By Tami Katzoff
Friday evening before the curtain rose on "13," I went up to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre to chat with the orchestra for the new Broadway musical. Unlike other Broadway shows, the orchestra for "13" performs onstage with the cast, not in a pit below or in front of the stage.
The musicians' accomplishments are impressive. According to his bio on the show's official Web site percussionist Zachary Coe has played drums on Sony and ESPN soundtracks. Multi-instrumentalist Charlie Rosen has not only played bass in other productions of "13" but also played piano at the Monterey Jazz and Playboy Jazz festivals. Guitarist Zach Page has performed with Nuno Bettencourt, Perry Farrell and Vernon Reid.
But what's most impressive about this band is that they're all kids: It's not often you see musicians ranging in age from 15 to 18 providing the music for a high-profile Broadway show, day after day.
Here's some info you won't get from their bios:
Most of them didn't know much, if anything, about the show's Tony-winning songwriter, Jason Robert Brown, before they auditioned for him. Only keyboardist Adam Michael Kaufman said he was very familiar with Brown's work. "If I didn't know who he was I wouldn't have auditioned," Kaufman said.
Common musical influences, according to guitarist Chris Raymond, include Neil Young and Bob Dylan; their iPods have Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and "Into the Woods" in heavy rotation.
A typical day during previews consisted of school in the morning (for the bandmembers who are still high-school age), rehearsal in the afternoon and then performing the show in the evening — it's a full and busy day, but things will calm down a bit now that the show has opened.
Only Rosen has seen the show from the audience's perspective. "It's good," he said simply.
A common misconception is that, as Lexi Bodick (bass) said, being a member of the orchestra is "all fun and games." These guys have a huge responsibility when it comes to the success of "13," and they are all consummate professionals — who mind their parents, too. Explaining how he came to be in the orchestra, Rosen said, "My mom just said, 'You're gonna go audition for this show.' "
And, of course, he did.
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