hall. Jason was a Tony Award nominee for his contributions to the score of Urban Cowboy.  He has also contributed music to the hit Nickelodeon TV series "The Wonder Pets".  His scores are published by Hal Leonard. Jason currently teaches musical theater performance and composition at the University of Southern California. 

Dan Elish (Book) is the author of seven novels including "Born Too Short, Confessions of an 8th Grade Basket Case" (Named New York Public Library "Book for the Teenage 2003" and a "Young Adult Choice for the International Reading Association, 2004), most recently of "The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks" (for children) and "The Misadventures of Justin Hearnfeld" (for grown-up types).  Dan is also the writer of many non-fiction books for young readers, scripts for children's TV (notably PBS's "Cyberchase"), and music and lyrics for several musicals.  He has received fellowships and scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and is a member of the Dramatist Guild. 

Robert Horn (Book) wrote the book for Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance.  He is a veteran of television and film, having written and produced such classic television shows and pilots as "Designing Women," "Living Single," and "High Society."  Currently in development with the Sony pilot "Friends in Low Places" under a two year production deal.  Film credits include "Good Advice" for Artisan Picture and "Wild Life" for Disney Animated Features.    

Jeremy Sams (Director) Broadway- As director: Noises Off. As lyricist: Amour (also at Goodspeed), Ghetto. As bookwriter: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As composer: Arcadia and Some Americans Abroad at Lincoln Center. As translator: Indiscretions. Other work as director includes: Donkeys' Years; Little Britain Live; The Sound of Music (still running at the London Palladium); Stephen Sondheim's Passion; Two Pianos, Four Hands; Spend Spend Spend; Benefactors; Maria Friedman by Special Arrangement (all London West End); Marat/Sade; Wild Oats; Noises Off (Royal National Theatre). Jeremy has also worked extensively as a composer, having written over fifty scores for theatre, TV, and film, ranging from "Persuasion" (BBC, BAFTA Award), "The Mother" (BBC), and "Enduring Love" (Pathe, Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Score 2004) to Wind in the Willows at the Royal National Theatre, Old Vic, and worldwide. Jeremy also translates plays and operas from a variety of languages; operas include The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Merry Widow, La Boheme, The Force of Destiny (all variously at ENO, Covent Garden, and elsewhere), L'Etoile (NYCO) and The Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse). Play translations include The Miser, Mary Stuart, Les Parents Terrible (RNT), Becket (West End), The Park (RSC). Future plans include The King and I (London Albert Hall) and a "new" Barque opera for the Metropolitan Opera.

Christopher Gattelli (Choreographer): South Pacific (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award noms.). Broadway: Sunday in the Park With George, The Ritz, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, High Fidelity. West End: Sunday in the Park with George. Off-Broadway: Altar Boyz (Lortel, Callaway Awards; Drama Desk nom.); Bat Boy: The Musical! (Lortel Award); tick, tick…BOOM!; 10 Million Miles; Adrift in Macao; I Love You Because; How to Save the World…. Favorites: Silence! The Musical, Chess concert with Josh Groban, Hair concert with Jennifer Hudson, "Rosie O'Donnell Show" (resident choreographer for three seasons). Upcoming: Godspell and directing the first Muppet musical, Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas.

David Farley (Scenic and Costume Designer) won the Olivier Award and the Evening Standard Award, with Timothy Bird, for the West End production, and he also designed the Chocolate Factory's Little Shop of Horrors (also West End) and their recent sellout production of La Cage aux Folles (set) as well as tick, tick…BOOM! (also Los Angeles). Other productions include Sweeney Todd, The Seagull, Macbeth, Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Dealer's Choice in leading UK theatres.

Brian MacDevitt (Lighting Designer). NYC: A Catered Affair, The Seagull, The Receptionist, Cymbeline, The Coast of Utopia Part I, Inherit the Wind, The Pod Project w/Nancy Bannon, The Vertical Hour, The Pillowman, The Color Purple, Into the Woods, Urinetown, Fiddler…, Nine, The Invention of Love, Side Show, Master Class, et al. Dance: ABT, Tere O'Connor Dance, Lar Lubovitch, et al. Recipient of Tonys, Obie, Bessie, Outer Critics, Hewes Award, Drama Desk, et al. Film: Cradle Will Rock. Faculty: Purchase College.

Jon Weston (Sound Designer). Broadway: Les Miserables; The Color Purple; The Glass Menagerie; Caroline, or Change (AUDELCO Award); Nine; Imaginary Friends; Thoroughly Modern Millie; It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues; On the Town; Company in concert at Lincoln Center; Man of La Mancha. Other theatre: A Little Night Music (L.A. Drama Critics Award), Blue Man Group. 

Photo Credits Pablo Pimienta