Broadview
Heights Spotlights’ Summer Youth Musical: 13
The Broadview Heights Spotlights
Community Theater’s youth production of the musical, 13, will run June 18 –June 28, 2015.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances are at 7:00PM; Sunday matinees
begin at 3:00PM.
13 is a musical about fitting in - and standing out. Evan Goldman is plucked from his fast paced,
preteen New York City life and plopped into a sleepy Indiana town following his
parents’ divorce. Surrounded by an array of simpleminded middle school
students, he needs to establish his place in the popularity pecking order. Can
he situate himself on a comfortable link of the food chain or will he dangle at
the end with the outcasts?
The
show’s music and lyrics are composed by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years, Bridges
of Madison County) and the book was written by Dan Elish and Robert Horn. 13 ran on Broadway for over a hundred
performances in 2008 and 2009. There
are currently plans for CBS to make a movie version in the near future.
“Our summer youth production has
really grown over the past five years.
This year we had over 45 kids audition for 16 roles,” says Tim Anderson,
Education Director for the Spotlights. Anderson
and Maggie Majercik, both residents of Broadview Heights, are co-directing this
production, their fifth summer youth show collaboration. Joining them this year is Ryan Bergeron
serving as music director. “This show is
a great choice for us this year. It’s
interesting seeing kids get to be kids.
The discussions we have during rehearsals are heart-felt and honest, and
this is translating into their acting,” says Anderson.
The show features a remarkably
talented cast (the average age of which is 13.6) and features Ian Stewart, Lexi
Frendak, Nicholas DeAngelis, Dylan Grosh-Hoy, Grace Auble, and Erica
Liebold. The remaining cast includes
David Bowler, Delia Brennan, Zoe Douglas, Audrey Halvorson, Clay Hoffner,
Hunter Lewicki, Alicia Pedraza, Lilly Saunders, Lex Speer, and Nathan
Weagraff.
The show is not recommended for
children under the age of 10 due to adolescent themes and some language.