There has been so much talk everywhere about the need to be true to oneself so one can be happy and not have much regret in life. This must be among the reasons for 9 Works Theatrical to stage for the second time since 2016 Jonathan Larson’s tick…tick…Boom, the story about a theater artist who never gave up on his dream of writing a musical that could change the future of American musicals. And he wanted to achieve that dream before he turned 30.
The composer-writer’s name is Jon. Yes, as in Jonathan. The production is actually autobiographical — Larson wrote it as a “rock monologue” before he completed another musical for which he did become famous: Rent. That musical won for him three Tonys and a Pulitzer prize.
Larson began writing Rent before two other musicals, the sci-fi Superbia and what he eventually titled tick… tick… Boom!
But he won the awards posthumously. Larson died of aortic aneurysm on 25 January 1996. He was found dead by his roommate on the kitchen floor of his home in Manhattan. That was in the morning of the day Rent was going to have a dress rehearsal-preview at the New York Theater Workshop.
The preview was cancelled and the musical’s company sang the score on stage mainly for Larson’s family and friends. But some actors got carried away and performed their respective choreography on top of sturdy tables inside the theater.
Superbia was never produced commercially, though Larson himself managed to stage it in workshops where his idol, the Broadway god Stephen Sondheim, was reported to have attended at least once.
Larson’s rock monologue was originally titled Boho Nights, which he eventually changed to tick…tick…Boom. YouTube videos show him playing the piano while singing and standing up to deliver dialogue. He also looked emaciated.
The version that became popular on Broadway was the one adapted into a three-person musical by playwright David Auburn (Proof) after Larson’s death. It is not the musical monologue that Larson wrote. The Netflix movie of the same title, starring Andrew Garfield and directed by the gloriously successful theater artist Lin-Manuel Miranda, is based on Auborn’s adaptation. Miranda then added details about Larson’s involvement in the production of Rent for the New York Theater Workshop in 1996
Robbie Guevara directed 9 Works Theatrical’s current staging of tick… tick… Boom, which goes on until the first weekend of September at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater at RCBC Plaza in Makati. He also directed the 2016 staging, but as he himself admitted in media interviews, this year’s production is totally different from the 2016 show, which was very basic as it didn’t even have a set and no choreography for its three actors.
Two of the three 2016 thespians are in the cast of the ongoing production: Jef Flores (as Jon) and Tanya Manalang (as Susan, Jon’s girlfriend).
Musical-theater debut
This year’s staging has more actors taking turns to play the characters that Auborn added in his adaptation. The movie-TV actor Khalil Ramos makes his musical-theater debut as Jef, reportedly turning down an offer from his home studio GMA 7 to topbill a series to do his first-ever musical.
The other actors are Kayla Rivera, Vien King and Reb Atadero.
We missed the 2016 run, but we watched a show of the current run on the evening of 19 August, with Flores, King and Rivera. We were floored by the production. Even by the set designed by Mio Infante was a highlight.
Flores is onstage all the time as the frenetic Jon, ranting, singing, dancing and sitting before his electronic piano and wracking his soul to eke out songs. It’s King and Rivera who pull off chameleon-like outfit changes and character transformations.
Guevara said the two supporting actors played about 10 characters other than being Jon’s girlfriend and Jon’s best friend and roommate Michael. King and Rivera were remarkable, as they also had to sing and dance in many of those characters which included Jon’s parents, hectic customers at the diner Jon works in as a cook-waiter at daytime, show producers and show buyers, all of whom don’t want anything to do with the dystopian Superbia, the play Jon has already written and is desperate to sell.
Fine singer and actor
We look forward to watching Ramos, who is actually a fine singer in live shows and a critically acclaimed actor as well for his performance in the indie films 2Cool 2B Forgotten, Ang Huling LSS and Liway, and for his recent Cinemalaya portrayal of a desperate musician in As If It’s True.
The film, directed by John Rogers and produced by Jun Lana, was one of only two entries in the festival that won nothing. In the acting categories, the Cinemalaya jury, headed by actor Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, favored newcomer Pat Tingjuy and Mikoy Morales to win Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.
With its multi-racial cast, Rent is acknowledged to have changed the face of the American musical. Larson’s life is a proof that when one is true to one’s self, success will follow. His death was all too sudden, but he most likely didn’t know he was seriously sick. He was busy being alive and energetically pursuing his dream.