"Thirteen" - Woodland Opera House

Left: Andy Hyun (left) talks to Jason Hammond. Stacy Arriaga (Cassie! - center) talks to Tony Cellucci (who played the lead, Evan, in '13'). Right, Mike Yambrovich.


On Friday evening, a gathering of DMTC folks ate at Ludy's Barbeque and headed to the Woodland Opera House to see "Thirteen".

Interesting show. Sitting towards the back of the hall on the main floor, I had problems hearing the show, which was unfortunate. A number of jokes were thus lost.

I liked the humble setup and the ordinary situations employed in the musical, but I didn't like the exposition of the show in the first act. So clunky! For example, Patrice (Abby Miles), who appears to be appealing young lady, and has a winning personality, is shunned by the popular kids. Why? No apparent reason, except that it is necessary for plot development. Those same inscrutable popular kids also instantly confer the nickname 'Brain' on the new kid in town, Evan (Tony Cellucci), even though he hasn't done or said anything remotely intelligent yet. Bang! Clunk!

Nevertheless, once that Noisy Steam Automobile known as a Musical finally gets rolling in Act 2, everything works fine.

Generally, in most musicals, I like Act 1 better than Act 2, because the new world portrayed by the show is still fresh and alive, and there are no awkward threads to deal with. "Titanic the Musical" is a good example. In Act 2, the boat sinks. Awkward! So, "Thirteen" is one of those special musicals, like "Sweeney Todd", where Act 2 is better than Act 1.

Devin DeGeyter has impeccable comic timing in his role as Archie, the kid encumbered by illness. Devin will go far! I also liked McKinley Carlisle's sass and Tomas Eredia's moves. Glad to see Quentin Carbajal and Chloe Deamer on stage again!

Jenny Plasse waves hello.


It was great fun seeing Stacy Arriaga again. She played "Cassie" in the Woodland Opera House's 1999 production of "A Chorus Line", and even though she is an active choreographer in the Vacaville-Fairfield-Vallejo-Martinez area, I hadn't seen her since then.

Stephen Hatcher's choreography was clever, energetic, and well-executed!