Jason Robert Brown Directs NYMT 2012 Return to West End

“The National Youth Music Theatre returns to the West End next year presenting two shows by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown who will cross the Atlantic to direct his 2008 Broadway musical 13.

I had approached Jason Robert Brown to see if he might be willing to give a master class for NYMT members, many of whom perform his songs at our auditions. When I mentioned that I was considering producing 13 with our younger performers, aged 11 to 16, he immediately signed on to direct.

Premièred in Los Angeles in 2007, 13 transferred to Broadway for a short run in October 2008. The show has music and lyrics by Brown and book by Dan Elish and Robert Horn. The story centres on 13-year-old Evan Goldman as he is dragged away from home to live in a small town in the Midwest. Facing a new life with alien customs and culture, Evan has to navigate who he wants to be versus who he really is without losing his best friends.

Billed as a “hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages” NYMT will stage 13 at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue from 22 to 25 August. Joining Jason Robert Brown on the creative team with be musical director, Torquil Munro, and Drew McOnie, who will choreograph the show. Both are NYMT alumni. The design will be by Richard Kent, who has also just designed Michael Grandage’s farewell production of Richard II at The Donmar.

Under Sarah Redmond’s direction, NYMT will also stage Jason Robert Brown’s 1995 off-Broadway song cycle Songs for a New World with choreography by Cristian Valle and a cast of singers and dancers aged 16 to 23. Songs will run from 31 July to 4 August at The Bridewell Theatre, London.

Our third production for the 2012 season is also the first of our Founder’s Production series. Jeremy James Taylor OBE will direct The Dreaming at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, as part of the International Youth Arts Festival. A musical version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Howard Goodall, the composer of such well-known theme tunes as The Vicar of Dibley and Blackadder, teamed up with lyricist Charles Hart (The Phantom of the Opera) to create The Dreaming especially for NYMT. The show has a distinctly spooky edge, mixed with superb comedy - and some glorious tunes. It is written for a large cast of 11 to 23 yr olds. The musical director is John Pearson and Katie Beard is choreographer.”