Dramaturgical Note

Dramaturgical Note

Soho was a slice of New York that every fresh artist wanted a taste of in the late 1980s, from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol. Jonathan Larson immersed himself in the world of this lower Manhattan art scene. Occurring before gentrification would turn this area into a playground for the wealthy, Soho was a melting pot that held the cities' underground artists, crime, and epidemics together. This place of chaos and dreams was the ground from where Larson’s work emerged. In tick, tick...Boom! Larson serves us a show that touches on stressful moments in life. The show is a reflection of true anxiety, the weight of deadlines, the effects of forcing oneself, stress in interpersonal relationships, and most importantly-the triumph that comes with bearing it all. However, it shows the glory of creating art. No matter the weight, no matter the expectations or attitudes of a general society, beautiful art will always live no matter what.

From its premiere in 2001 to its latest revival in 2024, tick, tick… Boom! gives audiences a different taste of what Jonathan Larson could do. The popularity of Rent and the growing interest in Superbia honored Larson’s legacy and showed us all what he was capable of even if he didn’t live long enough to be able to see it. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film adaptation of the musical helped expose a larger audience to the musical and Jonathan Larson. This is the audience we are hoping to reach by doing the show here at UIndy.

People who have seen the movie and the people who have seen Rent will hopefully be curious about a stage production of tick, tick…Boom!, which over the years, has become a sort of a memorial to Jonathan Larson and his life. Larson felt like he was running out of time to do things before he turned 30. A lot of these feelings are relatable especially for the college students who are watching the show. You are in college for four years which is a lot of time, but while you are going through it it feels both very long and very short. We always talk about or hear about how “there just isn’t enough time”. But the real question is: enough time for what? This is what Johnathan Larson was trying to explore while writing tick, tick… Boom! as an autobiographical piece. 

Larson could have written tick, tick… Boom! as one big monologue from Jon that explains everything, but he didn’t. He chose to include two other characters. Michael and Susan, who are two of the most important people in Jon’s life represent two of the main themes in the show, losing touch with those who are close to you and realizing the true value of friendship. Mike also represents Jon’s fear of failure because Micahel was the one who was able to move out of the poor starving artist phase of his life, the same phase that Jon is still stuck in during the show. Jon does not want to give up on his dreams in order to succeed. He wanted to do what it took to finish his show even if it was the hard way to do things. The closing song “Louder Than Words” is a perfect way to close out the show as it speaks to the audience and asks them the same questions Jon was asking himself throughout the whole show.

--Dramaturg students of THE 241: Play Analysis

Elaina DeLeon, Ambrose Miranda, Melia Trimmer

Rae Cook, Cooper Cougill, Carter Bradley, Kate Downey