The Jonathan Larson Project

Did anyone out there catch the first preview? Curious to hear feedback about this - great cast!

I'll be seeing it next Tuesday and report back. My impression is that it's something like Marry Me a Little- a very loose story told through these songs. There doesn't seem to be a credited book writer.

Taylor Iman Jones was out of the show Friday the 14th. Any word on her return to the Saturday show or shows?

OuttaTowner said: "From the looks of the cast board in the lobby, last night Jason Tam, Andy Mientus and Lauren Marcus were all out (Taylor was back). Hope the flu hasn’t taken residence at the Orpheum with such a small cast."

That’s the opposite of what the cast was last night. Taylor & Adam were out. Everyone else was in. Jessie and Gil Bailey were fantastic!

I saw this last night. I’ll preface my thoughts by saying I’m not really the ideal audience for this, as I’m not a big fan of song cycles or revues, nor am I totally onboard with the devout mythologizing of Jonathan Larson.

The show is collection of songs Larson wrote for various purposes: cabarets, contests, pop songs, revues, minor musicals, etc. from his early 20s to early 30s. There are single cut songs from tick tick boom, Superbia, and 1984, but that’s really all representing his major musical projects. There’s a comprehensive note included in the program breaking down the history of each song, which is super helpful.


There’s no real plot- a framing device of friends getting together is introduced at the start but then abruptly gets dropped after about twenty minutes and is never revisited. I think the ordering of the songs is a bit incoherent, giving the show a jerky kind of flow. For example, we move from what seems to be a slice of life of friends in modern NY into a lengthy sequence of Larson’s political satire, with no real segue or transition. This sequence is probably the show’s weakest- while it’s good that Larson’s politics are put forward, and some of his work in that area is certainly prescient and remains timely, these songs are just not great. They’re clapter-inducing, and putting them back to back is kind of exhausting. After this sequence, we abruptly move back to the more character-driven songs, and then into a saccharine finale. It’s just kind of a jagged show in its construction. The show shines when the performers are given the opportunity to use the songs to create insightful, specific characterization.


And the performers are all wonderful. The voices, the energy, the commitment all elevate the material. Andy Mientus stood out to me the most, as he seemed to have the most clearly defined track and he gets some of the strongest songs in the show. Taylor Iman Jones brings down the house with her vocals, unsurprisingly, but I do wish she had a real 11 o’clock barn burner to showcase her talent. Adam Chandler Berat seems to be styled like Larson and the show gestures toward him being a stand-in for him, but that never really gets explored. Lauren Marcus gets a more comedic track and is very funny with her numbers. Jason Tam sounds wonderful but his track is the least defined and lacks strong showcase moments, which is a shame!


The production looks great- there’s some beautiful stage imagery and lighting, the staging is consistently inventive, and the show clips along briskly.

The songs themselves are a real mixed bag here. Some are clearly the work of a very young talent and I would have to imagine an older Larson being a little embarrassed by them. There are some gems, but there’s a lot of just middling material and some really minor work that makes one question why you’d want to showcase it in a full production. There isn’t a real coherent idea here- we aren’t tracking Larson’s growth as a talent before his premature death, or seeing how he developed his work. The show puts focus on his anti-capitalist and progressive politics, which is an interesting facet of who he was as an artist and person, but then it retreats (and, as I mentioned, I thought those songs are generally the weakest). It includes some fairly dark songs touching on themes of abuse, suicide, and fear, but then pulls back to the safety of anodyne songs about love healing. It opens and closes with video montages of Larson’s life, which I found to be a little cheaply sentimental. It just feels so reverent that it kind of obfuscates the real man.


So, yeah. Mixed feelings, overall. It’s a good production with great performances, and I suppose as a curio cabinet and testament to what we lost when he died, it works. But I can’t help but feel that we lost sight of Larson himself in the project to canonize him.

Vulture is mixed:

How Do You Measure a Career? The Jonathan Larson Project.

A revue of the Rent creator’s trunk songs and offcuts isn’t profound, but it’s moving all the same.

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-jonathan-larson-project-orpheum-nyc.html



Theatrely:

THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT Soars Off-Broadway — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/the-jonathan-larson-project-soars-off-broadway-review



NY Daily News:

THEATER REVIEW: ‘Jonathan Larson Project’ shines light on late ‘Rent’ composer’s unheard songs

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/03/10/theater-review-jonathan-larson-project-rent-composer-unheard-songs/

That there is absolutely no buzz around this production is very strange...

MezzA101 said: "Still no NYT review."

Word is that NYT is decreasing their theatre coverage and that they have a new policy to not run a major feature (which they did for this show) and also a review. So we may not get a NYT review. Seems odd to me.

Jordan Catalano said: "I saw this last week and thought it was decent. A good showcase for these songs people wouldn’t get to otherwise hear, but as a whole it was just “alright” for me.

My biggest takeaway was that all these songs (good and not so good) have such a distinct sound to them and how it’s just so sad that Larson never got to continue evolving that sound. He was a true original."

I felt the same way. As a matter of fact when my friend asked me what I thought about it the exact words I used were: “It’s alright”.

Closing March 30

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-JONATHAN-LARSON-PROJECT-To-Close-This-Month-20250320

TheGingerBreadMan said: "Well, I'm heartbroken. I was so looking forward to seeing this on my trip in May. Rent, for all of its flaws, is a very special show to me and I think I would have really enjoyed this."

Small consolation, perhaps, but nearly all of the material in this (and both Andy Mientus and Lauren Marcus) has been recorded on the Jonathan Larson Project album that came out several years ago.

It’s enjoyable enough as a song cycle but I’m surprised these producers saw any path to commercial success with it.

It should get a good number of licenses at small regional/community theaters and BFA programs and student-run theatre groups.

it might be tougher now that they announced closing but does anyone happen to know how hard the TodayTix rush has been? I was going to get tickets off TDF but they're no longer there