Before there was Rent, there was tick, tick…BOOM!, Jonathan’s autobiographical one-man show and the story of those 10 years at the Moondance.
Netflix brought back the Moondance Diner Food Truck for 1 day only this weekend in celebration of the release of tick, tick...BOOM! The event featured Alexandra Shipp (Cast), Robin de Jesús (Cast), Joshua Henry (Cast), Daphne Rubin-Vega, and special appearances from your favorite Broadway stars.
Check out photos below!
It isn't often that a bygone New York City establishment like the Moondance Diner is remembered because of one of its servers. Their portraits aren't the ones lining the walls, after all. But the spirit of this particular silver chromium diner, which closed in 2012, lives uniquely in the memory of a young waiter: A musical theater writer named Jonathan Larson, who worked there for 10 years to pay the bills as he set out to become the next big thing in theater.
He did become the next big thing. Jonathan's seminal musical Rent was a smash hit. Its arrival marked an earth-shattering moment for musical theater and its fans, and forever changed the landscape of stories told on and off Broadway. It went on to win numerous Tony and Drama Desk Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. Jonathan's dream of revolutionizing musical theater came true, but he didn't live to see it. He passed away suddenly the night before Rent's first Off-Broadway preview.
...But before there was Rent, there was tick, tick...BOOM!, Jonathan's autobiographical one-man show and the story of those 10 years at the Moondance. The story of an artist doubling down on his dreams and doing what it took to get by in 1990s New York.
Jonathan curated the music at the Moondance during his shifts, and fed his friends chocolate milkshakes and fries on breaks or anytime they stopped by to make sure they were eating.
In the spirit and memory of Jonathan, here's diner fare on the house.
Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his feature directorial debut with tick, tick...BOOM!, an adaptation of the autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, who revolutionized theater as the creator of Rent. The film follows Jon (Academy Award nominee and Tony Award winner Andrew Garfield), a young theater composer who's waiting tables at a New York City diner in 1990 while writing what he hopes will be the next great American musical. Days before he's due to showcase his work in a make-or-break performance, Jon is feeling the pressure from everywhere: from his girlfriend Susan, who dreams of an artistic life beyond New York City; from his friend Michael, who has moved on from his dream to a life of financial security; amidst an artistic community being ravaged by the AIDS epidemic. With the clock ticking, Jon is at a crossroads and faces the question everyone must reckon with: What are we meant to do with the time we have? tick, tick...BOOM! stars Academy Award nominee & Tony Award winner Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Tony Award nominee Robin de Jesús, Tony Award nominee Joshua Henry, MJ Rodriguez, Emmy Award winner Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, with Emmy and Tony Award winner Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens. The film is written by Tony Award winner Steven Levenson, and produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, Julie Oh, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Photo credit: Emilio Madrid
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