Why do we seek out ecstasy in all the wrong places? A potent question that Jonathan Larson askes in his ‘starter musical’ Tick…tick, BOOM! Unpopular opinion, as this show tends to be potent enough for the ‘theatrical catnip crowd’ but if Larson had lived? This show would still be sitting on a shelf, collecting dust somewhere. Or at the very least been heavily rewritten, reconfigured, and modernized to feel somewhat more relevant and less self-aggrandizing/narcissistic pity-party. Regardless of the dated trappings and raw, unpolished nature of the production itself, Greenbelt Arts Center has a solid production of Tick, tick…BOOM! on its stage running now through April 12th, 2025. Directed by Margo Mysty McCready (with assistance by Fiona H.R. Murphey) and Musical Direction by Anton Van De Motter, this show features three talented performers who land some of Larson’s more rigorously questionable melodies with ease.
The show’s biggest problem is its pacing. Director Margo Mysty McCready has a run-crew of a half-dozen individuals shuffling scenery on and off the stage for lengthy durations of darkness and ‘silence’ (you can hear them moving but there’s no vamping or interstitials to cover the changes.) This is a misstep in several directions. The show at its core is simplistic enough that all the bulky scene changes McCready is insisting upon are unnecessary. Trust that the audience will suspend their disbelief and that your actors are good enough story tellers to allow for the ‘scenic transition’ to occur without the drudgery of dragging six crew members through 120-seconds (and often times more) of darkened, silent/still scene changes, which ultimately slacken the pacing and overall momentum of the show. McCready’s other option here could have been to have the three characters moving scenery, in real time, as they start the scenes with either dialogue or lyric; again trusting your actors and your audience to fill-in-the-gaps. An audience is far more willing to suspend their disbelief when actors are moving furniture or there’s no furniture at all than they are to sit somewhat impatiently waiting for ‘scene changes’ that aren’t masked by musical interludes and run long enough to be noticeable.
McCready does make good use of the space, in regards to how they block the actors on stage, particularly during “Therapy” where the actors playing Jon and Susan occupy almost the exact same space (physically on the stage) but it’s very clear that they are whole apartments apart. McCready also gives the cast some fun and funky choreography to work with during “Sunday”, “Sugar”, and “No More”, with the latter being the most amusing of the bunch. There are little choices— ‘devil’s in the details’ type of decisions— that do quirk eyebrows, like why not use actual Twinkies as the microphones in hands during “Sugar” (whatever foam-prop they are using, courtesy of Properties Artisan Ellee Murphey look enough ‘not’ like Twinkies that the audience, being intimately close the way they are at GAC, can tell that they are in fact not Twinkies.)
McCready’s understanding of the show also gets called into question during Michael’s big reveal. The entire arc of this story is in the title. Tick…tick, BOOM. And one of the ‘tick, tick…BOOMS” is meant to be the bomb-drop that comes flying out of Michael’s mouth in that scene that precedes “Why.” And it’s delivered with such a lack of build-up, lack of tension, and lack of result between Jon and Michael that you just feel robbed out of the emotional catharsis that should be blind-siding the audience in that moment. And if the intention is for it to ‘land subtly’ that’s a misinterpretation of the script as a whole as that particularly ‘BOOM’ is the catalyst for Jon’s entire next sequence of frenetic chaos that leads into “Why.” (It’s actually extraordinary how the actor playing Jon then manages to amp his way into the chaos that bleeds into “Why” because he’s coming from nothing in the scene before instead of what should be a powerhouse devastating moment; he deserves a world of praise for making that number hit and land the way it’s written.)
The lighting in the show is pretty consistently solid, as designed by Jake Gunter, and often creates emotional flare-ups to serve as beacons, guiding the audience pathos as there are definitely moments where the characters’ emotions are conflicted and so are ours. Costumes across the board (Giuliana Weiss) are effectively set in that 1990 time-stamp. And the green, green dress appears to have 16 buttons? Eight down the front and eight down the back? (It is possible that there might be less-visible buttons on the shoulder-caps? But in the intimate spacing that is GAC, one might think Weiss would have just put ten down the front and ten down the back to align with the lyric of ‘20 buttons’.) And Ellee Murphey (props) does deserve an excellent nod of humor and praise for literally printing on a grocery bag “medium sized bag”, which adds a nice easter-egg style nod to that moment, minute though it may be.
Musical Director Anton Van De Motter handles the show well enough; the three-part harmonies that arise during some of the numbers are indeed complicated, though Van De Motter shows promise in most of these moments. The role of Michael and the range in which it’s written seems to be just at the achievable edges of the actor’s range, making some of his moments in song, particularly when he’s featured solo, somewhat inconsistent. Working with tracks does not make transposition an easy option and Van De Motter does the best that he can to coach the actor playing Michael into consistency throughout the performance.
Vocals hiccups from the Michael character not withstanding, the three actors on stage— Dylan Nicholson as Michael, Elizabeth Suzanne as Susan, and Michael McCarthy as Jon— have an organic chemistry that flows naturally between their character dynamics. Suzanne and Nicholson also take up ‘bit-part’ roles as the agent or Jon’s father and the seamlessly fluid transition between these moments in caricature verses when they are playing their primary roles are impressive. Nicholson presents Michael as a ‘rolls with the punches’ and ‘easy-going’ sort, though chooses to not play up the arrogance that is more often intrinsically featured in this character. Because the BOOM of this character’s reveal lands as more of a plop in the pond rather than a spontaneous combustion, you find (if you’re familiar with the show) that you don’t miss the arrogance and that his level-headed approach to appreciating the finer things in life is quite justified. Nicholson also has some ferocious dance moves, as witnessed in “No More” and there are moments where his baritone-bass range really radiates through Larson’s score showing the audience that he does have a talented voice.
Elizabeth Suzanne is effortlessly charming in both her role as Susan and her flip-role as Karessa. When playing the latter, this is this sprightly naivete present, really helping to differentiate (beyond the scarf and cap) from Suzanne as Karessa and Suzanne as Susan. Suzanne gives a glorious sustaining push at the end of “Come To Your Senses” and really lets the emotional gravity of that number resonate resplendently through her voice in that moment. Suzanne is emotionally invested and fully charged whenever she’s on stage and the ebbs and flows of chemistry that she cultivates with Michael McCarthy’s Jon feel convivial and earnest. Her articulate patter is also praiseworthy during “Therapy.”
Taking an honestly refreshing approach to the Jon character, Michael McCarthy delivers a layered and dynamic presentation that allows the audience to see the Jon character as more than a whiny, self-aggrandizing, human-pity party. There’s actual some intrinsic humanity on display, which is being presented as this bumbling awkward human, rather than this whiny stereotype; it’s invigorating. His facial expressions are explosively animated— there’s a moment where McCarthy sinks and slumps down the chair in a totally exasperating fashion that starts in his face and slides into his entire physicality and it’s hilarious. Vocally, McCarthy sits well in the range that Larson has written for Jon and his emotional expressions are on point for each of his numbers, whether its utter annoyance and frustration during “Sunday” hilarious ecstasy during “Sugar” or utter soul-searing human annihilation-come-discovery during “Why.” There’s something beautifully raw and honestly thoughtful about the way that McCarthy approaches Jon, making him interesting rather than just a character with whom the audience is meant to force empathize.
Three solid performers, excellent moments, (and clunky, unnecessary scene changes aside) Tick, tick…BOOM! has some important life lessons wrapped within its lyrics and libretto. A worthy attempt from the team involved, catch it on the GAC’s black-box main stage running now through April 12th 2025.
Running Time: Approximately 100 minutes with no intermission
Tick, tick…BOOM! plays through April 12th 2025 at Greenbelt Arts Center— 123 Centerway in downtown Greenbelt, MD. For tickets call the box office at 301-441-8770 or purchase them online.
