Publications
Partners
MOVIE:
Tick, Tick...Boom!
WHERE TO WATCH:
OUR RATING:
4/5 Stars
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Based on the autobiographical musical by playwright Jonathan Larson. It's the story of an aspiring composer in New York City who is worried he made the wrong career choice, whilst navigating the pressures of love and friendship.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
In 2005, I watched the film version of the musical Rent and was mesmerised by the story of a group of bohemians in New York City during the AIDS crisis of the early 90s. The characters were diverse, complex and just felt incredibly real for characters in a musical. It is easy to see how this diversion into socially conscious, modern musicals influenced Lin-Manuel Miranda and other playwrights to push boundaries and create work like In The Heights and Hamilton. In his directorial debut, Miranda pays tribute to Rent composer and writer Jonathan Larson while depicting a story about creativity, angst and feeling like you're running out of time.
The curse of the creator is to always feel as if you are working against a clock. That you constantly have a deadline. A deadline when your work is due, but also a deadline for your life. You only have a certain amount of time in which to make a change, create a legacy, 'to wake up a generation'. The theme of time follows the protagonist Jonathan (Andrew Garfield) as his 30th birthday approaches, and he feels as if his time is running out to make his dreams of creating a Broadway show come true.
Tick, Tick...Boom! is based on an autobiographical musical by Larson and tells the story of the workshop of his 1984-inspired sci-fi musical Superbia, his first big musical that he had been working on for seven years. It is a few days before his 30th birthday in 1990, and he feels that he only has a certain amount of time to make his dream become a reality before he becomes 'a waiter with a hobby'. His frame of reference is his hero, Stephen Sondheim, who had a hit musical by the time he was 27. At the same time, his best friend and former roommate Michael (Robin de Jesús) and his dancer girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) opt to leave show business for grounded careers in advertising and teaching.
The real-life Jonathan Larson died tragically of an aortic dissection at age 35 in 1996, a day before Rent's first off-Broadway preview performance. He never got to see his most famous work live in front of an audience. He posthumously won Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, achieving his desired success. Knowing this makes the film seem almost more poignant, that he is obsessed with time, almost as if he knew that he would die young.
Andrew Garfield shines in his first musical role. His singing is excellent, and even though at certain points one can tell that he is not as experienced as his co-stars, he is still a worthy duet partner with more seasoned performers like Vanessa Hudgens (Karessa Johnson) and Robin de Jesús. Garfield truly embodied the role of Jonathan: the way he managed to depict Jonathan's anxiety and restlessness, how he pushed people away but still managed to appear likeable and good-hearted is a testament to Garfield's talent. I hope he gets awards-season attention for this role as one can see that he truly poured his heart and soul into this performance.
It is evident from the first frame of this film how important this project is to Lin-Manuel Miranda, and he did an exceptional job of directing, especially for a first-time director. The different mediums he used, the transitions between the stage performance of Tick, Tick...Boom! (also acted by Garfield, Hudgens and Joshua Henry), the very serious scenes about the AIDS crisis, the poverty that many artists live in, Jonathan's relationship problems, and the large-scale and comedic musical numbers, is almost seamless. With a less-skilled director, it might have seemed clunky, untidy, and out of proportion, but Miranda took such care in creating a piece of art that tells the story that Larson told in the stage production while still depicting Larson's influence on musical theatre in a style that is indicative of Larson himself.
Tick, Tick...Boom! is not only a love letter to Larson and his legacy but to theatre fans everywhere. There are endless cameos from actors, writers, composers and producers throughout the generations (even Stephen Sondheim makes a voice cameo) that many are calling the Avengers of Broadway. Most of the main cast is also made up of theatre veterans, and it shows in their performances; the musical numbers are stunning and catchy, and will have you searching for the soundtrack after the film is finished.
At the beginning of the stage musical, Jonathan introduces himself while a persistent ticking sound is heard. He says: "The sound you are hearing is not a technical problem. It is not a musical cue. It is not a joke. It is the sound of one man's mounting anxiety. I... am that man." Tick, Tick...Boom! is a relatable story for any creative person; anyone who feels that they won't have enough time to tell the story they were born to tell or make the difference in how we see the world. It is a beautiful tale of a man who died too young but still managed to leave behind a legacy.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:
