tick, tick...BOOM! at City Center

I too very much enjoyed Tick, Tick...Boom! tonight. I've always liked the score, but it was the book that impressed me the most- well the book specifically Lin-Manuel Miranda's line readings. I was completely invested in his character, and this was my favorite performance I've seen him give to date. He displayed some excellent timing this evening.

Karen handled Come To Your Senses very well and received some well-earned and sustained applause afterward. It's nice that she was able to make a little trip back to New York, and I hope she continues to do so in the future.

Leslie Odom Jr had a lot of fun with Lin performing No More (a song that I don't think plays as well on disc as it did tonight in the theater).

The three of them meshed well together, and as mentioned above, the vamping while Lin changed out his mic was a lot of fun. Leslie stayed in character and asked Karen questions about Superbia- what was the source material, had she read the book, who was the author, do you remember any of the dances from the show? Great, great fun.

Louder Than Words reminded me a lot of Light There Be Light from N2N, and I could see how the piece influenced other rock musicals too.

The show was at once a time capsule of the 90s (complaints about Broadway tickets reaching the horrible height of $50!) and still felt current and relatable. I guess one of the marks of a good work is the ability to remain relevant with the passage of time.

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Tickets reached $50 way before the '90s.

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I am going on Saturday night. What is the running time? Did they start on time? Thanks!

The show should be taking place in 1990. The $50 tickets had been around for about two years at least by then.

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Jonathan Larson turned 30 in February 1990.

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I've never cared for Lin's acting/sing/rapping. It all just seemed so forced, so I'm glad to hear he's great in this. I'm sad I won't get to see it, but I hope I get to hear her "Come To Your Senses." I love that song!

EDIT: Just watched that preview video. His voice is still pretty terrible. And his acting.. I'm not a fan.

Updated On: 6/25/14 at 11:40 PM

I can't wait to see this on Saturday

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"When did Broadway tickets first hit $100? "

Nicholas Nickleby charged $100 on Broadway for the full 8-hour 2-part production back in October of 1981, though that was certainly an anomaly. I'd just moved to NYC out of grad school and in no way could defend spending so much for a night of theater, no matter how great. (I regretted that decision, and coughed up the $100 5 years later when it came back to Broadway in the same production but without that brilliant original cast. Damned if it wasn't worth every penny after all!)

re: Come to Your Senses. During the Jane St. run, this song brought the house down EVERY night, no matter who was playing Susan at the time. The most favorably received - Amy Spanger, the original Susan.

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I'm going Friday and could not be more excited. I used to drive around Long Island in my little Nissan Maxima blasting the cast recording and singing along at the top of my lungs. I have so many memories of singing the songs with friends, like the one who was pretty much responsible for getting me through high school alive. I've never actually seen it performed live. I am so, so, so excited. And I'm probably going to be a sobbing mess. You can find me in row A of the Mezzanine if you're there. If I'm not there, there will probably be a puddle in my place.

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I went into TICK TICK BOOM! kinda green not having much knowledge of this show. I guess for those died-in-the-wool Jonathan Larson fans this show is nothing less than an epiphany. Unfortunately I was NOT IMPRESSED. The 'rock monologue' seems decidedly midtown what with descriptions of the landscape that I guess was exotic to someone who spends most of their time in Westchester or downtown - while the leap to political philosophies at the end seemed a bit glued on since in the earlier parts of the show there were little of those meanderings or tendencies.

Some of the music strikes my ear as really unappealing & some vocal harmonies had my head turning sideways like a dog encountering a siren or other discordance. On the other hand, some of his lyric work is just downright inventive & original. I esp. liked "Therapy."

It's good to see Karen back where she is able to hold her own (even though I didn't believe her character to be a dancer what with her general physical carriage which tended to be schlumpy. What she DOES bring to the score though is FULL-VOICE, something that her co-star does not seem to be able to muster up very well.

I'm actually concerned that this little bit of miscasting may get worse during this short run because when Mr. Miranda pushes his voice he goes off-pitch. Don't get me wrong, he's not awful. Matter of fact his acting choices seem right. I just think putting this small work into the large theatre raises the need to have singers who make fuller voiced choices. What he is doing would probably work much better in a small intimate space. It just appears that what has worked for him in the past, his great way with interpreting his own rhythmic text, was really 'his voice' & even though he pulled off Encores "Merry We Roll Along" a couple seasons ago - his singing chops just aren't up to the demands of this show.

They have created a production which visually fills the stage even though it was kinda comical to have a small mylar strip curtain come down behind the small 3 member bandstand to signify a different locale even though it seemed hundreds of feet from the stage action. Leslie Odom Jr. seems to ride middle ground but I kept feeling as though he needs to speed up most of his choices. The use of a couple stage hands were well used to fill out a couple of scenes. The diner set for 1 number seemed a bit excessive even though I liked it. Wish I could get my hand on the prop stack of pancakes after the run. I think they could hold their own in a POP Art show right alongside Claes Oldenburg's classics.

Hopefully some of my early observations were just that & that things here will come together. The BOOM drum effect was nice but abandoned early on, yet the Sondheim static effect was nice but went on too long. Such is the nature of works like this. I did appreciate the opportunity to learn more about this man who brought many young people into the musical theatre scene who otherwise wouldn't have, so maybe all it needs is a good couple of performances with some of City Centers finest audiences to help it find its proverbial wings.

Updated On: 6/26/14 at 08:08 PM

The Times is a Rave!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/theater/tick-tick-boom-recalls-jonathan-larson.html?_r=0