PLOT: An adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical recounts his life nearing the age of 30, feeling like his career in musical theater is not where he thought it would be.
REVIEW: As far as musicals on the big screen go, 2021, and perhaps the foreseeable future, belongs to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has had his name on four big films this year in some capacity. There was the summer spectacle In the Heights (based on him and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ musical), the okay animated flick Vivo (which he wrote the music for and had the title voice role), and this month’s Disney animated feature Encanto (which he wrote the music for and contributed to the story). While those movies showcase his own musical gifts via an array of colorful showstoppers, his directorial debut tick, tick…Boom! finds him taking a backseat and at the service of another musical genius, Johnathan Larson, and the result is the musical marvel of the year that proves — among much more — Miranda is a force to be reckoned with no matter what side of the camera he’s on.
Based on Larson’s autobiographical musical of the same name, the story follows him (played here by Andrew Garfield) in 1990 as he approaches his 30th birthday, feeling like he’s miles away from the success musicians like Stephen Sondheim and Paul McCartney achieved by his age. Here, Miranda as director and writer Steven Levenson keep Larson’s music and lyrics intact, as the movie cuts to Garfield and his backup performers (played by Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, and more) to let the musical act as a sort of narration for the time of his life we’ve spend most of the movie in. Weeks away from turning 30, he’s on the cusp of what could be his defining moment, getting the chance to put on a preview of his futuristic rock musical, “Superbia”. As he proclaims in the opening number, he’s been plagued by that titular “ticking” sound, that anxiety that comes with the metaphorical clock of time running out, and that moment leading up to that burst of creative eureka.
And as stressful as that can sound, Larson is still depicted as the picture of that college theater student who hasn’t lost an ounce of luster for the craft. Garfield as Larson is what can only be described in the earliest chunk of the movie as the life of the party. Spending what money he doesn’t have on house parties, he’s an almost cartoonish figure who can break into song at any moment and get everyone grooving along. Miranda clearly has a reverence to this time period in New York, letting its sketchy streets, grimy subways, and Larson’s dirty apartment act as a stage for him to be constantly inspired by. So much time is spent with him cramped in his little music space with his two keyboards and his Macintosh computer, to the point where you start to feel it as the warm respite he perhaps saw it as.
While the actual musical production of “tick tick…Boom!” in the movie is incredible on its own, where Miranda and Levenson succeeded is in how they laced between the musical and Larson’s life that lead up to it — making cutting to the musical feel like stepping inside his mind. The result is a constant, entertaining blend of Broadway musical vigor and straight-forward, illuminating biopic. Larson goes through the ringers of a changing romantic relationship with his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp), facing the fear of AIDS as it affects his closest friends (Robin de Jesus, Mj Rodriguez, and Ben Levi Ross), and, most of all, the crippling nature that comes with dedicating your life to a craft and business that chews up and spits out countless others. Through it all, Miranda and Levenson never fail to show Larson as a man who can’t help but go through it all without thinking about it all like a song — for all the good and bad that brings him.
It’s a marvelous take on a character study, showcasing his clashing desire to bring his music into the world, while also having to confront the crippling reality that maybe it’s not going to work out for him. Maybe he should be like his life-long friend Michael (de Jesus) and give it all up for a cushy job and live life in comfort. Bringing to life Larson’s musical mind, the movie not only cuts away to the stage performance itself, but dips into the fantastical with numbers that highlight how Larson could turn his anxieties, fears, and reflections into song. Seeing what the high life looks like in Michael’s new apartment becomes a funny, catchy number with Garfield and de Jesus, and a stressful shift at the Moondance Diner evolves into a quiet, eventually booming ballad featuring Broadway stars past and present sure to thrill theater die-hards.
Miranda has been on a skyrocket since his phenomenon “Hamilton” dominated Broadway and beyond, and what makes tick, tick…Boom! such a perfect fit for him as a first-time directorial feature is that — amid all his massive projects — it’s him tapping into his early days as a writer and musician hustling across New York just trying to get his work out there. Between the flights into musical fantasy is a grounded examination of Larson’s life that reveres his genius and acknowledges and understands his pain. As a filmmaker, Miranda knows when to let the wonder soar and when to bring it all back down to Earth, crafting beautifully intimate sequences like “Why”, performed on a quiet Delacorte Theater stage. His vision for both an era of New York gone by and Larson’s mind is brimming with love and admiration, and working with editors Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum and some excellent production designers, he gives it all a crackling rhythm and energy that I felt constantly swept into. Only once or twice did I feel like in trying to contain so much of Larson’s original work there was a little fat on the musical numbers, like a rap section that feels very much out of place and tacked on.
His work is consistently impressive, even when it comes to juggling varying tones. Given the time period and what many of Larson’s friends in the LGBTQ community were going through means big shifts into heavy material, and I can imagine cuts from the rehearsal of “Superbia” going right into scenes in a hospital and then cutting back into rehearsals could throw some off. I found it mostly well handled, with it all kept in the context that as Larson was in the midst of a breakthrough, he was also having to contend with real-world tragedies — and struggled to balance it all. But in trying to stay truthful to Larson’s journey I can still imagine some feeling like Miranda and Levenson tried to depict so much and not always keeping it in focus.
Through it all is an incredible, captivating performance from Garfield in what is my favorite work of his to date. I ardently believe he will floor people with his musical chops, showing off a lovely singing voice that he’s able to give range across a variety of musical moments. Whether it’s a playful, impromptu number in his apartment or the big final number, this movie never lets Garfield forget this is his show, and no matter what’s required from him, he is up to the challenge. He’s boyish and animated in ways you’ve never seen him, and commanding in dramatic moments in all the ways he’s proven reliable in the past. It’s truly extraordinary work wherein, by sounding terribly cliche, he will fill your heart, break it, put it back together, and then cram a song in for good measure.
Alongside him is an impressive cast, like de Jesus as his best friend who realized he couldn’t keep waiting for one of his exhausting, demoralizing auditions to become something more, and Shipp as his girlfriend ready to move on away from the city. Both have beautiful singing voices they don’t get to show off as much as Garfield, but always make the most of the time they’re given on-screen. The rest of the cast, notably Hudgens in perhaps the best usage of her talent as a singer in years, breathe life in Larson’s world without a bad note in the bunch. The final half of the movie is a big show of emotional gut punches, so much of them reliant on a cast giving it their all and a director knowing when to let them and only them shine.
With plenty of references to musical theater to the point where it may seem self-aggrandizing — despite a few shots taken at the industry’s arrogance and emphasis on profit — there may be some who view this movie as primarily for the theater-loving crowd. But the marvel of it is how it’s both an ode to musical theater and one of its shining voices while being incredibly accessible to anyone who’s ever had a passion. Larson’s struggles may have pushed him to the brink of giving it all up, but both his musical “tick tick…Boom!” and this amazing adaptation are odes to never giving up what makes you really tick, and living for the booms big and small that make life worth jumping up and singing about.