tick, tick ... Boom! in Atlanta — Page 2

Public transportation? Atlanta? Didn't know there was such a thing.

Kidding, of course, though MARTA has got to be the most inconvenient public transportation system ever conceived.

Anyway, enjoy the show - looking forward to reading more reviews.

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I really want to see it before it closes, but I'm going out of town this weekend... I'll find some way to see it!

I just bought tickets for Sunday afternoon! I'm so excited!

A quick question: Is Jon onstage during "Come to Your Senses"? That's one thing that is going to make or break the show for me.

Thanks for letting me know! Seeing Jon's reaction is the best part of the show for me. In one production, I heard that Jon completely walked off the stage during the song, and if that were the case, then I would be so dissapointed.

Sigh.

I love and adore TTB -- it holds a great deal of signifigance for me in my life. The show itself holds up, but the production in Atlanta is largely a dud.

The direction, as mentioned before, sort of takes the 'making of Rent!' line, which is a mistake. Instead of an organic piece of theatre where the characters are responding to each other, we're treated to being struck in the face with the 'meaningful' hammer. TTB is about the *people* that inhabit the show, not the circumstances that arise from it. Robbing it of that focus does a great disservice to the cast and the audience alike. The staging also strips away any foreshadowing of Michael's illness, which, while not the pivotal point of the show, provides the most potent dramatic tension of the whole piece.

I've yet to see a Jonathan done right (bear in mind that I *missed* Raul...who probably hit it on the nose). ATL's Jonathan lacks even a hint of rock/pop sensibility -- is it really right for a character intent on changing the voice of musical theatre to sound like Mandy Patinkin? Every Jonathan I've seen has been played with a dark pessimism and it falls flat every time.

ATL's Susan was the strongest of the batch, acting wise, but her voice was unsteady, at best. A little too much 'Idol-ising' too. Pick a note and stick with it.

Michael... I remember him more from Urinetown than I do here. He was serviceable, nothing special.

And I shall buck the trend on this thread: 'Green Green Dress' as a porn anthem is a horrible mistake and throws off the entire pace of the show from the start. The musical director made some bad choices in general (including using a really, really awful synthesizer for the conductor's piano... sounded like a Casiophone circa 1985).

It wasn't *all* bad, mind you. Sunday was brilliantly staged till the end (choreographed with Seurat-ian cutouts of dining patrons, but ruined when the cast draws pistols, a la Assassins. WTF?) Therapy was more than a little amusing, and some of the book scenes were well paced and delivered well.

The show is strong enough to speak for itself. Your problems arise when overzealous productions try to make it more than it is.

Let the teenaged hate begin.

Just back from seeing tick, tick... BOOM! in Atlanta. It was pretty much amazing. It has so much heart and feeling... I loved it. The whole cast was wonderful.

John- this guy was great. My only issue was that I thought he sounded a little operatic at times. But when he was angry and upset, he made you feel it too. His voice was great.

Susan/Karessa- we had the understudy for the show tonight. She was great, as well. Her voice was perfect for the part. She gave me chills on "Come to your senses." She's going places.

Michael- Very good, though probably my least favorite of the group. But throughout the show you could kind of see him getting weaker and weaker, which you didn't necessarily realize until he said he was sick.

I think it made much more sense and made the show much more enjoyable that I knew about Larson's life and stuff. And about Superbia. Maybe this was obvious, but John like... is Jonathan. And I didn't realize that until now (I didn't even realize they had the same name until I just typed it... wow). You get so much more from the show than from just the OCR.

My favorite part of the show was at the end, just after LTW, there was a blackout. And this part of the stage that turns around turned and there was an Original Cast RENT poster, with a spotlight on it. My heart about skipped a beat. It was amazing. Also, that totally sounded like Sondheim's voice. Anyone know anything about that? GREAT SHOW!

Sorry that was so long. But it was AMAZING.

EDIT: I meant to say, the set was seriously incredible. It looked very professional. I was impressed.

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Updated On: 10/2/05 at 10:10 PM

I thought of that (about the *musical chimes* thing). You get it when you buy the rights.

We were at the same show! Wierd! Where were you sitting? I got a kick out of Sunday, too. But I don't think too many people in the audience got it. Also, when they were singing sugar, and then they started actually talking about twinkies and cereal, you could hear the audience sigh out of relief of what they were not talking about.

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Haha yeah. I think most people were probably oblivious because they're not big musical theatre nerds like us!

I was sitting on the right side as you walk in, about 3 rows up. Pretty good view. I came in at about 7:20, so there wasn't much choice left.

How long does it play? Are tickets easy to get it or does it usually sell out? So are the TickTickBoom rights official available or are they still "reserved" - or whatever the term is. I want to see this so bad.

Aw, too bad. I'm dying to see a production of this show. So is this show available for colleges to do? Anyone know?

Nope, nowhere near there, but I was just wondering. I might try to push this on my professors for next season. Does it matter if Michael is black or white or asian or etc. ? I don't think it really matters.

I just saw it this afternoon.

There will be a full review when I'm not so tired, but let's just say I agree with jaybrrd (though I had the understudy for Susan/Karessa).