Tick, Tick... Boom! (styled as tick, tick... BOOM!) is a musical by Jonathan Larson. It tells the story of an aspiring composer named Jon, who lives in New York City in 1990. Jon is worried he has made the wrong career choice to be part of the performing arts. The story is semi-autobiographical, as stated by Larson's father in the liner notes of the cast recording – Larson had been trying to establish himself in theater since the early 1980s.

Larson began to perform the piece as a solo work in 1990. After his death in 1996, it was revised and revamped by playwright David Auburn as a three-actor piece and was premiered off-Broadway in 2001. Since then, the show has had an Off West End production, a West End production, an American national tour, two Off-Broadway revivals, in 2014 and 2016, and numerous local and international productions.

A film adaptation, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield in the lead role, was released by Netflix in November 2021. It was generally well received by critics, and Garfield received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

History

The show was first performed as a workshop between September 6 and September 9, 1990 by Jonathan Larson at the off-Broadway playhouse Second Stage Theater under the title Boho Days. Larson revised the developing piece following the Second Stage workshop, changing the title to Tick, Tick... Boom!, and presented with him as performer in November 1991 at the Village Gate (produced by Larson's college friend Victoria Leacock), and then later in 1992 and 1993 in the "O Solo Mio" fests at New York Theatre Workshop. Larson performed the show as a "rock monologue", a new form of theatre at the time. The performance attracted the attention of a young producer named Jeffrey Seller, who became a fan of Larson's work. In 1995, he saw the New York Theatre Workshop production of Larson's musical Rent and convinced his fellow producers to bring it to Broadway.

After Larson's death in 1996, Leacock asked David Auburn, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof, to reconfigure Tick, Tick... Boom!. He restructured the monologue into a three-actor musical, with one actor playing Jon and the other two actors playing Michael and Susan, as well as all the other roles in the show. The script and score were streamlined and edited. This revised version of the piece premiered off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theater on May 23, 2001. Auburn received credit as "Script Consultant".

Characters

  • Jonathan (also called: Jon, Johnny) Voice Type: Tenor, A<sub>2</sub>–A<sub>4</sub>
  • Michael (also plays: Jon's Dad, Executive, Temp, Market research guy, Counter guy, Rosa Stevens) Voice Type: Baritenor, B<sub>2</sub>–G<sub>4</sub>
  • In "Johnny Can't Decide", all the characters refer to themselves in the third-person, just like George in the song "Lesson #8" from Sunday in the Park with George. In the monologue version of the musical, only Jon did this.
  • Another reference to Sondheim is present in the song "Why". Not only mentioning West Side Story in the lyrics, the song utilizes the same tritone made famous in the West Side Story song "Maria".
  • "Why" contains fragments of several other songs: "Yellow Bird", "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from the film Mary Poppins, "Cool" and "Tonight – Quintet" both from West Side Story, and "Come to Your Senses" from Larson's Superbia.
  • On the cast recording, there is an additional song cut from the final version of the show, "Boho Days". This track is one of the few recordings of Larson's voice publicly available. It was extracted from a demo tape recorded by Larson during the development of Tick, Tick... Boom!
  • On the 1989 demo album of Tick, Tick... Boom!, one of the tracks is "Why," performed by Jonathan Larson himself. In this version, instead of "Come to Your Senses" - which was added after Larson's death - there are excerpts from "LCD Readout" and "Too Cold to Care," both originating from Superbia. These two songs underwent the most extensive rewrites in Superbia’s development, which is why Larson chose to feature them in "Why."

Productions

Original off-Broadway production

The revamped musical premiered off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theater on May 23, 2001, and closed on January 6, 2002. Directed by Scott Schwartz, with choreography by Christopher Gattelli, the cast was Raúl Esparza as Jon, Jerry Dixon as Michael, and Amy Spanger as Susan. Molly Ringwald and Natascia Diaz later replaced Spanger as Susan, and Joey McIntyre replaced Esparza as Jon. The production received seven Drama Desk Award nominations, including Outstanding Musical, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Esparza won an Obie Award for his performance. The off-Broadway production was imported to Seoul, South Korea briefly, with McIntyre, Dixon, and Diaz making up the cast.

Subsequent productions

;2003 American national tour

A touring production of the show was directed by Schwartz, with Christian Campbell as Jon, Nikki Snelson as Susan, and Wilson Cruz as Michael. The tour performed in Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, East Lansing, Michigan, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Hershey, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Boston. Joey McIntyre joined the tour for its Boston run. Planned stops in Nashville and Washington, D.C. were canceled, in part because of the Iraq War discouraging ticket sales for a show with its title.

;2005 London

Tick, Tick... Boom! opened in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory on May 31, 2005, running until August 28, 2005. Again directed by Scott Schwartz, the cast featured Neil Patrick Harris as Jon, Tee Jaye as Michael, and Cassidy Janson as Susan. Christian Campbell took over the role of Jon from Harris later in the run.

;2005 California

A California production ran at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, California, from November 19, 2005, through December 18, 2005. Scott Schwartz directed, Brent Crayon as music director, with a cast including Andrew Samonsky as Jon, Wilson Cruz as Michael, and Natascia Diaz as Susan. The production moved to the Coronet Theatre, West Hollywood, California, through July 16, 2006, with Tami Tappan Damiano as Susan.

;2005 Toronto

;2009 West End

Tick, Tick... Boom! had its West End premiere in a limited engagement at the Duchess Theatre from May 13–17, 2009, forming part of the 2009 Notes from New York season. Directed by Hannah Chissick, the cast comprised Paul Keating as Jon, Julie Atherton as Susan, and Leon Lopez as Michael.

;2014 Encores! Off-Center

New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center series produced a revival of Tick, Tick... Boom! starring Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jon, Karen Olivo as Susan, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Michael. Performances were June 25 through 28, 2014. Oliver Butler directed.

;2016 Off-Broadway

Tick, Tick... Boom! was revived in October 2016 at the Acorn Theater at Theatre Row, starring Ciara Renée, Nick Blaemire, and George Salazar. Previews began on October 4, the show opened on October 20, and it closed on December 18, 2016. It was directed by Jonathan Silverstein, the artistic director of Keen Company.

;2024 Kennedy Center

Directed by Neil Patrick Harris, who previously played Jon in the London premiere, starring Brandon Uranowitz as Jon, Denée Benton as Susan and Grey Henson as Michael, running from January 26 through February 4 as part of the Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage series. Unlike most productions, the show includes an ensemble.

Other productions

;2003 Hungary

;2007 Denmark

;2008 Mexico

;2008 Canada

;2009 Westport

;2009 Philippines

;2010 San Francisco

Theatre Rhinoceros presented the play at the Eureka Theatre from February 9 through 28, 2010.

;2010 Germany

;2010 London

;2011 Spain

;2011 London

;2012 Argentina

;2014 The Netherlands

;2018 Czech Republic

;2018 Hong Kong

A Cantonese production was performed in Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Theatre by theatre company Musical Trio in 2018.

;2018 Brazil

;2019 Taiwan

;2021 Shanghai

;2022 Sweden

;2023 Australia

;2023 Israel

Directed and translated by Roi Dolev, who will also star as Jon, with Inbal Zoashnin as Susan, and Snir Weiller as Michael. Performances are scheduled for October and November 2023 in Haifa and Tel Aviv.

;2023 Austria

Presented with German texts and English songs at the Volksoper (Vienna, Austria), directed by Frédéric Buhr and starring Jakob Semotan as Jon, Juliette Khalil as Susan and Oliver Liebl as Michael. Performances were part of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

;2023 Poland

The production at Nova Scena of ROMA Musical Theatre in Warsaw opened on November 18, 2023 (as an open-ended run), directed by Wojciech Kępczyński, translated by Michał Wojnarowski. The opening night featured the cast of Marcin Franc as Jon, Maciej Dybowski as Michael and Maria Tyszkiewicz as Susan (the alternating cast includes Maciej Pawlak, Piotr Janusz and Anastazja Simińska respectively). Music direction is by Jakub Lubowicz.

;2024 San Diego

A Cygnet Theatre production Will be played at the Old Town Theatre (San Diego, CA), directed by Katie Banville and starring AJ Rafael as Jon, Emma Nossal as Susan and Leo EBanks as Michael. Performances are running from July 3 through August 4. Music direction by Dr. Randi Ellen Rudolph.

;2024 Singapore

Produced by Sight Lines and directed by Derrick Chew, Preston Lim (Jon), Ryan Ang (Michael), Vanessa Kee (Susan) star alongside Beatrice Jaymes Pung and Eric Larrea as the ensemble cast. Performances run from July 5 to 14 at KC Arts Centre.

;2025 Portugal

Produced by Ultraproduções and directed by Bernardo Raposo, a Portuguese production ran from March 7 to April 6, 2025 at the Auditório Santa Joana Princesa in Lisbon, starring Miguel Cruz as Jon, David Gomes as Michael and Sara Madeira as Susan.

;2025 Belgium

Produced by The Bridge Theatre and directed by Ewan Jones, the 2025 Belgium production starred Djavan van de Fliert (Jon), Dan Buckley (Michael), and Laura Marie Benson (Susan). Performances were held at Stassart House from 14 October to 2 November. Wout de Vocht (guitar), Rafael de Smet (bass), and Bram Iven (drums) formed the band alongside Musical Director Pietro Ramman (piano). The crew also included Musical Supervisor Mal Hall, Designer Stewart J Charlesworth, Lighting Designer Ben Jacobs, Sound Designer Vincent Debongnie, Production Manager Steve Bree, Sound Engineer Casper Le Compte, Stage Manager Sophie Lovelace, Sound Runner Mehmet Avcu, Costume Designer Dora Heller Russell, and Artistic Director Edward McMillan. The rendition was met with positive reviews from local critics.

;2025 Chile

Produced by 3 Marias and directed by Ezequiel Fernanz, the Chilean production starred Lucas Sáez Collins (Jon), Anto Bosman (Susan), and Daniel Leyton (Michael). It premiered the 3 October of 2025 in the theatre of Centro Cultural Las Condes with 14 shows, receiving positive reviews by the public and critics.

; 2025 Switzerland

Produced by the team of You do You Theater Co. Directed by Tim Hupf and choreographed by Julia Wachtel, starring Oli Pont (Jon), Heather Cavalet Hsieh (Susan) and Robert Flitcroft (Michael). Performed at Theater STOK from September 18th - 21st, 2025.

;2025-2026 the Netherlands

The Dutch production at Theater De Landing in Amstelveen premiered on December 18, 2025 and concluded on January 10, 2026. This production starred as Jon, Paul Morris as Micheal, and Lisa Walravens as Susan. The screenplay is written by Steven Levenson. The film was Miranda's feature-length directorial debut. It premiered at AFI Fest on November 10, 2021, followed by a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 12, 2021, before being released by Netflix on November 19, 2021. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Jon opposite Robin de Jesús, Alexandra Shipp, Vanessa Hudgens, and Joshua Henry.

Awards and nominations

Original Off-Broadway production

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

|-

! style="width:5%;"| Year

! style="width:20%;"| Award Ceremony

! style="width:45%;"| Category

! style="width:20%;"| Nominee

! style="width:10%;"| Result

|-

| rowspan="10" style="text-align:center;"| 2002

|Outer Critics Circle Awards

|colspan="2"|Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

|

|-

|rowspan="7"|Drama Desk Awards

|colspan="2"|Outstanding Musical

|

|-

|Outstanding Book of a Musical

|Jonathan Larson & David Auburn

|

|-

|Outstanding Music

| rowspan="2"|Jonathan Larson

|

|-

|Outstanding Lyrics

|

|-

|Outstanding Director of a Musical

|Scott Schwartz

|

|-

|Outstanding Actor in a Musical

|Raúl Esparza

|

|-

|Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

|Jerry Dixon

|

|-

|Lucille Lortel Awards

|colspan="2"|Outstanding Musical

|

|-

|Obie Awards

|Distinguished Performance by an Actor

|Raúl Esparza

|

|}

References

  • Tick, Tick... Boom! at the Music Theatre International website
  • Raul Esparza – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2005