Saw Will Chase twice in The Story of My Life, and he was amazing. he was also one of the NICEST people I have ever talked to at the stage door. (Right up there with Susan Blackwell and Hunter Bell.) Would go to see him in just about anything.
As for what Tom did to Alvin in The Story of My Life, what you don't really hear on the cast album is that Tom is supposed to do the eulogy for Alvin's father. Alvin asks to hear it, and Tom recites it to him, and all it is is a quote from someone else. Alvin wanted Tom to actually write something original. He gets angry that Tom would be so unfeeling as to use someone else's words, and tells him that he'll do it himself. Tom sneaks into the balcony to watch Alvin do it. Alvin starts with, "Let me tell you a story about my father." And he tells the stories. And it was good. Tom realizes that Alvin is the real talent behind him, and I think it sort of freaks him out. He leaves without even saying goodbye, and a week later, Alvin ends up in the river on Christmas Eve.
While the trip thing was a major event, it certainly wasn't the last straw, as it was several years after that before the end (You're Amazing, Tom shows Alvin sending cards to Tom over the course of several Christmases...)
"And now I'm embarrassed. I just met y'all, and I'm way too talky..."
"Are you calling me a procrastibator?" Hunter, [title of show]
"Guess who's gonna get blamed for the war in Europe?" Eugene, Brighton Beach Memoirs
