THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT Musical Will Make World Premiere Off-Broadway

The world premiere of The Jonathan Larson Project will open off-Broadway in February 2025. This new musical celebrates the dozens of unheard songs, unfinished and unproduced musicals, and pop songs found in files and boxes when the visionary writer of RENT died suddenly at the age of 35 in 1996.

Conceived by Jennifer Ashley Tepper and directed by John Simpkins, The Jonathan Larson Project features more than 20 undiscovered songs by the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning writer. The Jonathan Larson Project was originally presented as a concert at 54 Below in Fall 2018 and was released as an album from Ghostlight Records in 2019. Read our review of the album here.

The Jonathan Larson Project will begin previews on Friday, February 14 with an official opening on Monday, March 10 at the Orpheum Theatre, located at 126 2nd Avenue, for a 16 week limited engagement. Casting will be announced at a later date. For more information and to sign up to be the first to know about ticketing and casting information, please visit www.thejonathanlarsonproject.com.

“Jonathan Larson dreamed of revolutionizing musical theatre. Tragically, he wasn't around to see his wildest dreams come true, since he passed away unexpectedly at the age of 35, right before RENT hit,” said Conceiver Jennifer Ashley Tepper. “Over a decade ago, I began immersing myself in the hundreds of boxes that Jonathan Larson left behind when he died. The hours of cassette tapes of undiscovered songs, piles of scripts that had never been produced, and many personal letters, photos, journals, and more were endlessly inspiring.”

Tepper continues, “Jonathan's lost songs are political, personal, surprising, galvanizing, relevant, and tell a fascinating new story about a young man following his heart in New York City, trying to change the world. I felt strongly that there was a show to be made from Jonathan's work that had never been heard. I am so thrilled that after many years, The Jonathan Larson Project is finally making its full-scale debut as a stage musical.”

The treasure trove of songs includes work from unproduced shows including 1984 and Superbia, songs that were cut from RENT and tick, tick… BOOM!, songs written for theatrical revues and for the radio, and most importantly, songs never publicly performed or recorded before The Jonathan Larson Project.

Jonathan's voice reaches through time to inspire audiences as The Jonathan Larson Project brings to the stage the extraordinary unheard songs of the writer who revolutionized Broadway. From presidential elections to environmental activism to creating and connecting despite every obstacle, Jonathan’s songs speak to our present time with stunning resonance. 

At the same time, they reflect the journey of an unknown young artist, struggling against rejection, making ends meet as a waiter in a diner, and finding his voice... which he has no idea will someday lead to triumph and enduring fame, tragically after he's gone. The Jonathan Larson Project is a thrilling undiscovered treasure trove full of theatre history that is also a world premiere musical filled with songs you will never forget.

With Music Supervision and Orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and Co-Arrangements by Charlie Rosen and Natalie Tenenbaum, The Jonathan Larson Project also features Choreography by Byron Easley and Music Direction by Cynthia Meng. Casting is by The Telsey Office/Rachel Hoffman with General Management by Evan Bernardin Productions.

About Jennifer Ashley Tepper 

Tepper is an acclaimed theatre historian, author, and producer. She has been the Creative and Programming Director at 54 Below for the past decade. She has curated or produced over 7000 shows in this position. Her leadership at the beloved venue has gained praise from publications including The Huffington Post, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Playbill, Newsday, The New York Post, and more. Tepper's four volumes of The Untold Stories of Broadway book series have been called an "inspiring Must- Read" by NBC New York and occupied the #1 spot on Amazon.com's Best Sellers List in Broadway & Musicals. Her new book, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy that the History Books Left Out was published in November 2024. Women Writing Musicals is the first-ever book about female musical theatre writers. Tepper is the producer of the musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love In Hate Nation, projects that are part of a decade-long collaboration with the group known as Joe Iconis & Family. On Broadway, Tepper has also worked on [title of show], The Performers, Godspell, Macbeth, and The Parisian Woman. She is the conceiver of The Jonathan Larson Project, historian consultant on the tick, tick... BOOM! movie (directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda for Netflix) and co-creator of the Bistro Award- winning concert series, If It Only Even Runs A Minute. Her work as a theatre historian also encompasses celebrated live talks and events, including at TEDxBroadway, BroadwayCon, The Museum of Broadway, Thespian Festivals, and more. Tepper received a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. She was named one of the 10 professionals on Backstage Magazine's "1st Annual Broadway Future Power List", which stated: "Proving herself both a zeitgeist predictor and theatrical historian with her eclectic programming, Tepper is leading the conversation on contemporary musical theatre.”

About Jonathan Larson

Larson was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his groundbreaking musical RENT.  He also won the Tony Award for Best Musical, received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundation's Commendation Award twice, and additionally, in 1994 won the Richard Rodgers Award for RENT. RENT has been produced worldwide in numerous languages and was adapted into a feature film in 2005, directed by Chris Columbus. In 2019, Marc Platt produced a live television adaptation of RENT for FOX. In 1989, Larson was honored with the Stephen Sondheim Award by the American Music Theatre Festival, where he contributed to the musical Sitting on the Edge of the Future. The following year, he received the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical Superbia, which was staged at Playwrights Horizons. Larson also composed the score for the 1995 musical J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, presented by En Garde Arts. Larson’s rock monologue tick, tick... BOOM! was performed at Second Stage Theatre, The Village Gate, and New York Theatre Workshop. The piece went on to be produced off-Broadway in a three-person adaptation by David Auburn, in London, Los Angeles, and other cities globally. tick, tick... BOOM! was later adapted into a feature film for Netflix, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Julie Oh through Imagine Entertainment, and was directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature film debut. In addition to his work for the stage and screen, Larson composed music for Sesame Street and contributed to various children's book-cassettes, including scores for Steven Spielberg's An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He also worked on film scores for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner and conceived, directed, and wrote original songs for the children’s musical video Away We Go!. RENT, Larson’s iconic rock opera based on La Bohème, premiered on February 13, 1996, at New York Theatre Workshop and subsequently ran on Broadway for 12 years. Tragically, Jonathan Larson passed away unexpectedly from an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, just ten days before his 36th birthday. Despite his untimely death, Larson’s legacy endures through his influential works, and  the work of the Jonathan Larson Grant Program (administered by the American Theatre Wing). The Grant Program supports the work of emerging musical theatre artists and has helped foster the careers of many of todays established Broadway creators.