tick, tick… Boom!

The infinitely gifted Lin-Manuel Miranda now makes his directorial debut with Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical.

Any lover of musical theatre is likely to know at least two facts about Jonathan Larson, one being that his show Rent was a smash hit and the other that he died just before it opened off-Broadway despite being only 35 years old (he died of an aortic aneurysm). Prior to Rent, another stage piece of his had been presented in the form of a rock monologue and he had performed that work in person in 1993. This was an autobiographical show entitled tick, tick… Boom! which would eventually reach Off-Broadway in 2001 by which time the staging had been converted into a three-piece chamber work, one that would become a modest success. A revival of that version in New York in 2014 starred Lin-Manuel Miranda who was himself inspired by Larson’s example when he came to create Hamilton. Now, bringing the unusual history of this piece up to date, we have Miranda choosing to make his directorial debut with this screen version which gives the work yet another treatment: this time the format is such that the film introduces us to Jon performing it on stage with two backing singers but then, despite returning to this format at intervals, mainly presents his story fully acted out in other settings and introducing subsidiary characters in the tale who are now seen on screen.

Although Miranda’s film has a voice-over reference to Larson’s death at the outset, it is set in 1990 and is devoted to the composer’s attempts and those of his agent to set up a production of his futuristic musical Superbia. Larson is played by Andrew Garfield, Judith Light appears as the agent and there’s an effective cameo from Bradley Whitford in the role of Stephen Sondheim who was one of the few to give real encouragement to Larson at that early stage of his career. While the struggles of the young artist are made central (the title echoes his awareness of the ticking clock as success seems to elude him), the story also features Larson’s girlfriend, Susan (Alexandra Shipp), a dancer who earns the opportunity to take up a theatre post in the Berkshires, and his best friend, Michael (Robin de Jesús), a gay man who has forsaken the artistic world for a job in advertising.

In two respects this film is something of a triumph. It has a very able supporting cast including Vanessa Hudgens and Joshua Henry in singing roles, but the star turn is that by Garfield who is in the limelight throughout and unexpectedly proves that he has all that it takes to succeed as a leading actor in a musical. The other great success is that of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Filming adaptations of stage musicals is no easy task but this debut feature is handled with great assurance. That extends to such technical matters as a couple of adroit montage sequences but is most notable in his mastery over the songs. This often involves fast editing but, whereas these days some directors break the flow of a song in this way or even insert intercut dialogue, Miranda has the gift of matching the rhythm of each number.

There is quite enough here to make this an enjoyable film and it does not stint on songs (three are heard over the end credits alone). But, if some of the numbers work well, few of them are of the front rank (the two best ones, ‘Come to Your Senses’ and ‘Sunday’, are particularly well directed). It’s also the case that at at around two hours the film seems on the long side and the storyline is not free from problems either. Rather belatedly, Larson is shown as realising that he has been self-centred in his treatment of Susan and Michael but, while that is understandable in a struggling artist, it is nevertheless an unattractive feature only partly mitigated by Garfield’s personal charm. Indeed, there is so much emphasis on the fact that his impending birthday will leave him unsuccessful at thirty that one grows rather exasperated with him. That response is the keener because Larson’s gay friends were living (or failing to live) through the Aids crisis and this aspect is brought in without being satisfactorily integrated. The autobiographical nature of the piece means that we don’t end up with Superbia becoming a hit applauded by Susan sitting in the audience but, that apart, the central plot-line echoes those found in many old-fashioned musicals while leaving the issues around Aids no more than a secondary feature (which is not to say that their introduction is insincere). The ultimate verdict here is that this is an admirable attempt to film a musical which, enjoyable though it be, is definitely nowhere near the top league.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Vanessa Hudgens, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Ben Levi Ross, MJ Rodriguez, Judy Kuhn, Danny Burstein, Kate Rockwell, Richard Kind, Roger Bart, Marc Shaiman, Stephen Schwartz, Joel Grey, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters. 

Dir Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pro Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Julie Oh, Screenplay Steven Levenson, from the musical by Jonathan Larson, Ph Alice Brooks, Pro Des Alex DiGerlando, Ed Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum, Music Jonathan Larson, Costumes Melissa Toth, Choreography Ryan Heffington, Dialect coach Elizabeth Himelstein. 

500 Broadway Productions/Imagine Entertainment-Netflix.
120 mins. USA. 2021. Rel: 12 November 2021. Available on Netflix. Cert. 12A.