Noce Continues Inaugural Season with Tick, Tick... BOOM!

This month, Noce continues its inaugural season of theatre with an immersive production of Tick, Tick... BOOM! Local actors Charlie Reese (Hand to God, Murder Ballad, Avenue Q) and Jill Ziegler (Shrek, Rent) are joined by songwriter and recording artist Madison Ray in Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... BOOM!, running for five performances in Noce Jazz Cabaret, February 17-25. Tick, Tick... BOOM! is directed and choreographed by Megan Helmers (Murder Ballad) with music direction by Francine Griffith.

Tick, Tick... BOOM! is a semi-autobiographical musical written by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning composer of Rent. First performed as a solo rock monologue by Larson in 1990, it is the story of a struggling composer living the bohemian life and facing an existential crisis on the eve of his 30th birthday. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city, his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue, and yet Jon is still waiting on tables and trying to write the great American musical. This exhilarating, funny, and moving work by the late Larson will speak to anyone who has ever gotten lost on their way to finding their dreams.

Larson began to perform the piece as a solo work in 1990. After his untimely passing in 1996, Larson's one-man show was re-configured into a three-actor chamber musical by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright David Auburn and premiered Off-Broadway in 2001. Tick, Tick...Boom! was nominated for 7 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, Outstanding Music, and Outstanding Book of a Musical as well as for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical.

Noce's production of Tick, Tick... BOOM! is an immersive staging with the audience in the center of the action, giving spectators an up-close and personal look at Larson's explosive, funny, and poignant chamber musical. The musical is 90 minutes long, presented without an intermission. Tick, Tick... BOOM! is produced by Bob Filippone and Max Wellman.

THE CAST

Charlie Reese (Jonathan) is a local favorite among Des Moines audiences. Some of his most memorable performances include Murder Ballad (Michael) and Cabaret (Clifford Bradshaw) with Des Moine Onstage; Spamalot the Musical (Dennis/Galahad) and Legally Blonde (Emmett Forrest) with the Des Moines Playhouse; and Hand to God (Jason/Tyrone) and Avenue Q (Princeton/Rod) at StageWest Theatre Company.

Jill Ziegler (Susan) has appeared at the Des Moines Playhouse in Shrek The Musical (Fiona), RENT (Joanne Jefferson), The Wizard of Oz (Glinda/Aunt Em), Legally Blonde (Paulette) and more. Other notable credits include Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider) at Des Moines Onstage and Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet) at Des Moines Young Artists' Theatre. Jill studied voice performance at Syracuse University and currently works in Capital Markets at Wells Fargo.

Madison Ray (Michael) was trained by Johnny Contardo of ShaNaNa and has performed with the likes of Aaron Carter, Mya, Belinda Carlisle, Debbie Gibson, Martha Wash, and Victor Wooten. He performed the role of Tom Collins in the Des Moines Playhouse production of RENT as well as Dead Man Walking and La Fanciulla del West with the Des Metro Opera.

THE ARTISTS

Megan Helmers (Director/Choreographer) directed and choreographed Noce's first-ever musical, 2016's Murder Ballad. Her work has been seen across Central Iowa theatres including Des Moines Young Artists' Theatre, Repertory Theatre of Iowa, StageWest, the Des Moines Playhouse, and Tallgrass Theatre. Megan is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Des Moines Symphony, an instructor at the School of Classical Ballet and Dance and a DMYAT board member.

Francine Griffith (Music Director) is Staff Accompanist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Ms. Griffith earned her BME from Drake, studying piano with Chiu-Ling Lin, and has taught Elementary Music in the Waukee School System. She is a private piano instructor, a Children's Choir Director at Plymouth Congregational Church, and Music Director/Coach/Pianist for area theatre productions including Epic Stage Productions, Des Moines Playhouse, Des Moines Onstage, and Des Moines Performing Arts.

Jonathan Larson (Author) received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1996 rock musical Rent. His works include Superbia and Sitting on the Edge of the Future. Jonathan died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, ten days before his thirty-sixth birthday.

Noce is a modern jazz club and cabaret established to present Des Moines with some of the greatest jazz music & theater from around the Midwest. With locally & nationally renowned live entertainment several nights each week in our cabaret lounge & rental space available to the community at large, Noce will provide music lovers with an experience unparalleled in the state of Iowa.

Tick, tick... BOOM! will play five performances in Noce (1326 Walnut Street) February 17-25 as follows: Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18 at 8pm; Sunday, February 19 at 7pm; Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25 at 8pm. General admission tickets ($25) and VIP reserved seats ($35) can be purchased at Noce's box office (1326 Walnut Street, Des Moines), by phone at 515-770-4210, or online at www.nocedsm.com.

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