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tick, tick… BOOM! - Bridewell Theatre

Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle

SEDOS is presenting tick, tick… BOOM!, winner of the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best off-Broadway musical in 2001, at Bridewell Theatre – from September 15 to September 19, 2015.

From the writer and composer of Rent, Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical tale of a young composer is a musical about the courage it takes to follow your dreams.

I make a vow right here and now. I’m gonna spend my time this way.

tick, tick… BOOM! is the introspective story of a young composer on the brink of turning 30 who feels he is falling into oblivion. Jon’s girlfriend Susan wants to get married and move out of the city (tick,), his best friend Michael is making big bucks on Madison Avenue (tick…), and yet Jon himself is still waiting on tables and trying to write the great American musical (BOOM!).

When asked what drew her to the lesser known musical of Jonathan Larson’s oeuvre, director Fran Rafferty said: “tick, tick…BOOM! started as a rock monologue called 30/90. He wrote it as a passionate response to the bitter disappointment he felt over his lack of success in the pre-Rent years.”

This was 1990-91, the year after his futuristic rock musical, Superbia, won the Richard Rodgers Production Award and the Richard Rodgers Development Grant but failed to secure full development, and well before he started to write Rent, the Tony Award-winning musical that would make him posthumously famous and inspire a generation of Rentheads.

“After Larson’s truly untimely death,” Rafferty continued, “a brilliant mixture of talent came together to transform his monologue into a staged musical. David Auburn, Stephen Oremus and Scott Schwartz expanded the autobiographical thread to find a rich melting pot of characters and recognisable themes for those of us teetering on the brink of oblivion and expectation.”

To address the show’s challenges, Rafferty has chosen her inspiration carefully. “I’m a big fan of directors such as Michael Mayer and Thea Sharrock. Mayer challenges his audience to forget the literal and embrace the abstract while eschewing pretention. And Sharrock directs with tremendous pace. That’s not to say her productions rush! Rather, the characters benefit from the immediacy of the pace. The challenge with tick, tick…BOOM! lies in the abstract. We must ensure the songs come of emotions reaching a point where the only way to communicate them is through music.”

And Rafferty concluded: “I really hope audiences feel they’ve gone on a musical journey with Larson’s characters when they leave the theatre.”

Boasting fourteen songs, multiple characters and a band, tick, tick…BOOM! embraces the universal ideal of holding onto your dreams through life’s most difficult challenges.

The cast includes Robert J. Stanex (as Jon), Abigail Francis (Susan), Chris Warner (Michael), Laura Bird (Karessa), Kimberly Barker, Thomas Chesover, Sasha Herst and Joe Penny.

The production has set design by Becky Chisholm, musical direction by Ryan Macaulay and costumes by Deborah Lean.

Sedos is known for taking on the challenges of darker, character-driven musical theatre, with acclaimed productions of Kiss of the Spider Woman, A Man of No Importance and this autumn’s Man of La Mancha as prime examples.

Tickets: £16 (concessions £13.50) unless otherwise stated, see below for special performances. A limited number of premium seats are available for £18 (£15.50). Premium tickets guarantee you a seat in the best rows in the house (they are unreserved within the premium block). Buy 10 tickets and get a 10% discount. Cash only on the door. To book, visit www.sedos.co.uk/.

Times: Tuesday to Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 3pm and 7pm.

Charity Night: Wednesday, September 16 – 50% of the proceeds will be donated to Sedos’s nominated Charity of the Year, Cardboard Citizens.

Gala Performance: Friday, September 18 – Audience members receive a free glass of fizz and programme. Tickets £20 (concessions £17.50). Premiums £22 or £19.50.