Forte Musical Theatre Guild  Presents TICK, TICK…BOOM!, February 28 - March 12

Before Rent, there was tick, tick...BOOM!, an autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer, which Forte Musical Theatre Guild will present from February 28 - March 12, 2023 at the Big Secret Theatre in Arts Commons.

"It's so unfortunate that Jonathan never lived to see the huge success that "Rent" would become. It has influenced a generation of musical theatre writers, including me. But, after his tragic death, Jonathan's friends came together to create a musical out of the songs he left behind. It tells the story of how he overcame almost insurmountable obstacles to create one of the most influential shows of our time. I find it incredibly moving and I know audiences will too," said Joe Slabe, Forte Musical Theatre's Artistic Director and the musical director on this production.

tick, tick...BOOM! is the story of a composer and the sacrifices that he made to achieve his big break in theatre. Containing fourteen songs, ten characters, three actors, and a rock band, Tick, Tick...BOOM! takes you on a playwright/composer journey that let to a Broadway blockbuster.

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

Dane Bjornson - Jonathan

Jessica Jones Deroche - Susan

Joel Schaefer - Michael

Joe Slabe - Keyboard

Carl Janzen - Guitar

Darcy Johnstone - Bass

Nathaniel Chiang - Drums

JP Thibodeau - Director

Joe Slabe - Musical Director

Kayla MacKenzie - Choreographer

Serena Lemire - Stage Manager

Darcie Howe - Costume Designer

Kris Mish - Lighting Designer

Mike Skwara - Production Manager

Jennifer Yeung - Production Assistant

Aldona Barutowicz - Publicist

Hayley Dechaine - Public Relations Coordinator

Jennifer Merio - Graphic Designer

In addition to the inspiration and influence Larson's work has had on Slabe, there are also some fun parallels that drew him to wanting to bring this show to the Calgary audience.

"I feel like Jonathan Larson and I were living weirdly parallel lives in the 80s and 90s. While he was working on the show that would become "Rent", I was trying to write my own first musical, also based on "La Boheme" and also featuring a Mimi character with AIDS. The opening number of "Tick, Tick... Boom!" is called "Thirty/Ninety" about a man who's confronting his thirtieth birthday in 1990 and terrified that his dreams will never be realized. Around the same time, I was writing my first ten-minute musical for PlayRites about a twenty-nine year-old confronting the fact he was in a dead-end job making six-twenty five an hour. That song's title? "Twenty-nine/Six twenty-five."

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