When Tricia Small Stabile, local actress and producer, realized that her daughter, Ava, was really developing a passion for musical theatre, she was confronted with the reality of limited theatrical opportunity for youngsters her age (13 years) around Malibu.
So like any efficient producer, Small Stabile went looking for solutions. The result is her production of “13,” the 2007 Jason Robert Brown-Dan Elish-Robert Horn musical that features an entire cast of adolescents, opening this week at the Malibu Performing Arts Center.
“Three of the kids in this show turned 13 during this rehearsal period (including Ava),” Small Stabile said. “It’s a show that really explores what it means to be 13, so it’s the kids playing their own age group, which doesn’t happen a lot in musical theatre.” Acquiring rights for the production of “13” here in Malibu was made easier by Small Stabile’s friendship with Brown, the Tony Award-winning composer of “Parade” who also won Drama Desk Awards for “The Last Five Years.”
“13” is about a young New York boy, Evan Goldman, whose life is upended when his parents divorce and his mom moves him to a small Midwest town – all while he is trying to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. As he struggles to be accepted by the “in” crowd, he learns what it really means to become a man.
The emotional angst and cringing teen experiences of the show mirror what real adolescents go through and are, Small Stabile said, the stuff of great theatre. That the music – in five-part harmonies and with a full orchestra – is demanding only created a bigger challenge; one that Small Stabile said the youngsters in the cast more than rise to.
“There are real high quality production values involved here,” the producer said. “All the kids worked hard to get cast. I was amazed at how much talent we have here in Malibu.”
And, in true Malibu fashion, many of the youngsters in the cast follow in the footsteps of celebrity parents. Eleven-year-old daughter of Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber, is singing and dancing, along with Richard Greico’s son Dylan Greico-Sissons. Though Crawford vows she “can’t sing at all,” her daughter has showed talent from early on, appearing in Malibu Stage Company’s “Beauty and the Beast” and with Julia Holland’s Eco Hero Kids.
“This show is not your typical school play,” Crawford said. “The kids are being treated like professionals and they’re holding the bar high. And the themes are very mature. Kaia’s enmeshed in all the same things kids this age go through that are played onstage.”
The production was funded through private donations, while Small Stabile plundered her Rolodex to find professional-quality designers and crew. Music director is Lloyd Cooper, who has worked with Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand. Their vocal coach is Broadway veteran Dan Calloway, and choreographer is Kelsey Alexander, who has assisted in the Emmynominated “Showstopper Dance” live broadcast.
Director Sergine Dumais is the founder and artistic director of Group Musical Theatre Montreal. She said she “fell in love” with the idea of working with children this age after she started directing an annual theatre festival for teens. “13” is her first job in the United States.
Dumais said she preferred working with teens because they are not as “scared” to step outside their comfort zone as adults can be, and are “incredibly brave.”
“The subject matter is about being between childhood and adulthood and some in this cast experienced their very first kiss during rehearsal in front of me,” Dumais continued. “They step into this adult world while they are still little kids and it touches your heart.”
Small Stabile juggles her work “in town” with her film and television production company, Bella Vita Entertainment, carpooling and rehearsals that began the first of March. Breaking new ground as a theatrical entity with this production, she is wearing a lot of hats. But she feels it’s worth it.
“I absolutely want to do more theatre productions here in Malibu,” Small Stabile said. “There are so many talented, creative people in this town, of all ages. I told our cast that this was really laying a foundation for them and productions like this are giving back to the community.”
“13” opens Friday, May 3. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com.
