I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have seen and enjoyed this rare object: an awesome movie musical made in the 21st century. I’ve bemoaned movie musicals before, the way they so seldom match up to everything I want them to be. Quite wonderfully, though, this has been a strong year for the movie musical. In the Heights, while not a complete slam dunk, is hugely entertaining, and I’ve heard fantastic things about the new West Side Story (as I’ve said, I haven’t been to a movie theater in December, so I haven’t been able to see it yet.) This is one I really, really wanted to be great – I owe a lot of my journey to Broadway fandom to Jonathan Larson, and tick, tick…BOOM! was the show that introduced me to Raúl Esparza – and it did not disappoint for me on any level. High marks across the board!
On the brink of his 30th birthday, Jonathan is at a crossroads. He’s spent the last eight years working on Superbia, his musical masterpiece, and he’s pinning all his hopes on his upcoming workshop performance of the show, determined to finally make composing his career instead of solely his passion. But others in his life have already weighed the cost between making art and “growing up”—his best friend Michael traded his acting dreams for a swanky office job, and his girlfriend Susan is thinking about redirecting her love of dance to a teaching position in the suburbs. With his workshop bearing down, his 30th birthday growing ever closer, and an overwhelming sense of a ticking time bomb hanging over him, Jonathan considers his life, what he wants from it, and what he might actually achieve for it.
Let’s start with Lin-Manuel Miranda, making his feature film directorial debut here. It’s very safe to say that he can add directing to his long list of talents. In fact, the way he makes this film is a lot like the way he writes his music: it’s honest and heartfelt, quick and funny, intricate and artistic. He stays far away from what I consider the prime traps of most movie musicals, because this film never feels embarrassed to be a musical but never forgets that it’s a movie. It’s fully both, much like Miranda’s music blends different styles and sensibilities so organically.
The numbers are shot with a variety of artistic flairs. I like the narrative device of jumping between the main action and scenes of Jonathan onstage performing the very story he’s telling us in song, with his backup singers standing in for Susan and Michael. It’s a little reminiscent of the filmed version of Chicago, where many of the songs aren’t “happening” within the actual scenes of the story but still interact with and respond to what’s going on in the plot. We get variation, though—not all the songs are shot that way. Some are sung both onstage and within the scene (shifting between the two,) while a few are solely within the scene, one is largely voiceover, and another is shot like a cheeky music video. Everything is cool and cinematic, with the images we see onscreen complementing what we hear in the music. Highlights for me include the opening number “30/90,” “Swimming” (which I assume is a song that was removed for the 2001 off-Broadway production? I’d never heard it before,) and the incredible “Sunday,” which is a genuine treat for any Broadway lover.
All that said, the dialogue scenes are far more than just throwaway bits to get out of the way between songs. In both music and dialogue, Miranda directs with such confidence and artistic vision, moving deftly from humor to conflict to existential crisis as we follow Jonathan’s story.
When it comes to the performances, there’s not a weak link in the cast. Obviously, Andrew Garfield as Jonathan is leading the show here, and he’s pretty darn amazing. It’s of course no surprise that he can hold it down where the acting is concerned, but his singing is great too. By no means is he Raúl Esparza, but his vocal performance is honestly respectable throughout, with no sense that he’s a celebrity just faking his way through the songs. I can say with no hyperbole that he made me laugh and cry multiple times over the course of the film. Jonathan is a passionate artist determined to bring his vision to life, and that’s admirable, but he’s also a real piece of work that can be too full of himself at times. Sometimes he’s pounding the pavement, sometimes he’s avoiding his problems, sometimes he’s seeing possibilities that no one else can, and sometimes he’s only seeing what’s going on with him and ignoring what his self-absorption is doing to those around him.
This is a film similar to Spider-Man: Homecoming or A Simple Favor in that the white protagonist is pretty well surrounded by a diverse cast, and this film gets extra points for recognizing that (Michael, who’s gay and Puerto Rican, is in Jonathan’s corner all the way, but he has his limits on how long he can listen to Jonathan lament how hard life is for him.) Alexandra Shipp, who I first saw as Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse (boo, Bryan Singer!), plays Susan as a genuine character and not just one more complication for Jonathan to juggle. I’ve seen Robin de Jesús on Broadway twice, once as the original Sonny in In the Heights and once as Emory in The Boys in the Band, and he’s really stellar here as Michael. The onstage performance sections feature the excellent voices of Joshua Henry and Vanessa Hudgens, and there are additional appearances by Bradley Whitford, Richard Kind, and some truly delicious Broadway Easter eggs.
I think this might be everything I could want in a movie musical. Kudos to everyone involved. This show has meant a lot to me over the years, and I’m so glad that people who will be introduced to it through the movie have such a worthy adaptation to watch.
Warnings
Strong thematic elements, language, drinking, and light sexual content.
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