The kids are alright: A review of '13: The Musical'

There’s something earth-shattering about hitting puberty. Acne-induced angst, uncontrollable bouts of lust, hormones going haywire and your clothes bulging out in all the wrong places… It’s terrific, really. Eight years later, I still remember life at 13 with acute vividness and an eternal sense of horror.

That said, everyone loves a good coming-of-age story. We find certain sentimental value in the existential meanderings of kids not even old enough to shave, and the success of the bildungsroman in popular entertainment is proof of that. There are the thoughtful, well-written shows like The Wonder Years, and then there are the cringe-inducing franchises like High School Musical.

Suffice it to say, 13: The Musical lies safely on the other side of the HSM fence.

Staged by the Ateneo Blue Repertory for its 21st season, 13 follows the adolescent life and times of one Evan Goldman (RJ Santillan), the wandering Jew uprooted from his New York home to move to Appleton, Indiana; location: nowhere. Evan struggles to acclimatize himself to his new surroundings, climbing the rungs of the popularity ladder while trying to maintain relations with his brethren of outcasts — the nerdy, nymph-like Patrice (Bernice Reyes) and endearingly shameless Archie (David Mercado), who stalks the school grounds on crutches.

Evan’s bar mitzvah is coming up, and what better way to celebrate this rite of passage than by having the coolest kids in town grace him with their presence? Life on the other side wouldn’t be complete without your stereotypical contingent of jock plus cheerleader — in this case a love triangle known as the Brett (Darrell Uy)-Lucy (Roxci de Leon)-Kendra (Raya Esteban) conundrum. 

Of course, there’s always a catch. And with green eagerness and an all-consuming desire to fit in, Evan discovers that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too, especially where friendships are concerned.  

Now the plot is nothing new. It’s formulaic and overused to a fault, with the characters cleaving to such generic archetypes (the persecuted Jew and evil cheerleader?) that you might wonder how 13 can possibly offer anything new to the table. The short answer is — it doesn’t.

But you’ll be too busy enjoying yourself to care.

What I like about the show is its unpretentious handling of all this hackneyed material, putting in deft touches that hilariously (and quite movingly) bring out the anxieties and fears of our acne years. Case in point, their pursuit of love in a time of unmitigated curiosity is epitomized in references to “The Tongue,” a catch-all term which puts into perspective a 13-year-old’s imaginings of sex. Then there are the particularly inspired scenes such as the date fiasco during a horror movie, and the comical laments of jocks Malcolm (Wrench Canicosa) and Eddie (Nikki Surtida) about losing Brett to a girl. Add to this the fantastic, I-want-to-get-up-and-dance/sing/clap music of Jason Robert Brown, and you have a play that is as wise-cracking as it is poignant.

The cast was up to scratch. Obviously talented amateur actors, they knew when to rein it in and when to burst out in all their youthful exuberance. Director Christopher De Venecia did a great job in harnessing the powers of a small stage and even smaller cast; modulating the acting chops with a sensitivity that showed how far a cry 13 was from anything remotely Disneyesque. RJ Santillan was especially brilliant, anchoring the entire show with his emotional sincerity and knack for wide-eyed comedic timing; while Roxci de Leon deserves special mention for her convincing sass as backstabbing cheerleader.

The set design worked well for the show’s purposes, its minimalism giving it a sense of universality that allowed viewers to enjoy the play on their own terms, and not have to refer to the fact that the story is set in Indiana, USA.

I was only disappointed by the number of flat, barely-reached notes which dampened the shows buoyancy somewhat; as well as Bernice Reyes’s colorless portrayal of Patrice, a character even more important than Evan due to the gravitas of her role in the story. 

Overall, though, 13 in its entirety was a neatly executed show. Entertaining, light-hearted, and fun. Plus, for an amateur production, it was surprisingly good. In fact, if I had to relieve the most confusing (read: worst) years of my life all over again, I’d pick 13 over any old Disney rerun any day.

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Ateneo Blue Repertory’s 13: The Musical is still running on August 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, & 11 at the Fine Arts Theater, 3/F Gonzaga Hall, Ateneo de Manila University. Contact Aina Pacificador at 09175002462 for ticket inquiries.