I’m a choir singer, not a composer or soloist, so I’ve never had the skittish feelings we hear in Jonathan Larson’s paean to writing music known as “tick, tick…BOOM!”
The music I sing has all been written by someone else, so I can always just sing along and blame the person who picked the music if the piece isn’t well received.
But Cygnet Theatre gives us the lowdown on the fears of writing music “good enough” through August 4 in Jonathan Larson’s “tick, tick…BOOM!”
The main character here is Jon (well played by AJ Rafael), who wants to answer the big question: How much time do we have, and what are we meant to do with it? He is about to turn 30, and figures it’s time he wrote the piece that will make him famous. He wants to write something worthy of Broadway, maybe even one Stephen Sondheim would like.
Jon has two friends: his sort-of-girlfriend Susan (played by Emma Nossal)and his friend Michael (played by Leo Ebanks). They, of course, have their own ideas of what to do with their lives, which may or may not involve Jon.
This show takes us through Jon’s coming to terms with his friends’ plans. Will Susan stay or leave for “her world” in the Northamptons?
To further his profession, Jon gets an official agent named Rosa who sets up a meeting for him to “meet people.”
Life goes on. Other things happen, and Jon adjusts as he must.
The show is well produced, with 13 songs and the quartet of musicians (Dr. Randi Rudolph, conductor and keyboard; Danny Chavarin on drums and percussion, guitarist PJ Bovee and bassist Christian Reeves) contributing as needed.
In case you didn’t know, the real Larson never got to see his most famous work, “Rent,” because he died the day before it opened in New York.
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