By Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer
"Tick, tick… Boom!," Lin-Manuel Miranda's affectionate, well-crafted adaptation of Jonathan Larson's "rock monologue," captures all that's grand and beautiful about musical theater, and a little of what can make it insufferable, too.
Miranda's film, his accomplished directorial debut, is a portrait of the artist as a deeply passionate, overwhelmingly self-involved young man. As played by Andrew Garfield, Larson is a paragon of artistic struggle. He lives in a dilapidated downtown apartment with a revolving door of roommates; he casually crafts songs at late-night parties; he daydreams while waiting tables at a diner.
If the Jonathan of "tick, tick… Boom!" seems mythologized, that's appropriate. Larson, himself, never got to see his success. He died from an undiagnosed heart defect at the age of 35, the day his opus, "Rent," began previews off-Broadway. Before "Rent," Larson spent years developing a futuristic musical, "Superbia." When it failed to get produced, he turned the story of making that musical into a one-man show about his all-consuming pressure to succeed as an artist before he turned 30. The prospect of being not a playwright with a side-hustle to pay the bills but a waiter with a hobby looms for Larson like a terrifying purgatory. The show's title, "tick, tick… Boom!" suggests a make-or-break countdown.
Miranda's movie is exuberant and big-hearted — maybe too much so. It's easy to aggrandize young artistic ambitions, and easier still when the dreamer in question died far too early. "tick, tick… Boom!" is a tender ode to Larson, just as it is a tribute to all Broadway pursuit. And coming from Miranda, whose own New York-set breakthrough, "In the Heights," was inspired by Larson's "Rent," the film is in some broad sense autobiographical, too. Miranda's journey isn't Larson's, but as two of the most essential American composers and playwrights of the last 30 years, they share a bond of city and quest.
With screenwriter Steven Levenson, Miranda has turned Larson's show into something that stretches further into his life and widened its scope. It's 1990 and Larson is fully devoted to prepping a workshop of "Superbia," and his single-mindedness has already elicited plenty of eyerolls from his dancer girlfriend (Alexandra Shipp, lovely) and best friend Michael (Robin De Jesús), a former actor who has turned instead to a high-paying gig in advertising.
"Tick, tick… Boom!" isn't unaware of Larson's myopia but it's also on his side. When he shouts to the power company, which has just cut off his electricity after unpaid bills, "You don't understand! I have a workshop!" — the scene isn't played for comedy. The film, and Garfield's head-to-toe performance, believes just as strongly in Larson's pursuit. Along the way, there are fine supporting performances (Bradley Whitford as Stephen Sondheim, Judith Light as Larson's veteran agent) and a number of well-staged musical numbers, including the lovely "Sunday," during which Miranda drops a wall from the Moondance Diner and cameos abound in the booths.
But the tension in "tick, tick… Boom!" isn't really in Larson, as a protagonist. His obsessiveness is here to be celebrated, not analyzed. The film might exist to show us: This is what it takes to make it on Broadway — and, additionally, look at what fun it is once you do. Larson isn't always great company, but he and "tick, tick… Boom!" might be right. To bet everything on yourself, narcissism might be a prerequisite.
"Tick, tick… Boom!," a Netflix release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for some strong language, some suggestive material and drug references. Running time: 115 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More