tic, tic...BOOM!

Given its foreboding title, the musical tic, tic…BOOM! sets our expectations on explosive things to come. And while its tics grow louder with each passing number, it’s not until creator Jonathan Larson could fully realize his next theatrical vision, Rent, that a boom actually goes off. That’s not to say that ttB!, originally penned in reaction to an earlier failed Larson project, doesn’t have some kick. The Westport Country Playhouse production proves it’s got moments of personal depth and more than enough musical charge.

To frame our autobiographical story, Jon (Colin Hanlon) is approaching his 30th birthday. A struggling musical theatre composer/lyricist, he’s haunted by a ticking clock within that forecasts failure if he should remain unproduced when he hits the big three-O. With the help of girlfriend Susan (Pearl Sun), best friend Michael (Wilson Cruz), and a collection of others in his life, our self proclaimed over-the-hill protagonist culls through those feelings and insecurities that both define and limit his talent at the same time. And while we’ve seen the struggling artist story plenty, Larson keeps the progression just unpredictable enough, nudging it forward on the strength of songs like “Johnny Can’t Decide” and fittingly, “Therapy.”

With the understanding that we are watching elements of an early work that may have had up to five solo performance versions, it’s satisfying to look for pieces of his artistic promise pre-Rent. These include a stand-out vocal score that offers playful high notes to match emotional moments; and of course, characters fighting for recognition and self worth. The Westport production often captures that draw-you-in power we’ve come to experience from Rent,with the help of three talented performers.

Smartly using the book’s balanced mix of monologues and scenes, Director Scott Schwartz tries everything possible to take you inside a young artist’s growing funk. Thankfully, as Jon faces more and more obstacles from the people he loves most, the story becomes more focused, truthful and even compelling. Still, it’s Larson’s songs that do the hard work. When Karessa, an actress within Jon’s workshop production finally performs the young composer’s Come To Your Senses, we are thunderstruck by the fact that Jon really is talented and deserves to be noticed! Finally, we get that boom(!) that doesn’t exist often enough in Larson’s other songs, and that you really wish emerged from Jon’s frustration and disappointment. Credit Ms. Song for delivering a transformational moment with honesty and force.

All in all, the Playhouse offers us an engaging production that personifies Larson’s SoHo world and his own personal struggle. A fine cast and four well-tuned musicians offer us an appealing if sometimes too comfortable journey of a young man as artist, who in real life proved a true inspiration. 

tic, tic…BOOM!
Where: Westport Country Playhouse
Runs: June 23-July 18, 2009 • Tickets: 203-227-4177
Book, music & lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Directed by Scott Schwartz
Music Director, Charles Czarnecki
Choreographer, Christopher Gattelli
David Auburn, Script Consultant
Vocal Arrangements and Orchestrations by Stephen Oremus