13 : The Musical

On paper, this is a musical about a bunch of tweeting teenage school kids in America, fired-up by hormonal energy and desperate for that first Kiss – and the entire cast have not gone much beyond their 13th birthdays. Nothing to get too excited about then.

How wrong can you be! This is not a school play to be endured and politely applauded with relief when they finally get to the end. This is a non-stop one and a half hours that rocks you with laughs and has great guitar riffs in its narrative score and sends you home still smiling at the sheer exuberance of today’s smartest stage kids.

The British Theatre Academy and the Minack Youth Theatre gives this bunch of youngsters the confidence to go right to the top of the class and win five gold stars for the homework that has gone into making this the slickest production you could wish to see.

It was staged at London’s Ambassadors Theatre last summer by director and choreographer Ewan Jones, with musical director Chris Ma on keyboards, accompanied by Chris Parks on lead guitar, Scott Watters on bass and sound designer Aaron Barker drumming throughout the action – the beat attracting a pod of dolphins that dropped by on the opening night.

The British Theatre Academy has already made its name on this stage with some superb productions giving young stars in the making a chance to work alongside experienced actors, winning the Minack Trophy with the musical, Gypsy, last season.

There were some changes in the cast for this production, but among others, Milo Panni was retained as Evan, the brilliant pitch perfect lead, who is obsessed as a ‘new boy’ about who will join him for his Bar Mitzvah party, along with Ethan Quinn as Archie, the boy with a degenerative illness, who also has some of the funniest lines, and makes the most of them.

Bethan Keens shone as Patrice, the girl who is the butt of the school bullies, along with Grace Jenkins as the soooo gorgeous Kendra, and Isabella Pappas as the scratchy cattie teasy Lucy.

It was Lewis Ledlie playing the quiffed and baseball jacketed ‘fit’ guy Brett, as well as doubling as a bass-voiced Rabbi, who won whoops of delight from young fans.

They had great support from Alex Thomas as Malcolm and Anders Coode as Eddie, plus a spot-on chorus, and a polished ensemble recruited from the Minack’s own youth team.

Tessa Stephens was in charge of the teenage wardrobe set off by multi tone sneakers, with simple neon style lighting by Simon Hutchings, and the show was produced by Matthew Chandler-Garcia.

Becoming a teenager might be a spotty nightmare, but when you’re top of the class like this, it can’t be too bad.