Tick.. Tick.. BOOM! in Toronto.

[alli2]

Posted: 2/19/05 at 10:00pm

I saw it on Thursday and Friday night (17th and 18th). Fabulous is my only word.

The set was very different from the two other productions I’d seen, because the theatre was TINY.

The first thing that I noticed that was different about the show was the first song. The ticks are being heard, followed by booms, and “Michael” and “Susan” come out and are pre-set and then Dean was at the corner SL. The light goes up on him instantly, instead of after “It is one man’s mounting anxiety!” I didn’t like that, I mean, it worked, but I like it the other way better.

Dean’s first monologue was so funny, he appeared to be SO nervous and freaked out, and it just came through so well. He was turning red the minute he started to sing though, aw.

Everything went really, really well. It was so funny and all of the actors conveyed their characters perfectly. As for having heard that the only thing wrong with Daphne is her ‘physique’? I think it actually fits quite well, those who can’t do, teach. I’m not saying she couldn’t dance, but she was a dance teacher at the time. I’ve taken dance for many years and not once have I ever had a teacher that was anorexic like a ballerina. Her voice was great too, even over sickness because “Come to Your Senses” wasn’t as good as it was the second night.

I don’t remember from past productions, but what are the lines they say during the break in “No More” when they’re running and playing with each other? I have no idea whether they’re the same or not but Dean said things like, “That was a very endearing quality that my mother always loved!” and, “that’s how you lost 15 pounds!” as well as, “I see Kareem Abdul Jabars head!” They were very funny.

Something that was also different was that Dean didn’t play the piano at all until the end.

I have to be honest; I didn’t know how I’d feel with Dean as Jonathan, only because he doesn’t look like him. But, I loved all of his performance. My favorite part though, was after Michael tells him he has AIDS and he’s running through the meadow screaming at seagulls “MY FRIEND IS DYING!” And he’s crying and so distraught. I wanted to run up and hug him. He was so amazing at capturing Jonathan, maybe different than what Raul did, but it still was very effective. After a while, I forgot that he looked differently from Jonathan and I forgot that he was Dean and not Jonathan. At times though, he sounded exactly like Raul on the OOBCR.

Michael as a white guy (who looked like Forest Gump!). Well, Michael was played by a guy named Michael! During “Sunday” when he usually imitates a black woman wanting the ‘Salad necoys..etc’ he put on a cowboy hat and did it as a mid-westerner. It worked very well. He was excellent. He added so many little things in that made me feel like he was so upset at that moment in his life. Like, when he’s walking off stage, leaving Susan and Jon, he stood at the back of the stage right before he walked off and watched them kiss in agony; because he knew he was dying.

“Come to Your Senses” was MUCH more on on Friday night. She was able to hold the final note out until the end.

I like “Therapy” better when it was staged with Jon and Susan sitting next to each other, more than standing. But they both had a good time with it still. Dean emphasized “bad” every time he said it in the first few lyrics of the song.

“Louder Than Words” was great, lots of emotion. Vocals were right on. It was just really, really good.

At the end when Jon is supposed to play Happy Birthday for himself, Dean went over to the band and the pianist (Wayne) stood aside and Dean played ‘Happy Birthday’ and after every few bars, he’d look over his shoulder like, “Hah, you thought I couldn’t play piano!”


Go see it, this week is it's final week. Go see it.

[matthius202]

Posted: 2/19/05 at 10:02pm

i love the song, Why, from that show. And come to your senses and Johnny Can't Decide. Okay, so I like SINGING the song, Why, from that show. haha :)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/19/05 at 10:04pm

I need to see a production of this show at some point in my life. Glad you got to see it.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 2/19/05 at 11:22pm

love this show. saw it with joey mac! great stuff.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 3:42am

When I saw tick, tick...BOOM! at my college, the guy playing Michael was white as well, but he still did the black woman voice and it was HYSTERICAL. They had to continue the freeze for like another minute because the audience was cracking up.

[alli2]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 12:48pm

oh, your college did it? you don't happen to have a copy of the script, do you?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 12:54pm

awww... I wish I could see Dean. He's so delicious. He needs to come back to RENT now that he’s made a bit of a name for himself. That would be stunt casting that I actually wouldn’t mind since he was the understudy for Mark for a while...

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 2:17pm

hey i just got into ticktickboom... can u give me like a synopsis of it?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 2:24pm

It's about Jonathan Larson's life, sort of.

ETA - check your PM's.

Updated On: 2/20/05 at 02:24 PM

[apdarcey]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 2:27pm

oh emcee, you're not supposed to publicize this website! because most of the material is not in the public domain. the really useful group found out and demanded all the lloyd webber material off, luckily they didn't shut down the whole website, because it's completely illegal!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 2:30pm

eep. I didn't know that!
I like that website.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 5:02pm

cats, Dean had already been in QAF when he started in Rent. It wouldn't exactly be stunt casting any more now than it was then.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 5:33pm

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the script? I have the CD, but i just want to know what's going on in between the songs....thanks...

[zippyjen]

Posted: 2/20/05 at 6:29pm

I am so glad you had fun. I also need to see a probuction of this show. I have the cd and think it is amazing!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 12:56am

I was actually a bit disappointed by the Toronto production. I thought the lighting was terrible -- I didn't like how the stage was constantly bathed in light like that. I found Dean was okay, but his mannerisms came directly from RENT, and didn't convey the kind of exhausted frustration that Jon goes through in TTB.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 2:05am

Can anyone describe to me what the set looked like? And maybe compare/contrast the NYC production's sets. Thanks. Just trying to get a visual image of the show.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 7:31am

Here's a review I read on CB which mentions the set briefly.

http://www.compulsivebowlers.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=184

[alli2]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 11:15am

in my photo album, i have pictures of the set. go to it and go to the album called 'tick tick boom,' it's in alphabetical order.

http://photos.yahoo.com/langfrosh04

[tshell88]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 12:05pm

i saw the show last night. i really enjoyed it. it didn't quite compare to the production off-broadway, but there were some aspects that i absolultely adored. the one thing i really didn't like was the lighting. some of the looks worked, but a lot of it seemed like it was trying too hard and it didn't work. and the rest seemed like maybe it would have worked in a different theatre with more equipment and space to work with. i could get into specifics about other technical aspects, but i don't really feel like doing that now.

i thought dean was the weakest link in the cast, but that's not saying i thought he was bad by any means. i think part of what i didn't like were aspects written in to the character and not really because of dean's performance. although his singing voice wasn't quite as strong (refering to volume, not quality) as i was hoping it would be. i just didn't get that slap-in-the-face feeling i got when i saw it in new york. but i shouldn't really be comparing the two productions, so i'll stop that! anyway, a lot of what i loved about daphne moens and michael dufays were the little characters that they played. michael as jon's agent. that got quite the reaction from the audience. and daphne's voice...wow! just the power she can produce. i hope to see her perform again really soon!

anyway, overall, a great show that i would definitely recommend. although there are only four performances left! the audience last night was so receptive. and i believe it was sold out. so if you want to go see this show, it'd be in your best interest to reseve tickets sooner rather than later because obviously word of mouth is spreading about how wonderful this production has turned out to be.

[alli2]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 12:06pm

oh yeah, also another thing that i forgot to mention was that when the actors were pre-setting when the show first started, the lights were dimmed and 'Boho Days' started playing and continued all the way up until Dean began his monologue.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 1:59pm

Thanks ya'll. You guys rock!

[alli2]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 2:34pm

Updated On: 2/21/05 at 02:34 PM

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 2/27/05 at 6:35pm

I saw it last night (closing night).
I have to say, since seeing the Producers about a year ago, every musical I've seen since hasn't done much to move me. I look at it too objectively and don't enjoy them anymore.
Last night's show changed my mind.
ALL of the actors were fantastic. I am proud to say Daphne Moens, who played Susan, is alum from my university (drama and music). They were all INCREDIBLE actors, especially with the character switches, and their singing suited the roles quite well.
It was a fantastic production. I wish I had seen it earlier so I could see it again!
And isn't the Poor Alex quaint? hehe.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/27/05 at 7:14pm

The Poor Alex reminds me of the tiny screening rooms at the old Cineplex Odean in the Eaton Centre.

The friends I took hated Daphne Moens, but I really liked her. The weakest link, for me, was Dean himself; with his nervous tick and gestures, he seemed to be channeling Mark from RENT, but I didn't feel the world-weary exhaustion that I feel is essential to Jonathan's character.

[Alfie]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 4:21pm

I also saw the closing performance of Tick, Tick, Boom! What a terrific piece of work. I've seen lots of shows at the Poor Alex, and I've never seen one as technically clean as this one. Ususally, the lights are merely functional. This production actually made some creative use of the really llimited lighting the space seems to offer. Also, the sound was very good. I saw a production of Bat Boy (which is also having its Toronto debut) a few days earlier, and the sound knocked me out of my chair. The performers in Bat Boy were offensively over-mic'd.
Kudos to the director if Tick, Tick Boom. He and his actors were able to take a script that is skeletal and sketchy, and they made it into something that was very funny and very moving. I was delighted at how much movement they were able to create on that tiny stage.
The music was very good. All the singers were solid, but I could listen to an entire evening of Ms. Moens singing alone. What a voice!
She and Michael gave first-rate supporting performances.
As for Dean Armstrong, I thought he did a really fine job with the role of John. He was energeti and charming; his nervous ticks and mannerisms beautifully physicalized the character's state of mind. He moved me tremendously in the last part of the play. What an honest piece of acting. (I wish he'd been reigned in from the occasional bit of mugging he did).
The entire evening was delightful, and the audience clearly shared my opinion. Toronto audiences tend not to be overly demonstrative, so I was amazed when the audience lept to its feet and applauded and cheered at the end of the show. I felt like I was part of a REAL standing ovation, and not part of a "let's stand up because the show cost us $90" ovation.
Well done. I only wish I'd seen it sooner so that I could get out to see it again.