13: The Musical Parent Guide

After his parents’ sudden divorce, 13-year-old Evan (Eli Golden) moves from New York City to rural Indiana, just before his bar mitzvah. Now Evan has to navigate a completely new social environment, make new friends, and throw the best bar mitzvah this town has ever seen. All while figuring out how to be thirteen.

A good musical should have three main elements: a cohesive story, compelling characters, and great music. 13: The Musical nails one of those elements, but stumbles on the other two. The music, and the accompanying dancing, are fantastic. The songs are catchy, well written, and not too cheesy. Unfortunately, this adaptation of the stage production falls apart between the musical numbers.

I have not seen the stage production, but I have a hunch that a lot of story was cut to fit into the 90-minute time frame, as opposed to the usual 2-3 hours stage musicals command. What results is a story that feels rushed and incomplete, and characters that lack substance. I am never one to argue for a longer runtime, but this is the rare occasion where it would have been welcome. Entire scenes seem to be missing, which eliminates the relationship building that is needed for the plot to work.

That said, the movie does have some strong messages around growing up, notably that making mistakes is part of life, but how you deal with and fix those mistakes is what’s important. Although I have issues with the script on a structural level, I still had a fun time watching it. The songs, the dancing, and Rhea Perlman were enough to win me over in spite of the obvious flaws. A bonus is the almost complete lack of negative content, making this a great choice for young musical fans.