Tick, Tick…BOOM! Directed by Lin Manuel Miranda, Imagine Entertainment 5000 Broadway Productions, Drama, Musical, PG-13.

1 h 55 m 

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Netflix’s “Tick, Tick… Boom!” was surely set up for success with names like Andrew Garfield, Vanessa Hudgens, and Lin Manuel Miranda. This was Miranda’s directorial debut, and Garfield had already gained traction from his cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home”. Additionally, some of the soundtrack was used in Tik Tok trends, such as “Boho Days” and “Therapy”, which caused the movie to get more attention. 

“Tick, Tick… Boom!” is the movie based off of the true story of Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), the composer of the famous Broadway musical, “Rent”. The movie takes place before his Broadway success. He lives in a little apartment in New York with a couple roommates and is a waiter for a day job. Jonathan prepares for a writing workshop for his dystopian rock musical “Superbia”, where he hopes to make his big break before he reaches his 30th birthday. He also wrestles with the fact that he is turning 30, stresses with the fact that he cannot write the biggest song in his musical, and takes it all out on his girlfriend, Susan Wilson (Alexandra Shipp), and hurts people he loves in the process. 

Larson’s best friend, Michael (Robin De Jesús), has taken up the advertising executive position instead of being a struggling artist, and tries to convince Jonathan to do the same. He has so many people depending on him, and there is a lot of pressure to make a decision, hence the song, “Johnny Can’t Decide”. 

This movie goes into the depth of the inevitability of time, and how people can work really hard and still not get the results they want. Jonathan doesn’t feel accomplished because he’s turning 30 and has nothing to show for himself. His fear of failure is heightened because everyone is afraid of dying young as a result of the HIV epidemic. He is still a waiter, he isn’t married, he doesn’t have any kids, or a successful production of some kind. 

Jonathan explains in his song “30/90” how he has gotten rejection letters from “every major and minor producer, theater company, record label, and film studio in existence”. Throughout the movie, it’s the week before his “Superbia” workshop, and Jonathan has his hopes really high that this will be his big break, despite all of the failures he’s had. A genius metaphor in the song is about how you can’t fight the passage of time like you can’t fight taxes or city hall, so there definitely is some humor to it despite the heavy theme. 

Lin Manuel Miranda, famous for his plays, “In the Heights” and “Hamilton”, as well as his compositions in the Disney movies, “Encanto” and “Moana”, I am a fan of his work. As for his directorial debut, the movie has a very good structure. The movie switches between flashbacks of Jonathan’s experience, and then him performing songs that he wrote that correlates with what is happening in the flashbacks. It is revealed that the performance is Johnny telling his story. Many of the same characters appear in present day performance and in the flashbacks. Vanessa Hudgens plays Karessa Johnson, who is Jonathan’s friend and does the vocals in some flashbacks and the performance along with Roger Bart, who is played by Joshua Henry, and does the same. 

Other famous Broadway actors and actresses appear throughout the movie as well. Many real Broadway writers and composers who play themselves, including Chad Baguelin, Matthew Sklar, Stephen Shwartz, and Alex Lacamoire, among others. In the musical number, “Sunday”, there are many cameos from some of Broadway’s legends. Most notably, Lin Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Phylicia Rashad. The “Sunday” musical number has been compared to the Avengers: Endgame portal scene for the similarities in the comeback of people or characters that people love. 

The most memorable song in the entire movie was “Therapy”. The song is performed when Johnny and Susan are having a fight. It is a very lighthearted song despite the fact that the argument is very heated. In the actual song, Johnny and Karessa are singing, and they sing over each other which is representative of an argument, as well as the erratic body language and choreography which makes it more intriguing and amusing. 

In conclusion, the movie is incredible. Incredible actors, music, and plot. “Tick, Tick… Boom!” can only be streamed on Netflix. This is definitely a must-watch for fans of musical theater and Andrew Garfield alike.