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In tick, tick…BOOM!, Jonathan Larson’s struggle
to become a successful rock composer and lyricist comes to life with comedy, song and
heartfelt passion. Larson, of course, was the creator of the hit Broadway musical Rent. His tragic death of
an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm in 1996, three days before the review performances of Rent
at the New York Theatre Workshop and ten days before his 36th birthday, makes
this energetic and intensely personal musical all the more poignant to admirers of his
life and work.
Originally written and performed as a dramatic monologue based on his
life, Larson conceived of tick, tick…BOOM! around the same time he was
creating Rent. After his untimely death, his producing partner Victoria Leacock
brought David Auburn, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof, aboard as
script consultant to reconfigure the piece. He restructured the monologue into a seamless
three actor musical. Watching the current incarnation, it’s hard to imagine the piece
in its original form because it works so well as an ensemble piece.
As the show opens, Jonathan, Larson’s alter ego, composes music in
his tiny, grungy apartment located at the edge of Soho in 1990. It is a few weeks before
his 30th birthday and pressures from his own ambitions, his girlfriend Susan
and his best friend and roommate Michael are getting to him. Should he sell out his dreams
of becoming a composer and join the corporate rat race on Madison Avenue as Michael has?
Should he commit to Susan and move with her to Cape Cod as she wishes? He’s tired of
waiting tables to pay the rent, a job he’s done for the past six years, and he hopes
that the musical he’s been working on for the past five years, Superbia,
which is in rehearsals and about to be workshopped, will be his big break.
The spirited musical numbers complement the dramatic portions of the
piece and share similar lyrical and musical themes with the music from Rent. The
first song performed in tick, tick…BOOM!, “30/90,” echoes
Larson’s use of time in Rent’s “Seasons of Love.” The musical
numbers that work best in this production are those that express comedy or irony regarding
Larson’s circumstances. In “Brunch,” for example, Larson details the
absurdities of a weekend shift at the restaurant where he works--everything from the host,
customer, fellow waiters and atmosphere are lampooned. The “No More” number
playfully compares and contrasts Jonathan’s tiny hole-in-the-wall with Michael’s
swanky new pad. (Those not familiar with the
trials of New York City living, unfortunately, may not get all the “in jokes”.)
In “Therapy,” Jonathan and Susan spar over the telephone about their
relationship troubles, recalling the witty banter of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday. While most of the serious songs depend
too much on cliched expressions, the climatic song “Why” is an exception. It
tenderly expresses Larson’s grief over learning that Michael has AIDS.
The actors are top notch. Raśl Esparza has the meatiest job, and
recreates Larson with conviction. He is funny, fearful, and self-deprecating without
pandering towards sentimentality. While he is less convincing playing the keyboards, his
voice, energy and emotion cover for him well enough. He spends the entire production
running, leaping, hopping, and singing, energetic feats that leave him hyped-up and
perspiring throughout. Amy Spanger is another talented singer/actress recently seen on
Broadway as Bianca/Lois in the revival of Kiss Me Kate. In this production, she adroitly adopts
many different personalities from Jon’s agent Rosa to his mother to Superbia actress
Karessa to his frustrated girlfriend Susan, each character distinct from the other. Jerry
Dixon plays the role of Michael with much sass and style. As does Amy Spangler, he also
performs a variety of supporting character roles. As a whole, the actors’ voices
harmonize well, creating the piece’s strong tone and powerful mood.
Under Stephen Oremus’s musical direction, the four-piece band,
which includes drums, electric guitar, bass and keyboard, supports the actors/singers
perfectly. Clever set designer Anna Louizos seats the band on a raised dais at the rear of
the shallow stage. Her props do double
duty--an ordinary desk flips into a two-seater car while a short flight of steps also acts
as a rooftop landing. Kenneth Posner’s lighting design turns the stage at various
times into different apartments, an executive conference room, a theater and an elevator.
Director Scott Schwartz has assembled the many elements of the piece, providing highly
detailed comedic gestures, mounting tension and zippy pacing.
New York, August 17, 2001 - Susanna Horng
