Inspiration

Although 13 is an original, new musical, since its debut it has inspired a novel by the same name from authors Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish.

Productions

Following 2 weeks of previews, 13 first premiered on January 7, 2007, at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California and ran through February 18, 2007. With a book by Dan Elish and music/lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, the cast and band were comprised of all teenagers. Todd Graff directed the production, with choreography by Michele Lynch.

The musical was next presented at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester, Connecticut, by Goodspeed Musicals from May 9, 2008, through June 8, 2008, with direction by Jeremy Sams, choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and the addition of book writer Robert Horn.

13 then began previews on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on September 16, 2008, before officially opening on October 5, 2008. The show ran for 22 previews and 105 performances before then closing on January 4, 2009. Jeremy Sams and Christopher Gattelli reprised their same duties as at Goodspeed, and most of the Broadway cast was also in the Goodspeed production.

Following its Broadway run 13 has since gone on to have a successful life in numerous international productions including those in the UK, Israel, Hong Kong, Australia and Belgium, as well as Off-Broadway and regionally.

Cultural Influence

• 13 is the first Broadway show in which all of the actors and orchestra members, with the exclusion of the conductor, were under the age of 18.

• A cast album was recorded by the original Broadway cast and released on September 20, 2008.

• After posting to his website that he had begun work on a screenplay, Jason Robert Brown stated in an interview in October 2013 that he believed a movie adaptation of 13 would be happening within the next year.

Trivia

• 13 received a 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics .

• The premiere production of 13 at the Mark Taper Forum received a nomination for the 2007 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, World Premiere Musical.

• Because the cast album was recorded during the show's Broadway previews when edits were still being made, the actual track list and order of a few songs is slightly different from the final version of the show that audiences saw.

• Originally the show ran as a longer, 2-act show with an intermission, but was eventually whittled down to a continuously running 90-minute one-act.