tick, tick...BOOM!

[brdwyfan]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 1:50pm

I am a huge RENT fan and am interested in Larson's other musical...TTB. Can anyone tell me about it or review it (musically, story-wise, characters, etc.) Want to purchase, but want info first...it sucks to be poor...anyhoo...thanks.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 1:54pm

AMAZING. Cast recording has Raul Esparza, Jerry Dixon and Amy Spanger, all hugely talented. A lot of the music sounds very similar to the RENT music, but I find the story a lot more personal... well, because Jonathan wrote it about his life. Try this, if you're interested:

Tick, Tick.... BOOM! script

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 1:57pm

not as good as RENT, but not bad thanks to Raulie. It was an intimate show in an intimate theater.

[brdwyfan]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 2:04pm

thanks...this is all very helpful.

[BroadwayBaby21]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 2:44pm

I've never seen it, but i have the CD and I love it. Jonathan Larson is an excellent writing.
"Louder Than Words" is such a great song... and "Therapy" is hilarious!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 3:12pm

Did anyone see the tour with Trey Ellet?

[apdarcey]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 4:22pm

i saw the tour with joey mac... haha... he actually impressed me a lot... he could ACT! who knew?

[timote316]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 4:36pm

my friend saw joey mac in it and said he was really good.

Its a great album, go out and pick it up. Raul makes it that much better lol

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 4:36pm

What was so good about Tick Tick BOOM! ???

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 5:27pm

I've never seen it, but one of my favorite things about the show is that it is so honest.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 5:30pm

Oh God. Like I said before, the immensely talented cast (on the CD at least) for one. I am convinced that Raul Esparza could make the phone book fantastic. Tick, Tick... BOOM! is, like I also said before, very personal. The story is beautiful (true) and the end just broke my heart. Some of the music isn't as catchy as the RENT music, but it's still Jonathan's style, and it shows what a great writer he was. Check out the music, check out the script, then come back to me.

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 6:11pm

Absolutely fantastic, hard hitting, beautiful show. Get it and you'll love it. There's not much more I can tell you that has already been said, but no collection is complete without it.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 7:11pm

Tick....Tick....BOOM is one of my favorite cast recordings. It shows a fictionalize version of Jonathan Larson's life trying to get RENT workshoped and what kind of effects it has on his life. It is really touching and great music. I love it to death. I literally listen to it everyday.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 7:24pm

I love TTB. It's one of my favorite recordings and shows. The music is beautiful (especially "Louder than Words"), and I think the show is just amazing. I would DEFINITELY buy it if I were you.

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 10:19pm

Fantastic show! I've seen it four times, with Raul, Joey Mac, Christian Campbell and Trey Ellett. All were great, except for Christian, who couldn't handle the singing very well.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:57pm

Oh man, that's awesome! I would LOVE to hear Trey Ellet's take on the character!

[KarenNYC]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 3:20am

Tick....Tick....BOOM is one of my favorite cast recordings. It shows a fictionalize version of Jonathan Larson's life trying to get RENT workshoped and what kind of effects it has on his life. It is really touching and great music. I love it to death. I literally listen to it everyday.

Hi Spider,

Just a slight correction - the show Jon is trying to workshop in the show is called Superbia, and if I'm not mistaken, "Come To Your Senses" was taken from the real show Superbia. Rent didn't even figure into the equation at the time, hence the irony in lines like (paraphrasing) "Work on something else - spend another five years on a show that doesn't go anywhere. By then I'll be 35, I swear, I will explode..."

I've seen Raul, Joe McIntyre, and Charlie Pollock (Raul's u/s) in New York, Trey and Christian on tour, and Colin Hanlon in New Jersey. I'm biased, but Raul was obviously the definitive Jon for me. Colin Hanlon probably came closest to that youthful exuberance/innocence/optimism that Raul had. Joe was very good and his comic timing was on the mark, although at times he came off a little too confident. Charlie was great, but he really made a much bigger impression in the Michael role. I wasn't crazy about the tour because the stage was so large and the show lost a lot of its intimacy (and I hated the lighting), and I only saw Trey and Christian once each. I don't remember much, but I remember liking Trey more than Christian.

~Karen
(thread killer)

[amasis]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 5:30am

I never saw it on tour but one of the reasons the staging worked so well in New York was the intimacy of the space, so I can imagine that having it done in a big house takes away a little from the experience. And yes, "Come To Your Senses" was a real song from Superbia.

Interesting to hear the comparison of how the different actors play the character. I only saw Raul in the role, so it was nice to hear thoughts about the others -- thanks for that, Karen. (Not sure about the thread killer comment in your sig, but, well...) Updated On: 10/21/04 at 05:30 AM

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 8:51am

oooh there's another Karen on the board, welcome! (Judy in Disguise= Karen).
I adore Amy Spanger. Nuff said.

[jezzebelle]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:12pm

Joey was fabulous in TTB, impressed me a lot and then I saw him in Wicked and wondered what the hell had happened.

TTB is a great show, though and I'd go as far as to say, I think it's a more solid work than RENT. RENT is one my favorite shows and it holds a special place in my heart, but as an artist who is struggling with the decision to keep going or find an out, it spoke to me more, especially "Why" and "Johnny Can't Decide".

[KarenNYC]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:36pm

judy_in_disguise: Thanks.

jezzebelle: Thanks for the response. To add to that, what I thought was so wonderful about tick is that you didn't necessarily have to be an artist to appreciate what the character of Jon was going through. It was about Jon's struggle, as he was reaching 30 (the age that seemingly everyone in their 20s worries about, although once you get there it's really not a big deal), to choose whether to pursue his passion (writing), to give that up and go corporate and be comfortable like his best friend Michael, or leave New York altogether and settle down with his girlfriend Susan. And I think that anyone can relate to that - getting to a crossroads in your life and not knowing who you are and what to do and having no guidance - whether you're in the arts or not.

Shameless plug: brdwyfan, a good place to go if you want to read more about tick is Raul's website, linked at the bottom of this post. There are lots of articles and reviews linked in the Press section (scroll down to 2001) that include articles written about Jonathan Larson from the beginning of the run to the show post-9/11, as well as sound clips of the cast recording in the Recordings section.

Undiscovered - I'd like to know what you thought of the changes from the New York production to the New Jersey production. I was so disappointed in the major shifts in the storyline, and Jon's [I hate using this word but for lack of a better one I will] journey as a result. "Why" was moved to the middle of the show and no longer packed the emotional punch it did in the Jane Street production. And by the way, no one has matched the intensity of Raul's performance of that song, ever. The message from Jon's idol [no spoilers] being delivered the way it was in the George Street production wasn't nearly as gratifying either.

And re: Colin. I really liked him, and as I said in my previous post, he came closest out of all the actors I saw to what I saw in Raul's portrayal, which to me was definitive. But I thought he was a little young. And the inclusion of "Play Game" - that really horrible rap song - was just unfortunate all the way around.

Some staging in the George Street production that I really could have done without in was "Come To Your Senses": Karessa (played by the same actress who plays Susan, for those who don't know) was actually in a space suit and was maneuvered around the stage by the actor playing Michael and Jon was not on stage at all. That was so disappointing to me because in the Jane Street and touring productions, all three characters were on stage - Karessa in the center, and Michael and Jon on either side of her. They all faced the same direction, but Michael and Jon were presumably watching Karessa from the audience. Watching Jon's reactions to hearing her sing his lyrics to his song made your heart absolutely soar for him; he was so happy and giddy and hopeful. Again, no one could pull off that moment the same way Raul did. It was heartbreaking, knowing that the real Jonathan would die six years later, but that the character Jon, at that very moment, didn't know it. That we didn't even get to see that in the George Street production was the biggest disappointment of all. And the photo of Jonathan being lowered on to the stage at the last moment of the show was just manipulative and cheesy.

I've been told that the George Street production was closer to Jon's original production in 1990, I believe entitled 30/90, because it was directed by his original collaborator on the piece, but I suppose because the original NY production was so close to me and I saw it so many times having worked on it in different capacities, I will always prefer that over any other version.

Apologies for the long post. This is one of my all-time favorite shows and I can talk for hours on end about it. You've been warned (too late).

Raúl Esparza Official Website

Updated On: 10/21/04 at 01:36 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 7:00pm

Well, in the show it has Sondheim's voice saying how good of a job he is doing on the show (and I though Sondheim only looked over RENT? I could be wrong). And he was working at the cafe' when RENT was workshopped. Also, was Superbia even workshoped? I thought they just inserted Superbia in for RENT? I have no clue, that is just what I thought.

Posted: 10/21/04 at 7:20pm

This is one of my favorite shows. I love this show. I wish that Joey had been able to record some of the songs. It is a wonderful score and you see the bits that will be RENT. And I have to give major kudos for Sondheim for recording the phone message.

[amasis]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 7:44pm

"Also, was Superbia even workshoped? I thought they just inserted Superbia in for RENT?"

Spider, no, actually he really did write a musical called Superbia before he worked on RENT. If I remember correctly, Larson did receive a grant to do a staged reading of Superbia, and I think it was Playwrights Horizons that did it even though I'm not positive about that last part. I remember reading somewhere that he wanted to write something based on '1984' (Orwell) but wasn't able to get the rights, or something, and so he wrote Superbia instead. Updated On: 10/21/04 at 07:44 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 7:49pm

I knew he wrote a musical called Superbia, I just thought because of the Sondheim recording and such that it was RENT. Hasn't been the first time I was wrong.