Kumari Shreya
Directed by Tamra Davis, Netflix’s ’13: The Musical’ is a coming-of-age musical movie based on the eponymous 2007 stage musical. After his parents’ divorce, middle schooler Evan Goldman has to move to a small town in Indiana from New York City, New York. Surrounded by new faces, Evan is determined to throw the best bar mitzvah he can on his 13th birthday to cement his place in the school’s social circle. While the task may not be as simple as he hoped, Evan is ready to face the challenges and learn a few lessons along the way.
Starring Eli Golden, Frankie McNellis, Josh Peck, Peter Hermann, and Debra Messing, the musical comedy is a delightful story of a young boy ready to enter the next stage of his life. Apart from its captivating narrative, the viewers cannot help but commend the movie’s attractive backdrops. The visual aspect of ’13: The Musical’ has led many to wonder where it was lensed. Well, we are here to answer the same!
13 The Musical: Where Was the Movie Filmed?
’13: The Musical’ was primarily filmed in New York and Ontario, specifically in New York City, the Greater Toronto Area, Simcoe County, and the York Region. Moreover, some parts were taped in Indiana, where most of the story unravels. Principal photography of the movie commenced on June 6, 2021, and was wrapped up in August of the same year. Now, let’s take a close look at the details of the filming locations.
New York City, New York
Netflix’s ’13: The Musical’ has several scenes that were shot in New York City; one of the prominent locations is The Plaza Hotel at 750 Fifth Avenue, Central Park South, Manhattan. The lodging was established in the early 20th Century and was named for the previous establishment that occupied the same area. The iconic Central Park in Manhattan is also visible in the backdrop of some scenes. In the musical, the city serves as Evan’s initial home before he moves to Indiana; thus, recording scenes on location added authenticity to the story.
Greater Toronto Area, Ontario
Named after the city of Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario served as one of the primary filming locations for the movie. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 44 Church Street East, Brampton, was one of the places within the region used to record scenes for the Tamra Davis directorial. Furthermore, the cast and crew visited the cities of Toronto, Oakville, North York, and Mississauga to tape several portions of the Netflix musical. In fact, the city of Toronto was intended to be the first place where shooting would commence.
In ’13: The Musical,’ several scenes set in Indiana’s Downtown Walkerton were framed in the community of Beeton in Simcoe county, which is just an hour north of the Greater Toronto Area. Additional scenes were taped in the nearby King City, an unincorporated community in the York region.
Indiana
Given that the majority of ’13: The Musical’ is set in a small Indiana town, it is easy to see why the production crew would lens scenes in said state. Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, the midwestern state is part of the Great Lakes Region and is bordered by the Ohio River in the south and the Wabash River in the west. Over the years, Indiana has been home to several movie productions, including ‘Road to Perdition‘ and ‘Natural Born Killers.’
Read More: Is Netflix’s 13: The Musical Based on a True Story?
