Of awesomeness, geeks, and breaking the mold

Jason Robert Brown sings “Being a Geek” from 13

Not many casts of musicals get kudos from the guy who wrote the songs. But on Sunday night, Jason Robert Brown pronounced the Valley Youth Theatre production of his show, 13, to be “awesome.”

“I see many productions of 13 around the country,” Brown went on to qualify, “and not a lot of them are awesome.”

I saw VYT’s 13 opening night, and I have to agree with its songwriter.

Brown was in Phoenix at the invitation of Valley Youth Theatre artistic director Bobb Cooper, who smartly decided to mount the Arizona premiere of this dazzling show about coming into adolescence, despite the fact that the original Broadway production closed in 2009 after only a brief run. Go figure.

13 tells the story of 12-year-old Evan Goldman, whose happy life in New York is disrupted by divorce. He suddenly finds himself in Indiana, where he is forced to confront his own sense of worth in the face of cliques and peer pressure. The song “Being a Geek,” sung above by Brown in a YouTube clip, sort of sums it up.

Brown not only attend the opening, but gave a concert of his songs Sunday at the Herberger, performing numbers from 13, Parade, Songs for a New World and a show that must qualify as one of the best and most original musicals  all time, The Last Five Years. I confronted Brown backstage after the concert with the words, “Broadway songwriters are not supposed to be terrific singers, pianists and entertainers,” to which he shrugged and modestly replied, “I broke the mold.”

13 runs through Feb. 13.