Eli Golden is not Evan Goldman, his character in 13: The Musical. But he does have the same “EG” initials, and he actually was 13 at the time of filming. “I was made for this part,” he jokes. Speaking with Tudum from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Golden’s voice is nearly drowned out by a thunderstorm outside. “You’ve gotta see this,” he says as he flips the camera on his phone. “It’s torrential!”

Now 14, Golden looks back on the character that he played in the musical film and, for the first time, notices some similarities. Kind of. His on-screen alter ego, Evan, is forced to uproot his big-city life to move to a small town with his mother (Debra Messing) after his parents’ divorce. Meanwhile, Eli trekked from New York to Canada with his mom for five and a half months of filming.

The Goldman family all together, from left to right: Debra Messing as Jessica, Eli Golden as Evan and Peter Hermann as Joel.

In playing Evan, Golden says that he basically lived out his summer camp fantasy, albeit in a more professional setting. His introduction to Jason Robert Brown’s 13: The Musical was watching a theater-camp production of the show as a kid. Golden laughs at the memory. “I was like, ‘Oh I really want to play Brett,’ which is pretty funny, [considering] that I ended up playing Evan.”

Below, Golden breaks down the trials and errors of being 13, meeting idol Josh Peck (he’s a big Drake & Josh fan) and his own music he’s planning to release this fall. In other words, he’s making the most of his “Opportunity.”

Golden looks back on filming in Canada over five and a half months as “​​a summer camp masterclass.”

First thing’s first: The movie is called 13: The Musical. Were you actually 13 while filming?
Yes, I was 13 turning 14 when I filmed it.

So you were Method acting.
Oh, that was the best Method acting everyone’s ever seen, like ever. That was Oscar-level contention Method acting, if you know what I’m talking about. [laughs]

How did the audition come your way?
Oh, this is such a good story. So it was at the height of the pandemic, and I went in for my last audition before lockdown happened. I came out of the audition, and I told my mom, “Oh my God, that went horrible. It was so bad.” And she was like, “Well, OK. That’s how it rolls.” And then, no joke, the next day everything shut down. We got a call like late October, early November, that was like, “Hey, do you want to try out for Evan?” And I [hadn’t liked doing] Zoom auditions. I felt like I couldn’t do my best acting. And that was really frustrating for me. So I just stopped. And I was like, “I don’t want to do it, Mom. Once I’m back in person auditioning, then that’s when I’ll start up again.” And she was like, “Eli, you’ll be on set with kids. This will be an amazing time. Let’s do it.” And one callback turns into another callback, turns into I’m on the phone with music director Georgia Stitt. And then I’m on a call with Jason and [director] Tamra [Davis]. And then I’m on with all the Archies and Patrices. And then I’m on with everybody.

So how did they let you know you got the part?
Well, I remember it was a really long call. I think the last day was an eight-hour call, and I was on for all eight hours. And they’re like, “OK, all the Evans can go.” I hadn’t eaten all day. I needed to just chill out, decompress. And they call my mom, like, “Hey, can we have Eli back for just, like, one second?” We had to set everything back up again and we get on the call. And Tamra was like, “All right, everybody look around. Get to know each other because you’re looking at the cast of 13.”

“They needed to make sure I could do the haftarah,” Golden says.

That’s a phenomenal way to find out. Way to build camaraderie from the start. What songs do you remember singing for your audition?
I believe I sang “Bloodmaster,” “A Little More Homework” and the haftarah. They needed to make sure I could do the haftarah.

If you don’t mind me asking, are you Jewish yourself?
I am Jewish.

Did you have a bar mitzvah like Evan?
I did. That was my bar mitzvah. My mom, after we were done filming, she was like, “Eli, I think you broke a record.” I said, “What, Mom?” And she said, “You probably have the most expensive bar mitzvah ever.” I was like, “You’re probably right.”

Did you watch any of Drake & Josh growing up?
OK, I have to say, I’m such a Josh Peck fanboy. Like, I remember the first time I really met him, I was in the hair trailer with Frankie [McNellis, who plays Lucy]. She was getting her hair done, and I was just getting ready to go back to set. Because it was when we were filming at the houses [in the Indiana suburbs]. I forget what scene we were filming, but Josh had just gotten out of quarantine that day. He went through the whole two-week quarantine to film, and he walked in, and I was like, “Oh my God, that’s Josh Peck.” And me and Frankie were freaking out. I went over to him, I met him. I’ve never met anybody nicer. He’s the most pure, awesome, amazing, just every good word about somebody is what he is.

Josh Peck doesn’t just play a rabbi. He’s a cool rabbi.

So he’s the dream to have as your cool rabbi, right?
My dream was lived out. That’s the rabbi I’d want. That’s a cool rabbi.

What do you think is the best thing about being 13? And what do you think is the hardest part about being 13?
I think the best thing about being 13 is finding your people and finding your autonomy, your way to being a person. Honestly, I think the hardest part is learning how to mess up. You have to realize you can’t be right all the time. And I think fessing up and taking accountability for when you mess up is a really important but hard part about being 13.

Evan goes through that a lot in the movie, taking ownership of his actions. Do you feel like that’s something you learned about yourself by playing him?
Oh, absolutely. I learned a lot from my peers around me. I mean, Debra and Rhea [Perlman, who plays Grandma Ruth] and Josh and Pete [Hermann, who plays Evan’s father], they all taught me so much. But I mean, the people around me, Ramon [Reed, who plays Eddie], Nolen [Dubuc, who plays Malcolm], Lindsey [Blackwell, who plays Kendra], Frankie, Jonathan [Lengel, who plays Archie], Ella [Uhl, who plays Patrice], we’re all just so close. And they taught me so much about how they work and how everyone around us works. We really learned how to grow up together in a way.

How did it feel seeing that Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies [who were in the original Broadway production of 13] loved the movie?
I remember, I was actually in my kitchen, and I was looking through my Instagram stories and I saw myself. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s so funny, who reposted?” And I was like, “Ariana Grande?” I said, “Mom, oh my God, Ariana Grande just posted this.” And everyone was going crazy. Luke Islam [who plays Carlos Iglesias and sings one of Grande’s solos from the show in the film] and Frankie are the biggest Ariana Grande fans I’ve ever met. They know every lyric to every song of hers ever. And they sent us videos of them crying. In the middle of Times Square, Frankie was straight-up crying and bawling. I was like, “OK. Enough, Frankie.”

From left to right: Lindsey Blackwell as Kendra, Golden as Evan and JD McCrary as Brett.

Why didn’t you do that when you met Josh Peck, hello?
Because Josh Peck is cool. I couldn’t cry in front of him. There’s like four people that I would maybe consider crying in front of.

Who would they be?
Bruno Mars, Anderson, Paak, Jim Carrey and maybe Halle Berry because she’s so cool. I think I’d be so starstruck from Bruno Mars because he’s my favorite person ever. I would definitely cry for him.

Because you make your own music too, right? Would you say Anderson, Paak and Bruno Mars have influenced you?
Oh, 100%. Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Charlie Puth and Olivia Rodrigo have influenced my music. I’ve always tried to model after them but just put my own kind of twist and style on them.

Do you have any releases coming out soon, now that the movie’s been released?
Absolutely. So I have “Back to Me” and “Ok” out right now, which are both songs I’m very, very proud of. And I have an EP coming out in early September. It’ll either be called Halftime Heartbreak or Heartbreak Halftime, and it may come out later or it may come out earlier. We’re still deciding names and deciding things. I’m really excited for everybody to hear it though.

What’s your Broadway dream role?
I really want to play Evan Hansen. I want to play Hamilton. I want to do that when I’m a little bit older, but I really want to be in an action movie or a really, really funny comedy, like Crazy, Stupid, Love funny.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

13: The Musical Trailer