13: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical

by Dan Elish, Jason Robert Brown (Composer)

Two 8-page color photo inserts

Genres: Plays

104 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Dan Elish is the author of eleven novels, including the upcoming KING OF BROADWAY (Olympia Press, 2025). Dan's other books include THE WORLDWIDE DESSERT CONTEST (Orchard Books and Bantam), THE SCHOOL FOR THE INSANELY GIFTED (Harpers), NINE WIVES (for grown-up types/St. Martins), and BORN TOO SHORT (S&S) which won a 2004 International Reading Association Students’ Choice Award for young adult literature.

Dan also writes musicals - many for children (music and lyrics) - but also the script (with Robert Horn) to the musical 13 which played at the Mark Taper Forum and won the 2007 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for best production; the show moved to Broadway in 2008 and is now a feature on Netflix, named one of the best ten films of 2022 by Variety. Dan is also the book writer and co-lyricist of THE EVOLUTION OF MANN which played at the Cell Theater in NYC in 2018.

Dan has also written scripts for TV (notably CYBERCHASE and THE WONDER PETS), and has won scholarships and fellowships to The Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences. He was a member of the BMI workshop and a current member of the Dramatists Guild.

Dan lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[✰ Liz ✰ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic musical about coming of age in this crazy world! I will be directing it in a few weeks!

[elle vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

this show is so legendary and no one can tell me otherwise

[m · Rating 5 out of 5]

i miss this show

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I hope to see it someday!

[AG]

unhinged millennial classic

[Gabbie Spielberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

With 13 characters, all of the age 13, this play is easily related to. When Evan and his mom move from New York City to Appleton Indiana, just before his bar mitzvah, Evan doesn't know what to do. He soon befriends his neighbor, Patrice but is then forced to choose between inviting Patrice, or the the cool kids. Full of comical teenage drama, it was a good what-not-to-do read.
ENJOY!