Review: TICK, TICK...BOOM Explodes Onstage at Pittsburgh CLO

There are quite a few shadows hanging over tick, tick...BOOM! The biggest is obviously RENT, the "other musical" Jonathan Larson wrote. Only slightly smaller is the shadow of Jonathan Larson himself, a promising composer who tragically passed mid-development on the Pulitzer-winning RENT before his talents could blossom completely. Finally, there is the shadow of the acclaimed film version of TTB, one of the best movie musicals of the 20th century. That's a lot of baggage for a musical to carry, especially one as slight as the pop-rock chamber piece this show is. Thankfully, Martha Banta's tasteful and fast-moving production truly makes a case for why this show might be better than Larson's more famous other show... or at least, has aged better. 

TTB tells the story of Jonathan Larson... okay, if you're reading the official script of the stage show, it'll say it's the story of Johnny, a composer who is NOT Jonathan Larson but resembles him. It's a conceit that may have been cute when the show came out, but between Larson's legend growing as the years went on and the much more explicitly autobiographical film version, Banta's production smartly states right from the start that Johnny is Jonathan Larson. To really send it home, we even have leading man Ethan Riordan rocking the pseudo-Jewfro perm and long-sleeve button-collar t-shirt Andrew Garfield made so famous in the film. The four-piece band ably led by Robert Neumeyer rocks out on the heavier numbers, then pared back to elegant simplicity on the ballads.

The plot is fairly light, a series of vignettes from the week Jonathan turns thirty, as he bonds, fights and makes up with best friend Michael (Billy Mason) and girlfriend Susan (Sarah Bishop). Jonathan is a starving artist waiting tables, but Michael is a high-power marketing exec and Susan is a promising dance teacher with out-of-town options. Will Jonathan compromise and give up on his dream of changing musical theatre forever? The answer is a foregone conclusion, of course.

One of the strengths of TTB over RENT is that the characters in TTB are less... confrontationally narcissistic. Jonathan has a positive relationship with his supportive parents, who encourage him to keep pursuing his dreams, unlike Mark and Roger who repeatedly thumb their nose at the idea of the life their parents represent. And while Michael admits he sold out and left acting behind for business, he never lords it over his friends or acts high and mighty about it. TTB is less allegorical and more well adjusted than its more famous older brother. 

All the good writing and good songs mean nothing without a good cast, and this three-hander is in extremely good shape. Ethan Riordan's Jonathan is affable, manic and full of chaotic creative energy... except when he slows down for a moment and we see the tension and the anguish roiling under him. Sarah Bishop's primary role as Susan is large but slight, often reduced to the straight-man role pulling the more high-flying Jonathan to earth. It's when she gets to either play a fictionalized version of the character, like the self-help-speak-spouting fantasy version in the song "Therapy," or another character, like manic-pixie-dream-girl actress Karessa, that she gets to stretch out and show the breadth of her talents. Finally, Billy Mason anchors the show with his role as the down-to-earth Michael, who may have sold out but still keeps his sense of fun and joy... even if it's sometimes an act.

One last thing to say: the revamped cabaret space is GORGEOUS. Art deco touches, great acoustics and one of the finest high-quality video walls I've ever seen in a black box make this an extremely attractive space for both large and small shows. Next up is one-woman show Who's Holiday, but the recently announced CLO season promises a new small-cast adaptation of Young Frankenstein, which I am eagerly anticipating already. After seeing this show, which is deeply relatable as a guy in his early thirties writing musicals that sometimes take ages to take off, this show has reinvigorated my own creative juices. I can't be the only one: how many more of Jonathan Larson's children have seen this story and felt inspired to create their own work? Like the song says, "actions speak louder than words;" Jonathan Larson may be dead nearly thirty years, but he still keeps speaking. May his memory, and his shows, be a blessing. And may he rest not in peace, but in power chords.

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