Theatre review – “tick, tick… BOOM!” (Fighting Chance Productions)
Ryan Mooney, artistic director of Fighting Chance Productions, invited me to check out their production tick, tick… BOOM! a few weeks back, and since I couldn’t make it any other day, I finally managed to catch one of the shows tonight. JT was my companion for the evening, and I’m glad that he enjoyed it as much as I did.
I am really glad that the theatre folks are reaching out to social media types, as I firmly believe that this method of spreading the word out to potential audiences will prove really effective. I’ve been invited to review several local productions, including The 21st Floor and Metamorphoses. I love theatre. I used to act on stage, and I have dated actors before, so I know a substantial bit about theatre as an artistic expression. Sadly, I left theatre to concentrate on my dancing. But that’s another story.
Back to the show… the synopsis offered in the Wikipedia entry is pretty telling, so I’ll offer a short excerpt.
tick, tick… BOOM! is a musical written by American composer Jonathan Larson, best known for creating RENT. It tells the story of an aspiring composer named Jon, who lives in New York City in 1990. Jon is worried he has made the wrong career choice to be part of the performing arts.
While I am going to admit that I wasn’t sure about what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised. The three actors who play the main characters, Jon, Susan and Michael, were extremely good. Very agile, nimble, and with great voices. I’m not going to say that there aren’t elements that can be improved (which I’ll share privately with the production themselves) but I should definitely highlight the high notes. I found the musical and dance performances extremelly well staged. For the size of the theatre stage (Jericho Arts Centre) I was kind of expecting less of what I was offered, so again, a very pleasant surprise. The acoustics worked relatively well, and the actors really gave their 110%. Kudos as well to the musical ensemble that backed them up.
I will definitely support Fighting Chance Productions in their efforts (they plan to put together a production of RENT), and if you have time between tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday, I’d seriously recommend to come down and check the show. Go support a local, engaged and hard-working theatre troupe. Thanks to Fighting Chance Productions for inviting me to the show!
Fighting Chance Productions’ Facebook page is here.
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