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[0:08] Richie Grasso: Hello and welcome to Half Hour, an entertainment podcast through Two Worlds Entertainment.

[0:12] Jeff Malone: I'm Richie.

[0:13] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff.

[0:14] Jeff Malone: Here to bring you all the casual conversation on the concerts, shows, movies, films, events, things that we observe and see throughout our careers.

[0:23] Richie Grasso: Today we're talking about 13: The Musical, uh, the movie adaptation of the Broadway show, which is coming out on Netflix.

[0:31] Richie Grasso: So just letting you all know, you have been warned there will be uh spoilers featured today about this.

[0:37] Richie Grasso: Um, this Netflix film is scheduled for release on Friday, August 12th, 2022 on Netflix.

[0:43] Richie Grasso: So if you're listening to this and it's already out, which it is because this is coming out on the same day, you will have an opportunity to go see that on Netflix.

[0:51] Richie Grasso: Um, we're not necessarily talking 100% about the stage production from 2008, although we will talk about that a little bit.

[0:56] Richie Grasso: This is about 13: The Musical Netflix version in 2022.

[1:02] Jeff Malone: Wait, we'll talk about how I have never seen it.

[1:04] Richie Grasso: Yes, right.

[1:05] Jeff Malone: We're talking about the movie.

[1:06] Jeff Malone: The film was directed by Tamara Davis with a screenplay by Robert Horn based on 13, the Broadway musical by Jason Robert Brown.

[1:15] Jeff Malone: Uh, also by Robert Horn and Dan Elish.

[1:18] Jeff Malone: This is a uh Broadway musical from 2007 to really 2008, 2007 to 2008.

[1:26] Jeff Malone: Um, that ran on Broadway for a little bit, um, featuring Ariana Grande, actually.

[1:30] Jeff Malone: For those of you who didn't know, Ariana Grande was in the original Broadway cast of this.

[1:34] Jeff Malone: Before she was a mega superstar now.

[1:37] Jeff Malone: Um, and just so you know, a little bit of the premise.

[1:40] Jeff Malone: I'm sure a lot of you guys have seen this, or hopefully, if you're listening right now, you've seen this.

[1:44] Jeff Malone: After moving from New York to Indiana in the wake of his parents' divorce, a clever middle schooler named Evan is determined to throw his bar mitzvah and have the best bar mitzvah he can have.

[1:55] Richie Grasso: What are your thoughts?

[1:56] Richie Grasso: Oh, actually, wait, before we go into that, I would like to say that we were at the New York City premiere film screening of this on August 8th, um, at the Paris Theater in Midtown Manhattan, which was really, really exciting.

[2:09] Richie Grasso: We got to meet some cool people, we were there, uh, and we're gonna talk about that a little bit too.

[2:15] Richie Grasso: But let's just talk a little bit about the film overall and what your thoughts are on this film, Jeff, from uh the story perspective and music, and what are your thoughts on the film?

[2:24] Jeff Malone: I'll just give my quick overall thought here.

[2:26] Jeff Malone: Um, I really enjoyed the movie, which I think is shocking to Richie.

[2:32] Richie Grasso: Yeah, because I can't get him on the high school musical train.

[2:35] Jeff Malone: And so I thought maybe he I'm not sure what I would have thought of you.

[2:44] Jeff Malone: Why tell me why you liked this then?

[2:45] Jeff Malone: And I liked this because I maybe it was the environment that we were in, just having everyone there that was in the show.

[2:53] Jeff Malone: Well, in the film, it was like all the young actors were there, and people were cheering when they were on the screen, and it was great.

[3:01] Jeff Malone: Maybe it was just that, but I really thought that this was the perfect kind of coming-of-age film right now, you know, that is also set in a musical environment.

[3:10] Jeff Malone: So I think where high school musical and some of these high school musical things converge on being corny and a little dated at times, even I find that with the series.

[3:18] Jeff Malone: I mean, it's fun, it's catchy, and people love it, but this seemed to be more rooted in reality for me.

[3:24] Jeff Malone: And I think that's why I really enjoyed this film.

[3:27] Jeff Malone: I really enjoyed it.

[3:28] Jeff Malone: I loved the musical numbers.

[3:29] Jeff Malone: I've known some of the musical numbers from the Broadway cast recording.

[3:32] Jeff Malone: There were some additional songs in this movie, which was really great, and I loved that.

[3:36] Jeff Malone: I found that the whole score was really freshened up for this, and it was really uh more pop-heavy and it had a brighter tone to it.

[3:44] Jeff Malone: The tempos seemed maybe a little faster, but I could be wrong on that.

[3:47] Jeff Malone: Um I really, really enjoyed it.

[3:49] Jeff Malone: I would like to make a really interesting point though, because there was some really, really cool casting choices here.

[3:55] Jeff Malone: I mean, Eli Golden, who played Evan Goldman was great.

[3:58] Jeff Malone: I thought he really carried the whole film really well.

[4:01] Jeff Malone: I loved Rhea Perlman's appearance as Grandma Ruth, Josh Peck as Rabbi Shapiro, Deborah Messing as Jessica Goldman, Evan's mom, among all the other children.

[4:10] Jeff Malone: It was so cool.

[4:11] Jeff Malone: I think what's the most interesting thing here is if you know this from the Broadway production, the 13 Broadway production was the first and possibly only Broadway musical to have a complete cast and band entirely made up of teenagers.

[4:27] Jeff Malone: There was no adult characters in the Broadway run of this.

[4:31] Jeff Malone: So for the film, adult characters were added.

[4:34] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[4:34] Jeff Malone: So I thought that was cool because it did allow you to see a little bit more of a different perspective.

[4:40] Jeff Malone: However, I did like that there was this idea that this whole show was just about the kids, featuring the kids, the teenagers, I should say, and to have the band.

[4:51] Jeff Malone: That's very, very, very cool.

[4:53] Jeff Malone: I found with this film that because of the addition of the adult characters, there was a little bit of a sense of lag in some of the book scenes for me.

[5:02] Jeff Malone: I found that every time a book scene came, I was like, okay, when's the next song?

[5:06] Jeff Malone: Because the songs were so strong, and the singing and the dancing was amazing.

[5:11] Jeff Malone: And then we got some of the book scenes, and I didn't really feel like all the adult relationships really completed.

[5:17] Jeff Malone: And this is just me really looking at this with a microscope.

[5:21] Jeff Malone: There was the problems with the mother and the father.

[5:23] Jeff Malone: They were going to live with the grandmother.

[5:24] Jeff Malone: I thought it was nice, but I don't know.

[5:26] Jeff Malone: Part of it just seemed to me like we didn't really need it.

[5:29] Jeff Malone: Kind of like the Broadway show didn't really have it either, you know.

[5:32] Richie Grasso: I don't know what your thoughts were on that.

[5:33] Richie Grasso: If the addition of the adult characters worked for you or not.

[5:36] Jeff Malone: Yeah, the adult acting kind of seemed a little forced.

[5:39] Jeff Malone: And in a story where it probably wasn't needed, it was really nice to see these teens and preteens really kind of get there and kind of really own the film.

[5:50] Richie Grasso: They owned the film from some, you know, greats that have been in the industry for a while.

[5:56] Richie Grasso: And that's not to discredit them, but you can really see that it wasn't rooted in the adults in this film.

[6:04] Jeff Malone: I think by adding the duet for Deborah Messing, tried to help bring some musicality to the adults, but I didn't know if it was necessarily needed.

[6:12] Jeff Malone: I thought this was enough with the kids.

[6:15] Jeff Malone: There were some funny one-liners from Josh Peck and Rhea Perlman and Deborah Messing.

[6:18] Jeff Malone: Sure, they added some comedy element to it.

[6:20] Jeff Malone: But the acting kind of came across as safe.

[6:25] Richie Grasso: Yeah, Peter Hermann was also the father of Joel Goldman, right?

[6:28] Richie Grasso: So there were some other there was quite a few um moments there.

[6:30] Richie Grasso: It just seemed like I it was I was so much more into the songs and the story from the kids' perspective.

[6:37] Richie Grasso: And every time we went back to the adult scene, it's like, oh come on, I want to go back to another kid song.

[6:41] Richie Grasso: Just because of how this started, it was kind of groundbreaking to have all these teenagers on Broadway doing this.

[6:46] Jeff Malone: Right, where I think it may have moved along for us where we some of the book scenes in this film, you know, there was cheering happening after each musical number.

[6:57] Richie Grasso: So the book scenes are short too.

[6:59] Richie Grasso: Uh and that cheering kind of overlapping some of it, it didn't really bother me because the stiff parts were getting kind of omitted for us.

[7:10] Jeff Malone: And like, and like you said, we were at the film screening, so the cast was there.

[7:13] Jeff Malone: We were sitting amongst the cast and they were cheering each other on during the screening.

[7:17] Jeff Malone: And that was fun, and probably something that normally doesn't happen at a screening, but still I'm very curious to see what people see when they see this at home versus like, oh, they're probably gonna be like, oh, maybe that wasn't needed, those book scenes, or how did they freshen them up?

[7:34] Richie Grasso: Because some of the acting, yeah, just seemed stiff in those areas.

[7:38] Richie Grasso: It was just like, I know it was to move plot along way quicker than a Broadway musical does, but still, you know.

[7:45] Jeff Malone: Well, I think this is it is important to tell a story like this.

[7:49] Jeff Malone: I love giving 13-year-olds a voice like this and let them explain what they're going through from 2008 to 2022.

[7:57] Jeff Malone: A 13-year-old's life is a little different, even there now, too, right?

[8:01] Jeff Malone: I think the disc I also really appreciated the discussion of the Jewish culture and how that was a prominent aspect of the plot here.

[8:08] Jeff Malone: And I liked that.

[8:09] Jeff Malone: I liked the additional music from Jason Robert Brown.

[8:12] Jeff Malone: He's amazing.

[8:13] Jeff Malone: I really think everything he does is so strong.

[8:16] Jeff Malone: And he writes really, really well the music and the lyric, and it's just really strong.

[8:22] Jeff Malone: So to me, out of everything, the strongest parts and the things I like the most were the music.

[8:27] Jeff Malone: And I'm I have to shout out the choreographer Jamal Sims.

[8:30] Jeff Malone: That choreography is amazing.

[8:33] Jeff Malone: And these kids, oh, and we learned because the producers and Jason Robert Brown spoke at the beginning of the film screening.

[8:38] Jeff Malone: So we got to see them speak, and we learned that they cast all 13 13-year-olds in this actual actors at 13 years of age, we're cast in the film, just like on the Broadway stage with teenagers.

[8:50] Jeff Malone: And it is amazing to me that these kids are dancing like that at 13 years old.

[8:55] Jeff Malone: I'm like, oh my god, I can't do that now.

[8:57] Jeff Malone: I don't I couldn't do that then.

[8:59] Jeff Malone: Like these kids are so talented.

[9:02] Jeff Malone: And they make it look so easy.

[9:04] Jeff Malone: It's like, and this kind of goes into a question I wanted to ask you, and I wanted to ask our listeners too.

[9:09] Jeff Malone: When you see things like Grease and you see things like Mean Girls, and a lot of times actors are cast older, especially on the Broadway stage.

[9:18] Jeff Malone: So is more age-appropriate casting possible for future productions on Broadway, given the casting that we see here with 13?

[9:28] Richie Grasso: Well, I think that question kind of goes for both film and Broadway because I think yes, it they should be cast age appropriately.

[9:36] Richie Grasso: I don't really understand why we're casting people that are either late teenagers or even early 20-year-olds playing high school students or middle school students.

[9:47] Richie Grasso: It just doesn't work for me.

[9:48] Richie Grasso: And I get it that it's probably easier in a movie because you film over a span of months and months and even sometimes years, but on a stage, you you're kind of demanded more.

[10:02] Richie Grasso: So it would be interesting to see how producers and creative teams work with more age-appropriate actors because it's easy probably when someone is young and you can cast multiple um young actors, but a middle school student is probably getting seen wanting to be seen in that show the eight times a week or however many times a week, versus splitting the role with other people.

[10:28] Jeff Malone: You see it, you know, in Mean Girls on Broadway and The Prom on Broadway, and To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, the child and teen actors are cast with older people, right?

[10:38] Richie Grasso: I think this movie totally shows how amazing a 13-year-old, and maybe some of them are 14, you know.

[10:45] Jeff Malone: I'm sure maybe actually every single one was 13, but they were not 18.

[10:50] Richie Grasso: They weren't 21. Didn't I believe John Travolta was in his late 20s when they did Grease?

[10:54] Jeff Malone: Mid to late 20s.

[10:55] Richie Grasso: Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen was in his late 20s.

[10:58] Jeff Malone: So it becomes forced after a while.

[11:01] Richie Grasso: And it becomes like, oh, I don't know. I think you're talking about kid kids and teens of a certain age. Use that. It doesn't make sense why you wouldn't. And so that was my question for you.

[11:12] Jeff Malone: It totally made sense in this area because I've worked plenty of bar mitzvahs in the event industry. I've seen what these kids are like.

[11:19] Richie Grasso: And these kids really, really represent who’s going to these parties and who’s in middle school, you know.

[11:28] Jeff Malone: So it just worked.

[11:30] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[11:31] Jeff Malone: It really did. The energy was there. It was like, it was almost like these teenagers were maybe 10 or 11 years old when the pandemic started.

[11:41] Richie Grasso: So they were like busting at the seams to get out and keep dancing and singing, and what an appropriate time to kind of just let this movie free.

[11:49] Jeff Malone: And it was just wonderful. I just thought it was so exciting to kind of just see them all in that space too. You know, we're seeing all of these actors, young and aspiring actors to really hit the ground running in the industry and seeing them there and seeing them also happy and being part of this film was great.

[12:04] Richie Grasso: It just really, it really made the experience better for me because I had no idea going into this show. I only ever listened to the first two songs from the soundtrack when I was younger.

[12:14] Jeff Malone: And I didn't see the show, and after "Lamest Place in the World," I would always turn it off.

[12:19] Richie Grasso: So now you have a lot. And there are some added songs, yes.

[12:24] Jeff Malone: There were actually, they added "I've Been Waiting," "The Bloodmaster," and "It Would Be Funny" to the film.

[12:31] Richie Grasso: So it's interesting because I would really want to probably go back and study the original Broadway cast and those three songs to see what did they incorporate from the songs that were removed from the musical to what's been added.

[12:45] Jeff Malone: Right, totally.

[12:47] Richie Grasso: And it's interesting listening to some of those songs, the same songs from the Broadway show, and hearing just, I just like I said earlier, there was a freshening up of this music.

[12:56] Jeff Malone: The added songs were very pop modern. I thought that was really great.

[12:59] Richie Grasso: And a lot of times when I think Jason Robert Brown, I think ballad, yeah, because I think he writes a gorgeous ballad, or I think like orchestral, and so it was really nice to hear some really fresh modern sound.

[13:10] Jeff Malone: I was like, can we get him into some Hollywood studios, some music studios to write some pop stuff? Because he's such a great writer.

[13:16] Richie Grasso: Totally. I mean, I like how he writes music. A lot of the times I find some of his scores to sound the same though.

[13:23] Jeff Malone: And this one, I don't know if he had someone coming in here and help him refresh some of these songs because there were some music producers on the film too.

[13:23] Richie Grasso: Okay, because some of these songs were really taken out of their element from what was put on the stage to what's been added to the movie.

[13:37] Jeff Malone: It was very bass-heavy, it was very bop-heavy.

[13:39] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and I was like, I'm just seeing that the kids are gonna eat this up on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, make videos to it, dance to it, and I can't wait to actually see people embrace this film, especially with the youth of today.

[13:52] Jeff Malone: It's really tying in, you know, great musical theater into more of a pop moment.

[14:00] Richie Grasso: It's also putting accessibility of the art form and Netflix being the prime example. If this was released by another studio, no offense to other studios who release movie musicals, we have more coming up, but when you put it on Netflix, where so many people have access to that, and they can sit in their bedrooms or their living rooms, and they can sit with mom and dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, or they can sit by themselves and they can watch something like this.

[14:24] Jeff Malone: One of the producers in the beginning of this film at the screening said how excited she was to have the masses of teenagers see this.

[14:33] Richie Grasso: I think when you're a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old or a 14-year-old, and as these characters are figuring it out, you know, they say that we're figuring this out.

[14:42] Jeff Malone: I think what's so impressive is when you see kids today and teenagers today also trying to figure it out.

[14:51] Richie Grasso: And so, how many of them can see this? And they're not saying, oh, well, that's a musical about high school. Like Mean Girls, Prom, some of those, Grease, they're about high school. Dear Evan Hansen.

[14:59] Jeff Malone: And so it's like, oh, well, I'll be there in a few years, or I'm not a, but this kind of brought that down to kids who are really at that turning point of figuring out what their life is and where their life's gonna go.

[15:14] Richie Grasso: And this really brought some light to that age group more than what you normally see.

[15:19] Jeff Malone: And I think the producers really know that, and they're excited to see the response from the 13-year-olds of America and the world.

[15:25] Richie Grasso: Totally, especially because this is what I think kids are going through. You know, the funny parts of, oh, I'm having my 13th birthday, it's my bar mitzvah, and none of these kids have really ever heard of a bar mitzvah, but they even have a joke in there of like what one thinks a bar mitzvah is, and seeing the kids react to that and seeing how like almost the game of telephone works there.

[15:50] Jeff Malone: And that's literally what happens in middle school.

[15:52] Richie Grasso: But it's also about like you're finding your niche, you're finding am I popular? Am I a little bit odd? Am I this? And how do they come together as kids still?

[16:01] Jeff Malone: Because when we're growing up, we're all like, we're all friends.

[16:06] Richie Grasso: And then you start going through puberty and you start figuring out, like, oh, this is cool and that's cool.

[16:11] Jeff Malone: And I like basketball, but I like recycling.

[16:11] Richie Grasso: And then they all kind of go their own path.

[16:17] Jeff Malone: And then when there's these book scenes with the kids, see, I liked the book scenes with the teens.

[16:21] Richie Grasso: Because there was, it was like, are they gonna kiss? I think they like each other. Are they? And part of me was like, oh, oh, okay.

[16:27] Jeff Malone: But I was like, no, no, I think this is like literally how teenagers were talking in middle school cafeteria.

[16:32] Richie Grasso: Middle school cafeteria conversations are not like adult conversations, you know.

[16:36] Jeff Malone: And what is a big deal to them is a party, a great grade in school, mom and dad issues at home, friendships, kissing a boy or a girl for the first time, those are the big deal things, you know.

[16:50] Richie Grasso: And I thought they highlighted that so well throughout all the musical numbers and their book scenes too.

[16:55] Jeff Malone: Right. Because I think what this musical really does is it's so much more than just having a birthday party.

[17:01] Richie Grasso: It's just learning how to start being yourself in this world, even though you're only 13.

[17:06] Jeff Malone: And the bar mitzvah represents becoming the man or the bar mitzvah becoming the woman, right?

[17:11] Richie Grasso: So here in the Jewish faith, they discuss that, and I think that's really, really cool that that was tied into all of that.

[17:18] Jeff Malone: Totally, which is kind of like a question that I want to ask, and I want to ask everyone too, is the tagline for the film is "Raise your voice, even if it cracks."

[17:28] Richie Grasso: So after seeing this film now, and after you all watch this film, what does this line mean to you? And also if that could just mean what it means to you, but what does it mean to you and what does it mean to the film?

[17:42] Jeff Malone: So the "even if it cracks" being the humor as a lot of vocal cords crack at 13 years old, right? But "raise your voice," it kind of goes back to every voice matters in all industries.

[17:56] Richie Grasso: And I say this when we talk about our Broadway episodes, everything belongs on Broadway. So this, the voice of a 13-year-old and what they're going through, "raise your voice." We had representation in the best ways in this film.

[18:12] Jeff Malone: Everyone was represented here.

[18:16] Richie Grasso: Male, female, people of color, disabled actors, I mean and characters. It was so strong.

[18:21] Jeff Malone: Everybody has a voice.

[18:24] Richie Grasso: Everyone was heard. And what I loved about this is what an ensemble piece it is, because it's not like too mainly, you know, Evan's really a lead, but everyone else is so equal.

[18:32] Jeff Malone: Who's really dancing? Who's really singing? Who's got a lot of dialogue? And they're all really present.

[18:39] Richie Grasso: So "raise your voice" and "lift your voice." I believe you're saying "raise your voice" means everyone's heard everyone.

[18:45] Jeff Malone: And I loved that. That was an important message, I think.

[18:48] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and I think for me, there's something else there as well. Because sometimes I think we think "raise your voice," like meaning like you need to get angry to get your way.

[18:58] Jeff Malone: And I found what this musical and what this film really does is it does the opposite.

[19:05] Richie Grasso: You didn't need to raise your voice to get your way. You just needed to bring your opinion to the table.

[19:13] Jeff Malone: And I think that's such a motto that so many of us can like live by and listen to, you know, daily because when things were going wrong, it was easy for someone to either get mad or stop talking to someone or just saying, "Oh, I'm done being friends with them."

[19:31] Richie Grasso: When in reality, they just needed to go have a conversation and lift the voices of each other up, bring all of our voices together in unison.

[19:41] Jeff Malone: And it's such a beautiful message that the film has.

[19:43] Richie Grasso: When the kids were all mad at each other, they all were like, you know what, we're not gonna be friends, and we're not gonna go to Evan's party, and I don't like him, and I don't like her anymore.

[19:54] Jeff Malone: And oh, these two are dating now, but they didn't really want to, and it really just took the fact that they needed to go raise their voice, not yell, right?

[20:02] Richie Grasso: But speak their minds, speak their minds, lift up what they have to say because you never know who's going to hear you and be part of what you're saying.

[20:10] Jeff Malone: You know, there's such a message there.

[20:12] Richie Grasso: It was very, very nice, and that's a great way to put that tagline of that for sure.

[20:15] Jeff Malone: It's very, very nice. And I think this is a great message for just the youth today to see because I feel like a lot of teenagers today, and even us moving into this world, are being afraid to speak our minds because of what's been told to us for so long.

[20:31] Jeff Malone: And here we're saying, okay, no, no, no, you can actually go and say what you have to say, right? You know, very, very, very special. It's very in these last few minutes. Let's talk a little bit about what it was like being at the film screening.

[20:44] Richie Grasso: Oh so we got there, it was amazing that we saw the stars on the Step and Repeat. We saw Deborah Messing there, which was wonderful. We saw Josh Peck there, and we were sitting amongst the cast. It was very cool. I guess most of them are New York-based, or they came to New York, uh, which was very, very exciting. And I, and then at the end, we had a very special performance by a musician named Alec Benjamin, who performed some of the songs from the show. That was very, or some of his stuff as well as songs from the show. Very, very special. It was star-studded. It was nice. It was so nice that we were invited, and we loved being there. It was Netflix puts on a really, you know, it was at the Paris Theater, which is a legendary film theater in uh movie theater in uh Midtown Manhattan. What was your overall thoughts about how the night went just being at the screening?

[21:31] Jeff Malone: That was fun. I mean, I didn't really know what I was going to expect by going to this um screening because I was like, is it just a screening? Who's going to be there? Is it good? It's not like, is this the movie premiere? Who knows? Because it's Netflix. And I we've seen movie premieres who from growing up as kids to adults, and you know, usually the it's star-studded red carpet, and everyone's in ball gowns and tuxedos and whatnot. But this this was a fun way to do it because it's Netflix. So they only have to show the screening to a few people before it's out there to the world.

[22:03] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And I was more blown away. I was like, wow, this was really fun to just go and you know, you get your water, you get your popcorn, yes, whatever you want. But again, to be in there with the environment of the cast and really getting to see them all see the film as well. And you're sitting among them, and you're like, wow, this is fun. And Jason Brown was there. He spoke with the producers in the beginning, which was very cool to see him. Uh, he's always got another show coming up. It's amazing to see what he's doing. And this was special, and I think believe he was one of the producers on this too, which was really, really nice. Really, really, really great stuff. I hope, you know, one more thing I was I was gonna ask.

We I feel like when high school musical came and the last maybe you know, 15 years or so, maybe close to 20 years, we've seen a lot of this. We're seeing a lot of children and teenagers represented, and with Disney and with Netflix and with Broadway, they're putting the spectacle of musical theater into the hands of all ages, and it's not just an art form for older people anymore.

[23:06] Jeff Malone: Are we seeing this trend of more movie musicals for kids with kids, about kids?

[23:15] Richie Grasso: I feel like we're always gonna see movie musicals. I just feel like that's something that we're always we kind of have always seen. Well, there's definitely been time periods where we didn't have many for a while, but I think in the last 20 years, I when I always say Chicago, the movie musical of Chicago really reignited the movie musical industry. In the 90s, it kind of was the 80s into the 90s was kind of low. But now with everybody puts a song in a show, you turn on a TV show and there's a musical number at some point. So, what is what do you think the future is of the movie musicals for, like I said earlier, for kids, with kids, by kids, about kids?

[23:49] Jeff Malone: Hmm. I think the future is there. I wouldn't say it's not. I think that it's hmm. I it probably comes down to the story. Right? It's it's gonna come down to is there a story to be told? And is it going to be consistently just about high school or middle school kids, kind of just you know, coming of age stories over and over again, then yeah, it's gonna get a little stale and probably not what we need. But if there is a good story out there that features young performers and people are going to want to see it, then yeah, I think it works. One of the reasons why I ask it is uh when I was in middle school, you know, we did we talked about this a few episodes ago. We did like the music man, and and and all the characters are adults, and you're a 13-year-old playing an adult, and so many, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I think that's really great that scripts can be made junior for that. But when you see a script like this where you're playing a character that is also your age, I think that's really important. High school musical kind of does that. 13 now does that, and and now maybe these schools will do more productions of it where you're casting kids and teenagers in roles that were meant for them. And I think that that's very different than when you do Fiddler on the Roof Junior or the Music Man Junior. And I love that, don't get me wrong. But sometimes when you're a 13 or a 14 or 15-year-old, you're playing Eponine and Le Miz, or you know, Mr. Madame Thenardier, or you know, and now you see this, it's like this is a great opportunity for kids and teens.

But that's also what's interesting too is what is the what is the statistic of middle schools doing 13? Right. What is the statistic of high school students doing 13, the musical? And are they going to maybe revamp the script to include more of the movie? Maybe, or is it gonna continuously be what was already on the stage? That'll be interesting to see what they're licensing out now. Because I think there will be a boom this school year after this comes out of middle schools and high schools, and maybe they're probably gonna want to do it by incorporating a lot of these pop effects that were brought into the movie, but that's also gonna come down to our schools doing pop scores to begin with, right?

You know, when you're in a school production of things, you you have a full orchestra, and I feel like when you've seen a lot of high schools lately doing like Mamma Mia, that's been the first one of the first big you know pop scores coming to the school environment, and so this could be another one that falls.

[26:15] Jeff Malone: Right, and just in high schools in general, too. I mean, we we see high schools do the kind of the same thing over and over again, but we're getting more productions of things like Dear Evan Hansen and Mean Girls that are leaving the Broadway stage but feature high school um age appropriate characters.

[26:32] Richie Grasso: Right. Are they gonna start doing those shows as well? Are they doing the lightning thief? Are they doing 13? These are kids' shows, teenager shows. Matilda.

[26:42] Jeff Malone: Yes, exactly. And like I said, I think there's a you know, I always think um theater educators and and high school directors and middle school directors doing a little bit of everything. Do the Seussical, you know, then do the do a little bit of everything. Give the kids an experience of playing an animal on stage, then playing an adult character on stage, then playing a 13-year-old on stage, right? I think that's great. And that's very that's what theater should be though to the performers, relatable.

[27:03] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Because when it's relatable, then you're gonna get a good product.

[27:06] Jeff Malone: Yeah, you know for sure. Wow, oh my gosh, out of time. This has been uh a lot of fun.

[27:13] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and I really, really, really enjoyed this. I'm so glad we got to see this in the film screening. I'm so glad that so many people, and hopefully a lot of people will access this podcast episode knowing that this is on Netflix. It's right at literally at your fingertips of your remote control. Hopefully, most of you have Netflix and are able to see this um for sure. So thank you all so much for listening today. This was a wildly fun time. And as a time where wait, what are your final thoughts?

[27:38] Jeff Malone: Oh, final thoughts, yes. I almost signed us off. Okay, that I'll I'll let you go first on final thoughts.

[27:46] Richie Grasso: My final thoughts are I really enjoyed this way more than I thought I was gonna going to, so maybe no expectations are good expectations for a film like this. Um I I'm always on the teeter-totter of Jason Robert Brown's scores, so I either love it or I hate it. Okay, this one I really loved. It's actually up there.

[28:07] Jeff Malone: Okay, great. I'll go. It's actually up there. But I do like that a lot of the pop influences were brought into this score. So I maybe I wouldn't have loved it if it was just a traditional Broadway theater score. Okay. Um, and but it was really fresh. It was young, it was refreshing to see something like this. And I really appreciate that Netflix is bringing theater to their platform.

[28:27] Richie Grasso: Yes. You know, I that's one thing I have to say. My overall thoughts are I I really enjoyed this. I like the changes that were made for the most part. Like I said, a couple stiff moments here and there with some of the book scenes, but the kids really brought it. The choreography is amazing. Shout out to the all boys number.

[28:42] Jeff Malone: Oh, yeah.

[28:43] Richie Grasso: Um, which I always love when these shows put these all-boy numbers in because it really shows, you know, I there was an all-girls number with opportunity, right? Then there was the all boys number. The um, I'm forgetting the name of it.

[28:53] Jeff Malone: Bad news?

[28:54] Richie Grasso: No. Bad, bad news.

[28:55] Jeff Malone: Bad bad news.

[28:55] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Uh and I love that. I'm not saying that you know we need to have songs gendered like that. I'm just saying it's nice to see get the boys up on stage dancing and singing. Sometimes, you know, uh, there's so many girl numbers, and it's so nice to see that too. And then, of course, all the the mix of numbers, but it's totally bravo to all of these young people. All of them, all of them. I could name all of them. There's so many of them here, but they all were amazing, and they really, really did an awesome job. So everyone check this out on Netflix. The score is fun. We were singing it on the way home. It would bopping and it was great. So it is really great. I hope we see more of this in the future for sure.

[29:30] Jeff Malone: We thank you. And now I'll do my sign off. We thank you all so much for listening today. We hope you enjoy it. You know, Broadway's got a lot of new stuff coming, so it was nice to have this movie musical opportunity in the middle of summer, uh, for sure, as a lot of new shows are coming your way. So keep listening for the pop episodes, the Broadway episodes, and everything in between.

[29:46] Richie Grasso: Totally. Uh, we hope you enjoyed. Please follow at half hour podcasts on all social platforms: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. We're all over the place posting. Uh, we love having you all chime in and comment. So please comment on any posts you see. Let us know what you're liking, what you're hearing, if you agree, do you disagree? We'd love to engage in the conversation. And everyone head over to Netflix and l and watch 13 the musical Friday, August 12th. It's all out on all Netflix, on the Netflix platform.

[30:12] Jeff Malone: So we thank you all so much for listening today. More to come.

[30:15] Richie Grasso: Yes.

[30:15] Jeff Malone: And signing off for now, I'm Richie.

[30:17] Richie Grasso: And I'm Jeff.

[30:18] Jeff Malone: Sing ta-ta.

[30:19] Richie Grasso: Bye.