"Tick, Tick... Boom!": review

Vanessa Hudgens, Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Bradley Whitford

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a productive fellow, and one of his most recent efforts is the 2021 "Tick, Tick... Boom!" a somewhat meta-meta reworking of a musical of the same title. The original musical was written by Jon Larson, the guy most famous for the musical "Rent." Before "Rent," Larson wrote "Tick, Tick... Boom!", the somewhat autobiographical story of the time, in 1990, when Larson was just about to turn thirty while living and struggling in New York to become a name in the musical-theater scene. Miranda directs this cinematic version of "Tick, Tick... Boom!"; Steven Levenson is credited for the screenplay, with Miranda contributing and/or adapting several songs. The story we see contains scenes from Larson's original musical but builds upon it by providing us with a framing story told from a post-90s vantage. Jon Larson died in 1996 of an aortic dissection at the age of 35, just as the first Off-Broadway staging of "Rent" was being performed. Impish and energetic Andrew Garfield stars as Larson.

A female narrator (who we find out later is Jon's ex Susan) tells us, as the film begins, that the story we're about to witness is true... "except for the parts Jonathan made up." When we meet Larson, he's already telling his story—via the play/musical "Tick, Tick... Boom!"—to an audience. This is intercut with scenes from Jon's New York City, Gen-X-style life—the parties he throws despite having no money, the daily grind of working at a diner, and the hours spent in front of a late-80s Macintosh as he racks his brains while seeking inspiration for a musical he's working on called "Superbia," a futuristic, dystopian story. Jon's best friend since childhood is Michael (Robin de Jesús), who abandoned a career as an actor to get into marketing, where he's found himself a cushy job that pays well and allows him to move up in the world to a better quality of life. Jon's girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) is a dancer trying to make her own way as well. Jon is about to turn thirty; "Superbia" is almost ready to go, but it lacks a crucial song, and Jon's brain has been wrung dry. Susan gets a job offer that will take her away from Midtown, and she wants to talk with Jon about their future, but Jon keeps putting off the conversation, just as he keeps falling behind on his rent. Jon's two good friends, Roger and Karessa (Joshua Henry and the amazing Vanessa Hudgens), are helping him out as performers in "Superbia." Meanwhile, it's 1990, and AIDS is a big thing. Many people Jon knows are HIV-positive, and the disease forms a sinister backdrop as more and more of Jon's friends get hospitalized and die. Best friend Michael ends up confessing to Jon that he's HIV-positive, too, and in 1990, that's tantamount to a death sentence.

So the story provides us the background for what would eventually become "Rent." It traces a creative path that I myself am familiar with: the concept that your first idea will prove to be shit, but your next idea will be brilliant. When Jon finally puts on a workshop of "Superbia," which is attended by his distant agent Rosa (Judith Light channeling every Long Island Jewish bubbe ever) as well as by Jon's hero Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford), everyone loves the production... but no offers come in, and Rosa soberly tells Jon that the life of a writer is to try again and again and again until something finally sticks. She also tells him, importantly, to write what he knows—good advice for any writer, really.

What we have, then, is a semi-autobiographical story based on a musical (and containing its own musical numbers) that also contains another musical ("Superbia") within it, hence my calling it "meta-meta." This sounds complicated, but it's easy enough to follow. Many of the movie's songs are catchy if not exactly memorable (quite unlike "Rent," whose unforgettable songs are never featured in this film, sadly). Vanessa Hudgens is impressive when she belts out (with help from Alexandra Shipp) an important number in the final third of the film. She's got a powerful, melodic voice. Some of the songs are touching, and the whole notion of Jonathan being haunted by the constant sound of a ticking clock underscores the urgency of life—of trying to make a name for oneself, of finding meaning, of shaking things up, of enjoying youthful exuberance, even in the face of the Grim Reaper (AIDS and aortic dissections, in this case). As portrayed in the film, Jon isn't a perfect person: if anything, he's often irresponsible when it comes to daily life and relationships. But he's human, and the story captures his humanity. Andrew Garfield is supported by a super-capable cast, but he himself acts and sings the absolute fuck out of his role, and that's to be respected. "Tick, Tick... Boom!" is the celebration of a life cut off too soon, and I read it as Lin-Manuel Miranda's respectful tribute to a guy who struggled for years to make it in New York and who, when he finally made it, wasn't around long enough to see his own success. The story is happy and sad, an ode to joy and a meditation on tragedy, and a reminder—as Gandalf said—that All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

Live your best life.

ADDENDUM: the film also features a ton of cameos. See here.

ADDENDUM 2: here's "Rent"—"Seasons of Love." Thank you, Jon Larson. RIP.