Lena Ceja, Luc Clopton, and Mario Houle (Photo by Doug Catiller)
Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
Chance Theater
Through February 23
RECOMMENDED
Just days before his 36th birthday and months before his smash 1996 rock opera RENT debuted on Broadway, composer Jonathan Larson met a tragic early death. Hailed as a visionary ever since, one wonders whether the ensuing accolades for Larson and his work arose from sympathy at his untimely passing or whether he truly was a genius who interpreted the zeitgeist of his generation and transformed the course of musical theater.
One insight to that conundrum might well be Larson’s earnest semi-autobiographical Tick, Tick . . . Boom! with life imitating art in this tale of the proverbial struggling artist suffering for his craft. Originally written and performed as a “rock monologue” by Larson years before RENT, it was revamped and streamlined by script consultant David Auburn as a three-person one-act musical and premiered Off-Broadway in 2001.
While the piece has a disjointed sense, with some songs feeling tacked onto a middling plot, Larson’s score has flashes of wit, wisdom, and angst, with the boomer characters confronting a flagging U.S. economy, the AIDS epidemic, and other upheavals of the time. While not earth-shattering, it is a pleasant work offering a glimpse into what Larson’s then-budding talent could have produced. Director H. Adam Harris’ effective staging and an earnest ensemble offer a commendable production that does justice to Larson’s legacy.
It is 1990 and Jon (Luc Clopton) is a fledgling musical theater composer living in New York’s SoHo district, working as a waiter and approaching his 30th birthday with little to show for his efforts (a rousing and rueful “30/90”). Rejected by tons of producers, he has pinned his hopes — and is stressing out — on the upcoming workshop presentation of a dystopian rock musical he has slaved over for years.
Jon’s childhood friend and roommate Michael (Mario Houle), who has abandoned his dreams of becoming an actor and opted instead for a lucrative Wall Street job and a new BMW, implores Jon to do the same. Meanwhile, Jon’s loving but long-suffering dancer girlfriend Susan (Lena Ceja) tries to convince Jon to seek a more secure career path so they can settle down in Connecticut. In the plaintive number, “Jonny Can’t Decide,” Jon agonizes between the pragmatism of the living 9 to 5 and the idealism of the artist’s life.
Houle and Ceja portray other peripheral characters, such as clueless corporate drones inveigling Jon to brainstorm advertising slogans for a new – and possibly unsafe – product. Clopton and Houle also display an authentic relationship as friends confronting life-changing challenges, despite their sometimes-shaky vocals. Ceja brings a strong presence to both her dramatic and musical performance, and shines as a rival to Susan’s affections, which she displays in a show-stopping rendition of the romantic and pensive plea “Come To Your Senses.”
Mio Okada’s and Fred Kinney’s set design ably reflects the boho aesthetic of Jon’s apartment as well as other Manhattan locations, while Jacqueline Malenke’s lighting reflects the appropriate tone in somber as well as comic moments. Musical director and pianist Lex Leigh keeps things moving at an enjoyable pace, most notably in the finale “Louder Than Words,” an anthem well-suited for our current political moment as it intones “Why do we follow leaders who never lead? Why does it take catastrophe to start a revolution?” Maybe Larson was a visionary after all.
Chance Theater @ Bette Aitken theater arts Center on the Cripe Stage, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sat.-Sun., 3 pm; thru Feb. 23. www.ChanceTheater.com Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
