Rating of
3.5/4
A Star is Born Out of Struggle and Determination
Chris Kavan - wrote on 12/12/21
You would never guess it after watching, but apparently star of tick, tick... Boom! Andrew Garfield had nothing approaching singing experience before being cast and spent an entire year preparing for the role of Jonathan Larson. I say that all the worked more than paid off as Garfield is the heart and soul of the film and his singing is impeccable.
Larson was the creative talent that gave us Rent, on of the most influential Broadway productions of its generation. But before Rent could even get off the ground, Larson was struggling with another musical he had been working on for the better part of a decade, a futuristic, sci-fi number about people starring at screens non-stop and watching people being popular for... being popular (not only was he a musical genius, but he could predict the future!). Much of tick, tick... Boom! also deals with the various relationship Larson has - with girlfriend, Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and roommate Michael (Robin de Jesus), who is about to move out for some fancy new digs. Larson and Michael go way back - and while Michael has long given up on his dream of becoming an actor on the stage for a comfy corporate job, he never gives up on Larson.
Larson's life is perfectly suited for a musical - and it really hits a lot of high notes. The show-stopping number Sunday features a broad line of Broadway royalty, including a cameo from director Lin-Manuel Miranda, original Rent cast members and big names like Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Bernadette Peters, André De Shields and many more. There is also a great rap interlude (featuring Tariq Trotter and Garfield) with quite possibly my favorite scene-ender when Trotter winds up in a line for a Cats audition and announces he's there for the role of Old Deuteronomy. Plus a rapid-fire relationship duet with Vanessa Hudgens that's amazing to behold.
The film splits between scenes in Laron's life and his production of what's going on that features Hudgens and Joshua Henry as his two main singers, along with a band and his own piano skills. The film has a lot of fun with this back-and-forth, even as it touches on some emotional subject matter, including the AIDS epidemic and the cost of sticking with your dream. Even when it seems Larson is about to finally achieve his goal - we find out it's just a single step in the right direction - leading him to question whether it was all worth it.
Perhaps no anecdote sums up the power of this film as the one involving legendary Broadway icon Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim in the film is played by Bradley Whitford, who is not on screen for long, but obviously has a huge influence on Laron. Late in the film, Larson receives a message from Sondheim that essentially tells him to keep going. It was revealed by Miranda that it was not Whitford who recorded this message, but Sondheim himself - and just shortly before he passed away. It's telling that a man like Sondheim would want to get this right and have it sound like something he would actually say - a remarkable thing to know.
Larson's dream never died and as his show ends, we find his audience filled with those who have had the biggest impact on his life from his parents, to friends and co-worker to, yes, even Sondheim sneaking in. We are all better for the sheer amount of determination and will that Larson dedicated to his craft, even if it cost him in his personal life. Larson's life was cut tragically short, but his spirt lives on and now, too, does this part of his life.
