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

[JACXR71]

Posted: 9/27/05 at 5:51pm

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.

[JonnyV]

Posted: 9/28/05 at 8:58pm

Someone mentioned earlier the crappy reviews in the AJC. I'm with you on that! Did you catch the review in the Sunday Paper (not the AJC Sunday Paper... the new one which is trying to rival Creative Loafing, by including Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly columns.... yes, out of towners, racism and bigotry is alive and well in the south) Anyway, whoever wrote the review of Tick Tick Boom I read over my beer at Johnny's Pizza knew absolutely nothing of which she wrote - an there was even some sad attempted humor at Jonathan Larsen's death and the fact that he never was able to find his "voice!" I mean, honestly, where do they find these people. To my friend in Alabama - make the drive, it's a wonderful show.

[corsairstw]

Posted: 9/28/05 at 8:59pm

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!

[YessicaB]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 12:56pm

Sounds like a stupid review. Well, there'll always be people who disagree (even though it sounds that in this case the guy has absolutely no clue what he's talking about!)

[Blair]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 5:57pm

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.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 7:39pm

He is on stage doing his little announcement and then stand on the right (houseright) with the spotlight on him for a little while, while Karessa sings her (spectacular) solo on stage.
So great that you'll get to see it. Enjoy!

[Blair]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 7:52pm

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.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 8:12pm

Well technically he's not on stage. But it's a TINY black box theatre so it doesn't matter. You still see him. He's kind of on the aisle. They do the same several times during the show (when his parents or Rosa call, etc).

[jaybrrd]

Posted: 9/29/05 at 10:31pm

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.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 9/30/05 at 9:20am

Jaybrrd, sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy it.
I (obviously) disagree. Most of the things you criticized are, I guess a matter of opinion, since I didn't feel that "we're treated to being struck in the face with the 'meaningful' hammer." Apart from that, it is not true that Michael's illness isn't being foreshadowed, considering that even my friend, who's never even heard of RENT, Jonathan or Michael for that matter, thought that he might be sick before he told Jon.

[ashley0139]

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

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.

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

[corsairstw]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:21pm

I just got back from seeing it as well! I LOVED it. I had heard the soundtrack before, but this was my first time seeing the show (I don't think it's performed very often). The cast was very strong during the entire thing.

And I got a laugh from the guns that they pulled out during "Sunday" along with the parodied cutouts of the diner-goers to look like Sunday in the Park with George.

I think that might have been Stephen (musical chimes)'s voice! If I had to guess, it's probably a recording that you get when you order the rights to the show... If it's not that, then it's a VERY good imitation ha!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:26pm

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.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:34pm

I keep remembering things.

And in Sunday when they came out in the Moondance diner stuff, wow. Anyone who's watched Broadway: The American Musical knows about it. And that big backdrop at the end of the diner. Whenever I see that diner, I think of Larson.

[corsairstw]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:40pm

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.

[Jimmyojimmy]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:48pm

I have become a tick tick boom fanatic, I love it so much, does anybody else love it a lot? I think johnny l is a genius. its such a passionate show. dare I say better than rent.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:48pm

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.

[corsairstw]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:50pm

I'm sorry to say that tonight was the last performance ! And the theater wasn't full. I'd say it was about 80-90% full.

I was lucky to be able to go. I thought I was going to be out of town.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:58pm

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

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 10:59pm

rentboy, the rights are still currently restricted but there are several upcoming productions in the works, including one at Washington Univ. next week. So if you're near St. Louis you can see it there. Also productions this month in Baltimore and Cincinnati.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 11:05pm

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.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 11:06pm

Michael has been played by black, white and Hispanic actors already, so probably not.

[Blair]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 12:44am

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).