13 (Original West End Cast Recording)

A grown-up story about growing up! When his parents get divorced and he's forced to move from New York to a small town in Indiana, Evan Goldman just wants to make friends and survive the school year. Easier said than done. The star quarterback is threatening to ruin his life and his only friend, Patrice, won't talk to him. The school freak sees an opportunity for blackmail and someone is spreading the nastiest rumors. With an unforgettable rock score from Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, 13 is a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages about discovering that cool is where you find it, and sometimes where you least expect it.

"13" has had an amazing journey in the four years since it opened on Broadway, with over a thousand productions throughout the world, but a particularly exciting milestone was this summer's premiere in London's West End, produced by the invaluable National Youth Music Theatre company and directed by the composer himself. With a cast handpicked from all over England, this production of the show represented yet another step in its evolution, as Brown and librettists Robert Horn and Dan Elish dug back in and tailored the show to the extraordinary young performers.
The NYMT/West End recording (the first in NYMT's history) preserves the performances of this incredible cast, as well as documenting the latest version of the show. Produced by Brown and recorded by Robin Sellars, the recording includes two previously unrecorded songs, as well as new lyrics and musical scoring, and the all-teenage cast that Mark Shenton of the Stage called "rougher, tougher and more adorable" than the original Broadway company, and Torquil Munro's "superb musical direction of a six-strong band.