Andrew Barth Feldman On The Specialness of 13: THE MUSICAL

When Andrew Barth Feldman burst onto the scene at the 2018 Jimmy Awards, he won over the hearts of the theatre community real quickly. We’ve all seen his I Love Betsy plenty of times, haven’t we? Since then, he has gone on to perform on Broadway in Dear Evan Hansen, and made the leap to the small screen with High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and the big screen with No Hard Feelings. 

His latest project hits closer to home. This Sunday, along with a gaggle of Broadway stars, Feldman will present a benefit concert of 13: The Musical in honor of his late mother who served as Headmaster of Lawrence Woodmere Academy on Long Island. The cast includes Feldman as Evan, Kuhoo Verma as Patrice, Krysta Rodriguez as Lucy, Ryan J. Haddad as Archie, Antonio Cipriano as Brett, Elizabeth Teeter as Kendra, Veronica Stewart-Frommer as Charlotte, Sam Primack as Malcolm, Alyssa Wray as Cassie, Gían Pérez as Eddie, Sophia James as Molly, Frankie Rodriguez as Richie, Joe Serafini as Simon, and Alex Wyse as the Rabbi.

I recently caught up with Feldman while he was out in Los Angeles to chat all things 13, his history with the Jimmy Awards, and just what musical he might want to do with Jennifer Lawrence. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Theatrely: So 13: The Musical! Tell me everything about it.

Andrew Barth Feldman: It's so funny, because every time in my life, I think I'm done with 13: The Musical... and I'm not. And I hope that continues until I'm in my 80s. We were going to do something called Celebration for the Barbara Feldman Performing Arts Center right before the pandemic. We were going to do this huge review of musical theater songs with local people, the kids that I grew up with, all singing together to celebrate my mom and raise money for this incredible new space but then COVID happened so we did a virtual version and it was fantastic. We raised a lot of money and it went really well but we always had the intention of doing one when we got back to regular life. We knew we wanted to make it a musical, a musical you don't normally see professional adults do. And it was actually my friend Sam Primack, who's going to be part of it, who was the one who pitched 13, which was a show that I did twice growing up, and that my mom saw me in a bunch of times. Here I Come, which was a cut song from the show, was the last song that I sang, on the school stage so it's just always been this huge fixture of my life, and I never want to stop revisiting it.

How does it feel to be returning to your high school theatre, and performing there once more. 

It's pretty bizarre, to be honest. I was performing there every year, of course, at camp, at school, but also I was directing and staging shows there with my own theater company from the time I was 12. So I have this sort of physical and emotional shorthand for running a space in there and stuff, but I haven't done that in years, and I certainly haven't done it with people who are heroes of mine. I will say I'm terrified. I'm absolutely terrified, honestly. And that excites the hell out of me. I think it's going to be so fun and I'm going to be really, really emotional, I think.

Talk to me about assembling this all star cast! How did you get everybody involved?

I still kind of can't believe that I did it. It was really just talking to my friends and playing the game of who would you want to see as Lucy in 13? Who would you want to see as Kendra in 13? And just coming up with the biggest names that we could get. Some people are friends of mine, and so I could just shoot them a text and others were just DMs on Instagram. I got Krista's email through friends. It's all just people who are good people and like theatre. The people that said yes are the people that said yes, because if somebody wanted to say no but said yes, I wouldn't want them there. You know, these are people who are excited to be part of this, who care about the cause. And either love 13: The Musical or just love doing theater casually with friends!

Can you tell me a little bit more about the cause and when the theater was renamed for your mother? 

Yeah. So, my mom passed away while I was doing Dear Evan Hansen when I was 17. And she was an incredible woman who did not want me to be an actor. She was terrified of me being an actor but I loved it so much. That was sort of undeniable. She ran the summer day program at my school. And so every year I would complain that I had to do sports and that I couldn't go to French Woods or something like that — so she built an arts program at this camp. It was so meaningful to me and saved my life in a lot of ways. She was bringing directors from community theaters that I had worked with before and just folks from around town. It was really a remarkable thing that she did. And then that funneled into the school, too. She had her hands in every show that we did there. Even though again, she did not want me to be an actor, she wanted me to be a political scientist or something. I don't know, something stable. But, thankfully she got to see it work out for me. She got to see me in Dear Evan Hansen, which is pretty amazing. And after she passed, I think, to the school it seemed kind of like a no-brainer to do something really special for her because she was such a huge member of the community. They renamed the theater and wanted to renovate it. And that was deeply exciting to me because I loved the theater there growing up. But there was so much more that I knew that it could be. Now there's already from the money that we've raised a black box space, new dressing rooms, there's a new curriculum. That I get to be part of building a space for kids like me. Kids who need it even more than I did. To safely and with financial support be doing theater every day. Not to mention to do it in my mom's name is pretty much a miracle.

I know you have played Evan before. What is it like stepping back into this role?

It's the most natural thing in the world. I played this part when I was 12 and even then I loved it. And then, lo and behold, I was in a production that Jason Gotay directed, actually, which was a life changing moment. And then I was like, great, I did it, and I can never do it again. I did it again when I was 14 but really couldn't sing it because my voice had changed, and that was really special. And now, alas, here we are. And I still know it. Like, I've been looking through the script and writing and staging and I still know every word of this. And I think more than any character I've ever played, it fits me just like a glove. I am not Evan Goldman anymore, but I certainly was when I was 12 years old. I really, really was that kid. I had the same priorities, the same fears, the same anxieties. So yeah, I am so happy and I hope I get to do it another hundred times in my life.

I know that the Jimmy Awards are celebrating their 15th anniversary this year. When you look back on your history with the Jimmys, what comes to mind?

It's really terrific to talk about it as a history, to talk about it as where I came from. My grounds were this theater that we are performing 13 at. My foundation was doing a production of Catch Me If You Can with folding chairs. That's what brought me to the Jimmys in the first place. So to think that I came from my alma mater is this thing that felt so much bigger than me at the time, that still feels so much bigger than me, and that I won that. That I won that with Reneé, that I made so many friends that have lasted me over a lifetime is beyond my comprehension. It is an incredible organization, and I'm so happy to be a part of it to be a champion of it.

Also wanted to touch on No Hard Feelings real quick, many congrats on that. If you and Jennifer Lawrence could do any musical together, wat would you want to do with her?

I've thought about this so much. We've talked about this so much. I've been trying to convince her to do theater, and I think I'm slowly chipping away. I can't imagine doing something that fits us better than having No Hard Feelings. While on set, I was constantly wondering what a No Hard Feelings musical would be, and I actually think it would have a lot of heart. I think it would be a really beautiful little piece and I think it would be funny as hell. So coming to Broadway next season. I'll be writing it. Don't worry about it! 

13: The Musical will take place on March 3, 2024 at 7:00PM at Lawrence Woodmere Academy on Long Island. Tickets are on sale now, and to purchase, visit here.