To be a creative…
So many of us have the dream but there is only room enough for so many authors, artists, poets, painters, actors and creators. Only so many people can satisfy their creative urges as a living but what happens to the people left behind who are full of unrealized potential? This is the question of Tick, Tick…Boom.
It’s ironic because this is also the message of Rent which is the famed Broadway musical written by the subject of Tick, Tick…Boom Jonathan Larson. In Tick we see Jonathan pre-Rent struggling with a science fiction musical called Suburbia he hoped to someday get produced on Broadway. Until then he is working as a waiter (all true details of Larson’s life) and trying to make progress with a workshop of his musical.
In the meantime, he has a girlfriend (Alexander Shipp) who wants to move away from New York and a best friend (Robin de Jesus) who has recently sold-out (or has he?) and become a corporate guy. Jonathan judges him but they both come to understand each other by the end of the film.
The musical Jonathan eventually writes in Rent is all about community and the value the individual misfits give to the new Bohemia. It’s about relationships and a horrible plague that seemed to especially strike at the dreamers of the time. So what do we do? How long do we keep going and trying? That is what Jonathan struggles with as a character in the movie and that’s what he expressed in his one-man stage show of Tick.
Lin-Manuel Miranda has captured Jonathan’s struggle so well and it makes for an impressive directorial debut. I think only a creative mind like Miranda could know what it’s like to keep trying to make something happen out of nothing. The musical sequences will speak to the dreamer and Jonathan’s blend of narcissism and love for life will ring true for most who have ventured down this path or they certainly did for me. Tick, Tick…Boom is the kind of movie you want to start again as soon as it is over because it’s such a cathartic experience to be a part of.
Andrew Garfield is tremendous as Jonathan and the rest of the cast supports him well. Shipp and Jesus are standouts as well as gorgeous singing from Vanessa Hudgens. There are also tons of fun cameos and Easter eggs the Broadway fan will adore.
The sad part is Jonathan never got to see his dreams come true as he died before the first performance of Rent. Knowing this will happen adds a layer to everything we see in Tick, Tick…Boom and it made for one of my favorite,, if not my favorite films, of 2021. It spoke to me on an emotional level and gave me courage to keep at my dreams. Keep writing, keep podcasting, keep being the best I can be.
9.5 out of 10
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Jonathan Larson was Jewish (and so is Andrew Garfield), but of course the movie doesn’t mention that. It’s about the 478th film or mini-series over the last several years to take out the fact that the lead is Jewish (a real person this time).
Actors with two Jewish parents: Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Paul Rudd, Logan Lerman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bar Refaeli, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Adam Brody, Kat Dennings, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Erin Heatherton, Lisa Kudrow, Lizzy Caplan, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing, Gregg Sulkin, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Esti Ginzburg, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Margarita Levieva, James Wolk, Elizabeth Berkley, Halston Sage, Seth Gabel, Corey Stoll, Michael Vartan, Mia Kirshner, Alden Ehrenreich, Julian Morris, Asher Angel, Debra Winger, Eric Balfour, Dan Hedaya, Emory Cohen, Corey Haim, Scott Mechlowicz, Harvey Keitel, Odeya Rush, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Jewish, too (though I don’t know if both of his parents are).
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers: Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Joaquin Phoenix, River Phoenix, Emmy Rossum, Ryan Potter, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Connelly, Sofia Black D’Elia, Nora Arnezeder, Goldie Hawn, Kristen Stewart, Ginnifer Goodwin, Judah Lewis, Brandon Flynn, Amanda Peet, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Barnes, Patricia Arquette, Aidan Gallagher, Kyra Sedgwick, Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, Dave Annable, and Harrison Ford (whose maternal grandparents were both Jewish, despite those Hanukkah Song lyrics).
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jewish and/or identify as Jewish: Ezra Miller, Zac Efron, David Corenswet, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, Tiffany Haddish, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Andrew Garfield, Winona Ryder, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Ben Foster, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nikki Reed, Jonathan Keltz, Paul Newman.
Oh, and Ansel Elgort’s father is Jewish, though I don’t know how Ansel was raised. Robert Downey, Jr., Sean Penn, and Ed Skrein were also born to Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Armie Hammer, Chris Pine, Emily Ratajkowski, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Finn Wolfhard are part Jewish.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism: Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
You know, I may check this one out now. You’re right, we all wanna be a creative somewhat, but there’s only room for so many.
I was so obsessed with Rent several years ago that I can’t believe I never checked out Tick Tick Boom before!! Thank you so much for your review and I can’t wait to see it (so glad it’s on Netflix!! 🙂
Jonathan Larson was Jewish (and so is Andrew Garfield), but of course the movie doesn’t mention that. It’s about the 478th film or mini-series over the last several years to take out the fact that the lead is Jewish (a real person this time), along with Birds of Prey (Harley), My Salinger Year (Joanna Rakoff), Shirley (the couple), Pet Sematary (the wife), The Undoing, Defending Jacob (the female lead), Wonder, Paper Towns, Beautiful Boy, etc., etc.
Actors with two Jewish parents: Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Paul Rudd, Logan Lerman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bar Refaeli, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Adam Brody, Kat Dennings, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Erin Heatherton, Lisa Kudrow, Lizzy Caplan, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing, Gregg Sulkin, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Esti Ginzburg, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Margarita Levieva, James Wolk, Elizabeth Berkley, Halston Sage, Seth Gabel, Corey Stoll, Michael Vartan, Mia Kirshner, Alden Ehrenreich, Julian Morris, Asher Angel, Debra Winger, Eric Balfour, Dan Hedaya, Emory Cohen, Corey Haim, Scott Mechlowicz, Harvey Keitel, Odeya Rush, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Jewish, too (though I don’t know if both of his parents are).
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers: Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Joaquin Phoenix, River Phoenix, Emmy Rossum, Ryan Potter, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Connelly, Sofia Black D’Elia, Nora Arnezeder, Goldie Hawn, Kristen Stewart, Ginnifer Goodwin, Judah Lewis, Brandon Flynn, Amanda Peet, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Barnes, Patricia Arquette, Aidan Gallagher, Kyra Sedgwick, Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, Dave Annable, and Harrison Ford (whose maternal grandparents were both Jewish, despite those Hanukkah Song lyrics).
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jewish and/or identify as Jewish: Ezra Miller, Zac Efron, David Corenswet, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, Tiffany Haddish, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Andrew Garfield, Winona Ryder, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Ben Foster, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nikki Reed, Jonathan Keltz, Paul Newman.
Oh, and Ansel Elgort’s father is Jewish, though I don’t know how Ansel was raised. Robert Downey, Jr., Sean Penn, and Ed Skrein were also born to Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Armie Hammer, Chris Pine, Emily Ratajkowski, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Finn Wolfhard are part Jewish.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism: Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.