Review: TICK TICK... BOOM! at Roma

Some discoveries will change your life forever. My life was transformed when I first tried a date caramel made with three ingredients: dates, peanut butter, and hot water. A little lemon juice and salt makes it even more delicious. This is also the lesson I learned from this show: to make something perfect, you don't need to mix three hundred elements, if you have the right ingredients, you need a lot less. In Tick, Tick... Boom! all the elements are more than great, making me change my list of favorite things on earth.

There are no flaws here, the length is perfect (riding a rollercoaster for too long is not healthy), the rhythm takes you like a river current, and the acting is boooooom. Seriously, it’s like a bomb. Three actors, four musicians, movement, stenography, costumes, music. The result will blow your mind.

The fact that the action is so close to you that actors can look into your eyes makes it more intimate, small space with re-using every object is playing with imagination and creates a universe where everything is possible. No waste, no time, the clock is ticking, tick tick. The action and the songs are fast like the wheels of a chair crossing the stage from one side to the other. Rollercoaster, no time to catch a breath. How do they do it so fast? How do actors evolve into someone different with such ease? You're sitting in the audience, the lights are off, you fasten your seat belt, the lights are on and you don't have time to speed up, it goes faster than Rimac Nevera. Tick tick, time is running out. There are turns, laughter, and moments of reflection where you can easily enjoy the view and then get back into crazy speed rhythm with another song about a restaurant, sugar or a telephone, and then… you feel the wind in her hair.

Piotr Janusz is like peanut butter - full-bodied, and thick, but retaining its crunch and a cheerful crack between your teeth with every second. It will bring you a lot of laughter and reflection with its changes and performing a great set of skills. Anastazja Siminska is like hot water - she flows around the action, filling it with her charm and charisma, creating each character with a different figure as if writing on the water with her finger. And Marcin Franc is the core, dates, the main ingredient that brings the flavor to its senses and it is absolutely irresistible. His charisma mixed with perfect diction, devotion, energy, and sharp voice (that will leave you in awe), brings everything together for a smooth finale. He’s perfect when he makes the audience both laugh and cry, he’s like this boy next door who would sell you a lemonade on a driveway even if you have a lemon allergy and you would feel that’s the best money ever spent. He’s a natural, he sets the rhythm and wraps the audience around his little finger. To say he’s perfect in this role is like saying nothing at all. We all dance to his tune and we love it. He breaks the distance between action and the audience in little pieces and does it with frivolity and a huge smile leaving us helpless. Long story short, to say I’m a fan is like saying nothing at all. If the term It Guy exists, he’s a definition.

Wojciech Kepczynski, the director, takes us on a rapid journey during which we can face our dreams. It’s a story that we can all relate to and look at ourselves in a mirror. With a touch of lemon and salt, a set design by Mariusz Napierala, costumes by Anna Was, and choreography by Agnieszka Branska, these caramel dates would also change your life and remind you of what musical theater is. Without special effects, dancers, or fireworks, you can experience real delight based on a good story and talented people. Buckle up, it's going to be good and wild!

Photo: Karol Mank

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