Parris Greaves, Laura Mae Nason, Ken Chamberland in Tick, Tick Boom!
Tick, Tick…Boom! is described as a musical look at the courage it takes to follow your dreams; namely that of Jonathan Larson and his journey that led to the Broadway blockbuster, RENT. In this autobiographical tale, we follow Jon (Parris Greaves), a young composer on the brink of turning 30 and having achieved nothing he’s hoped for. His girlfriend Susan (Laura Mae Nason) wants to get married and move out of the city; his best friend Michael (Ken Chamberland) has left acting in pursuit of more realistic goals and Jon is still waiting on tables, trying to write the great American musical.
Agreed, the concept is not new; American Idiot follows a similar pattern, as do any of a dozen coming of age movies. And if you’ve seen RENT or know the story of Larson, then you can assume there will be some predictability in the overall musical storyline. But the production had a lot of high points. Most importantly, in a three person cast in a studio theatre, you’d better sound good…and they did. Parris is able to hold notes and belt out lyrics with intense passion but still manages to not overpower Ken or Laura who hold their own in solos.
Not all the songs made an impression– some too campy and cheery (two adjectives that do not describe Jon), and others just had lyrics that didn’t make much sense. The score for all of them was catchy and you could sense the “RENT” vibe in each of them.
Not knowing the entire history of Larson, I now look back at one very comedic song that had me smiling: “Sunday”. It’s based on the song “Sunday” written by Stephen Sondheim for his 1984 musical “Sunday in the Park with George”. The song stays very close to Sondheim’s melody, but Larson’s lyrics describe a day at brunch in SoHo at the restaurant where Jon works. What many people don’t know is that in real life Sondheim would often write letters of recommendation for Larson to various producers, which is also alluded to in the musical, and Larson later won the Stephen Sondheim Award.
The show has many redeeming qualities that non-traditional musical goers would particularly like.
Tick, tick…Boom! plays at the Toronto Centre for the Arts Studio Theatre (5140 Yonge St) until October 6; Tuesday to Saturday at 8 pm, Thursday at 1 pm and Sunday at 2 pm. Ticket prices range from $25.00 to $55.00 and can be purchased online, by phone at 1-855-985-2787, or at the box office.
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