Looking Back at the Making of a Legendary Play, "Rent"

by Bruce Chadwick

Bruce Chadwick lectures on history and film at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He also teaches writing at New Jersey City University. He holds his PhD from Rutgers and was a former editor for the New York Daily News. Mr. Chadwick can be reached at bchadwick@njcu.edu.

A standard story in show business is that of the scrappy composer/writer/actor who struggles for years and then makes good. We all know that man or woman is one out of a million, but the story always works. Sometimes, though, it has a tragic edge. That’s the tale of Jonathan Larson, the creator of the epic Broadway musical hit Rent.

He toiled for years until he struck musical pay dirt with the show, which has been staged all over the world to rave reviews cheering audiences ever since its debut in 1993.

Tick, Tick … Boom! is a loving autobiographical play by Larson, who tragically died of an unexpected aortic dissection brought on by Marfan’s Syndrome the day before Rent started its previews. In Tick, Tick … Boom! he traces his desperation as he ran into one barrier after another and was under constant pressure to please his parents, girlfriend and roommate, Michael. It is being given a loving and just superb production at the Hamilton Murray Theater at the Princeton Summer Theater, in Princeton, N.J. It is an impressive and heartfelt play that features three gifted actors, Isaac Piecuch as Jon, Chibueze Ihuoma as Michael and Allison Spann as girlfriend Susan, plus a memorable score by Larson.

The play starts on a nearly bare stage – New York City, 1990 - as Larson explains that he has been working for five years on this play, Superbia, and now he is approaching his 30th birthday with little to show for his life. He works as a waiter at a diner for pocket change, struggles to hold on to his girlfriend, Susan, who loves him deeply but threatens to move to New England to find stability in her life, as did his actor roommate Michael, who quit the theater and took a well-paying job at an advertising agency.

Jon has to listen to his father doubt his talent and constantly remind him how well his sister is doing. Michael takes him to spend time in his high powered and wealthy world. His girlfriend pushes him to succeed. He is full of doubt and even works for a day, disastrously, at Michael’s ad agency.

In all plays the lyrics of the music help move the story along, but in this one they truly drive the play. It is full of charming tunes, fast and slow. They start with the opening tune, “Thirty/Ninety,” and continue with “Green, Green Dress,” “Sunday,” “Come to Your Senses” and others. Many have a Stephen Sondheimish (Sondheim was Larson’s mentor) sound to them, especially “Sunday” and are performed with energy and skill by the daunted trio of actors.

There are many plays about entertainment history, but this is one of the best because it is very small and narrow in its scope. Through Jon’s story you can understand better the hard labor that show biz people put into their work and, in many cases, the very small rewards they get. Many plays and movies about show business are rather large in scope. Here, as for all story heroes, you hope and pray that things work out for the composer. You learn much about America, New York City and the theater in the year 1990 (the underbelly of the theater world, with all those workshops, is explained nicely). The strength of the play itself is that you do not know until the very end how it is going to turn out. Will Jon’s play become a hit or a flop? Will he gain or lose everything? Will Susan stay or head for Vermont?

Much credit for the success of the show must go to director Victoria Davidjohn, who has not only created a solid play with just three performers but done so with a nearly bare stage. The play’s story flows along nicely under her leadership and she helps the actors bring out the inner feelings of the characters’ hopes and dreams.

She gets sterling performances from Isaac Piecuch as Jon, who carries the play and, as the minutes go by, lets everybody in the audience identify with his woes. Ihuoma as Michael is a gifted singer and dancer and adds real pizzazz to the show, Spann makes Susan the textbook girl who live with her man but can’t live without him, either.

PRODUCTION: The play is produced by the Princeton Summer Theater. Sets: Jeffrey Van Velsor, Costumes: Keating Helfrich, Lights: Alex Mannix and Megan Berry, Sound: Naveen Bhatia. The play is directed by Victoria Davidjohn. It runs through July 8.