Music Countdown

Album Description

A grown-up story about growing up, featuring the only all-teenage cast ever to hit Broadway! With an unforgettable rock score from Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown (The Last 5 Years, Songs ForA New World), 13 is a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages about discovering that cool is where you find it, and sometimes where you least expect it.

Amazon.com

On paper, this tuner about, and played exclusively by kids (the title refers to their age and the bar mitzvah around which the plot revolves) seemed like an odd fit for Jason Robert Brown. This, after all, is a composer who made his initial splash with the somber Parade and the two-hander The Last Five Years, about the unraveling of a marriage. But surprise! Brown’s score, lightweight but very fun pop, is the best thing about the show - okay, along with the swell cast of freakishly gifted children. The book, about a NYC kid adjusting to life in a small Indiana town, is rather cliché—no wonder the characters are identified by one- and two-word descriptions ("outsider," "loser," "drama queen," etc.) on the booklet’s back cover. But on their own, the songs work well, and Brown proves adept at coming up with killer hooks ("Hey Kendra" is a really funny take on an R&B seduction number and "It Can’t Be True" has an unfortunate way of drilling itself into your head). The show pokes fun at Disney a couple of times, but it actually sounds not unlike a musical-theater take on the High School Musical franchise. -- Elisabeth Vincentelli

Tracks - Disc 1

• 13 / Becoming A Man
• The Lamest Place In The World
• Hey Kendra
• Get Me What I Need
• What It Means To Be A Friend
• All Hail The Brain/ Terminal Illness
• Getting Ready
• Any Minute
• Here I Come
• Opportunity
• Bad Bad News
• Tell Her
• It Can't Be True
• If That's What It Is
• A Little More Homework
• Brand New You
• 13 (single version Bonus Track)
• A Little More Homework (single version Bonus Track)

More Information

• Studio - Ghostlight
• Publisher - Ghostlight
• Label - Ghostlight
• Binding - Audio CD

Format Information

• Cast Recording

Amazon Product ID: B001G54702