By Harry Haun
06 Oct 2008

As Evan, this fish out of water constantly flipping about in a school of decidedly different fish, Graham Phillips gives every impression of being in a perpetual state of high-energy motion. The 15-year-old, who has been acting professionally since he was nine, doing A Christmas Carol with Jim Dale, is not so young that he doesn't feel the weight of it: "I feel it when I crawl into bed and go into a deep sleep. When you're on stage, it doesn't hit you until the show's over. Then, it's 'Whooooaa! That took a lot of energy.' But when you're up there, you're feeding off of everyone. I have a blast.

"I can relate to the character a lot. He really wants to please everybody, and, because he's trying to please everyone equally, he sometimes loses track of who he is."

Predictably, Evan drifts amorously toward another local miscreant misfit, Patrice, played by Allie Trimm, another 13-year-old who can attest to the authenticity of the perspective being advanced here. "The show itself is so real," she insisted. "If you're an adult, you'll think 'Hey, I can relate to that character. I remember exactly who that person was when I was in junior high.' And, if you're a kid, you say, 'Omigosh, I know her or I know him.' It's so cool to do a show that echoes real life."

Her favorite perk of the part is that she gets to deliver the Appleton anthem, "The Lamest Place in the World." Plus, she relates to the role: "My character is a lot like me. She's really level-headed and smart and above all the drama at school. She doesn't really hang out with the popular girls because she's above their dramas."

	Dan Elish, Robert Horn, Mario Cantone, Mark Indelicato, Jen Cody and Hunter Foster, Zoe McLellan, Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy, Christopher Sieber, Halley Wegryn Gross, Rob Ashford and Frankie Grande
	photos by Aubrey Reuben

The two outcasts find room for one more, a la the "Rebel Without a Cause" triumvirate, and take in a muscular dystrophy wiseacre, Archie (who glibly bills the trio as "the crip, the Jew and their mother"). Aaron Simon Gross plays the part with a defensive wit that's winning. "I love the fact that he is very real. Often, characters afflicted with similar diseases on television and in film and on stage are just treated sympathetically. Archie doesn't care. They don't try to make him any different. He's just like any of the other kids, and he uses wit to get what he wants."

The negative vibes in the show come from Lucy, a malicious manipulator who looms like a Madame DuBarry of the high school court. Elizabeth Egan Gillies takes delicious delight in the havoc she causes. "It's a very strong role, and it requires a lot of energy," she said. "I love playing her because I'm a plot mover. I set 'em up, and I tear 'em down. She's very creative and evil and wonderful, which is so much fun to play, y'know. And she's very different from how I am in real life . . . obviously."

Her male counterpart in the villain department is Brett, a brutish lout and loud-mouth. "I enjoy every second of playing him," said Eric M. Nelson, who's the oldest (17) and tallest of the cast. "He's kinda the jock bully — and so stupid. I love him!"

The appreciative opening-night audience seemed highly partisan, if not downright parental — and there was applause enough at the end to support on-stage bows for the creators. Even the understudies who haven't officially set foot on the stage before were allowed to scamper forth to share the magic of opening-night applause.

Max Schneider, who understudies four different roles, particularly took to the stage well at the bows: "It was my first time on a Broadway stage, it was my first opening, it was the first job I've ever had in the business, and it's the best job I could ever have."

It all rolled out like that. He continued: "It was amazing to me because I kept thinking how, when I get up on that stage, I'm going to be so nervous. And when I got up there, I just felt so calm and happy. There was not a nervous bone in my body. I was standing there and looking out and I just felt like I was in the right place."

Mark Simon, who cast the show, was beaming about the careers he was setting in motion. "I've never had more fun in my life," Simon said. "The kids have no baggage. We were giving them script pages every day. No problem. No issue. They're great. Sweet kids. I don't think I knew how talented they were until we got them up there."

Tom Kitt, who composed High Fidelity to the lyrics of Amanda Green (supportively in attendance), conducted and did lead keyboardist for the five-teen band, which ranged from 15 to 17 and included a Zac, a Zach and a girl on bass (Lexi Bodick).

Leading off the opening-night guest-list: Peyton and Spencer List, child stars of "Lipstick Jungle"; Zoe McLellan of "Dirty Sexy Money"; the ever-elegant Dina Merrill, who felt like a teenager again ("I thought it was darling!"); Mark Idelicato of "Ugly Betty"; Steve Croft of "60 Minutes"; Seventeen editor-in-chief Ann Shoket; director John Doyle, who's readying Stephen Sondheim's Road Show for The Public viewing ("It's in good shape. There's a lot of reworking that has been done on it. It's going to open about the 18th of November, I believe it is. We start previewing in about a month."); and Mamma Mia!'s Frankie Grande, 25, who was welcoming his 14-year-old kid sister, Ariana Grande, to Broadway via her 13 debut.

An elf (Jennifer Cody), a lord (the well-reviewed Christopher Sieber) and a choreographer (Rob Ashford) constituted the Shrek contingent. Rehearsals started the following 10 AM for its Broadway opening on Dec. 14. Ashford's laryngitis is below Brenda Vaccaro level. "I call it my Elizabeth Ashley voice," he countered.

On vocal rest from Manhattan Theatre Club's Romantic Poetry, the John Patrick Shanley-Henry Krieger musical, was Jerry Dixon, but he did muster the strength to plug a couple of directing assignments: Barnstormer at the NAMT festival Oct. 20-21 at New World Stages, and a Show Boat in Seattle. His partner, actor-comedian Mario Cantone, said he has a November date at Caroline's and will probably be doing another gig with Kathie Lee Gifford on "The Today Show" Friday.

The husband of the aforementioned elf, Hunter Foster, has been busying himself off stage of late: "I just finished doing Bonnie and Clyde at the NYMF festival. I wrote it. The New York Times said we should go to Broadway. I keep saying that. We have producers involved. We're going to do another development thing in L.A., and hopefully the show's going to come around next season. That's what the plan is."

As for upcoming acting assignments, he points playfully at Cody: "I'm living off her because she's doing Shrek. I'm doing a few workshoppy things that are coming up this month. That's about it."

Alan Campbell, in attendance with wife Lauren Kennedy, let slip that he was Goodspeed-bound for Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas with Cass Morgan, Daniel Reichard and Justin Bohon. It will mark 13 choreographer Gattelli's first attempt at choreographing and directing. "It starts rehearsals Nov. 4 and opens Dec. 7, then we'll see what happens after that. The costumes by Henson's Muppet people aren't cheap, so I think they have hopes for it beyond Goodspeed."

Jessica Molaskey, sans John Pizzarelli for once, was singing appropriate praises: "I'm here for my Jason Robert Brown. I always feel like Jason, whether you're 14 or 40, always brings out the best in you — that part of you that you didn't know you had. I love Jason Robert Brown, and I think what he does is singular. And those kids!"

The curtain call at opening night of 13.
photo by Aubrey Reuben

View article on single page

Previous Page   1 | 2 Next Page