Review: TIK TIK...BOOM! at Chance Theatre

Tik Tik..Boom! is an inspiring hit musical at the award-winning Chance Theater in Anaheim through February 23rd.  Set in New York City in 1990, this is a poignant love letter to Jonathan Larson, composer of the Broadway mega-hit musical Rent.  Larson first created Tik Tik...Boom! as a one-man rock show, based on the true story of his constant rejection and struggle as an artist before his first hit.  The bittersweet irony is that Larson died the very day Rent had its first preview off-Broadway, at the age of 35.  Jonathan Larson never had the chance to enjoy his own massive posthumous success as the creator of one of the longest running shows in Broadway history.

After Larson’s death, Tik Tik…Boom! was adapted into this acclaimed three person musical.  The story is alternately heart-rending, inspiring and hilarious.  Jonathan Larson is a broke composer approaching his 30th birthday with zero signs of success.  Jon has no kids, no career, no marriage, no mortgage, no one believing in him as an artist.  Instead, he has a dead end job at a diner, a beautiful girlfriend who will soon leave him, and a mounting pile of jumbled notes on his desk about a musical that no one will produce.  Is it time to finally throw in the towel and give up his impossible dreams?

Tik tik…Boom! is the rare musical that is not escapist, lavish, or huge in scope, but focused on the small, all-too-true moments of real life, from envying your friend’s sublime new yuppie apartment in “No More” to handling a hectic brunch with nightmare customers in “Sunday” and the unconditional love you can only find in a Twinkie in “Sugar”.

As an unabashed lover of classic musicals, I must confess that contemporary musicals are not always for me.   There is the new hegemonic Broadway sound, those slightly snarky,  sing-song-y, tuneless songs that are always talk-singing, the contemporary-pop-jazz mishmash that I personally loathe.  Yet Tik Tik…Boom! is that rare contemporary Broadway musical that is pretty perfect, especially the Chance Theater production, which is superlative.  I particularly appreciated the imaginative, vibrant, insightful casting by Shinshin Yuder Tsai and the brilliant scenic design work from Fred Kinney and Mio Okada .

Surprisingly for something that is grounded in real life and in real struggle, there is so much reach-for-the-sky, genuine optimism in Tik Tik…Boom! that it feels restorative.  After the non-stop apocalypses of the last several years, from COVID shutdowns to industry strikes and now the unspeakable devastation of the latest wildfires, the resilience and hopefulness at the core of this Chance Theater production feel like a tonic.

Direction by H. Adam Harris is generous, observant, warm-hearted. Performances are winning, anchored by the impeccable charms of lead Luc Clopton, whose innate warmth, easygoing charisma, and deadpan comic delivery are a gift as Jonathan Larson.  Lena Ceja, playing Jon’s dancer girlfriend Susan. and a host of other characters including most wonderfully his cantankerous agent, is sexy, radiant, and compelling.  Ceja is so much more alive as his prickly, larger-than-life agent and a seductive diva that you wonder if she has been slightly miscast in the rather lackluster part of the girlfriend. 

Mario Houle steals the show as Larson’s Best Friend Michael, an actor who sold out and became a successful yuppie, but who has layers of both comedy and lush, painful depth to his character, especially once we learn of his HIV diagnosis.  Houle has something ineffable about his performance that is hard to describe, but he has that immutable authenticity, gorgeous voice and profound truthfulness that reach through the character and touch us at our core.

There may be the occasional misstep in the writing, like Jon’s complaints about having to ride too many subway stops to bother going to see his girlfriend (really?) or his slimy flirtation with a stunning actress workshopping his musical.  These elements of his personality should be expanded more and explored as interesting flaws or excised.  I would also love to hear this musical performed with a lean set of live instruments, although space considerations could  make that challenging.  But all in all, the Chance Theater production of Tik Tik…Boom! is an absolute treasure.

Urged on by my friend Joe Mosqueda, acclaimed theatre critic at Glamgical, this was my first time at the Chance Theater in Anaheim. I am impressed by the creative team at the Chance Theater and the warm, inclusive, supremely engaged community they have created around live storytelling.  You know from the moment you enter the Chance Theater that this is a very special place.

If like me you are coming from out of the area, I recommend combining a night out at the Chance Theater with some of the area’s local delights, like sampling the outrageously delicious restaurants, falafel stands, and baklava bakeries of nearby Little Arabia in West Anaheim, hugging a tree in the only redwood grove in Southern California in Carbon Canyon Park, or enjoying some outdoor music and drinks at nearby downtown Disney.

Photos by Doug Catiller

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