Connor Mickiewicz’s New Helvetia Theatre Company is winning over the Sacramento theatre audience one fantastic production at a time. His last endeavor was taking on the cult class Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and boy did he do it with style and confidence. Local favorites The New Humans tackled the rock soundtrack and gave an electric shock to the production. Mickiewicz knows how to pick them. It’s as if he has been saving up his ideas, plotting his career this whole time and when he finally graduated from NYU with his degree in theatre, he unloaded on Sacramento. It’s his hometown after all, and he has enlisted the help of everyone he knows in town that can swing a hammer, paint a picture, play an instrument, sing a song or sell a ticket. He’s resourceful and it shows. This pooled energy sets his productions apart, offering audiences not just his creative talents, but the likes of just about every creative body he knows in town. He’s done it again with his latest production of Tick, Tick…Boom!
Tick, Tick…BOOM!, written by the late (and great) Jonathan Larson who wrote the critically acclaimed musical Rent, might be the piece of musical theatre that can bring out the non-theatre types. This 90 minute rock musical follows Jon, an artist struggling to write the next great American, er, rock musical. Tick,Tick…BOOM! was originally written as a monologue that Larsen’s father later described as an autobiographical piece and was performed as a one man show. It was later turned into a three actor show which is the version that Mickiewicz decided to work from. It’s minimal and contained inside the Artisan’s black box theatre, but the sound and the acting is gigantic.
A live band led by pianist and cabaret host Graham Sobelman kicks serious ass during the entire length of the show. There were moments where I was lost in the songs, forgetting I was watching actors on a stage but rather imagining that this was a marvelous hidden jewel of a band that was stopping through town on tour. Mickiewicz has found the key to Sacramento’s heart by incorporating live music into the shows. And not just any band, but musicians who understand rock music and can take the concept of the rock musical and make the most of it. Plus, it helps that all three actors have the singing chops to hang with any live band.
Nanci Zoppi’s voice is electric, course and lathered with style. She eases her way through a handful of songs that range from ballads to full on rock and roll tunes-changing stylistically with ease. Zoppi, who plays the role of Jon’s girlfriend as well all the other female characters in the musical, is brilliant. Her portrayal of Jon’s cigarette smoking, shall-wearing agent is so funny to watch as Zoppi stretches and frowns her mouth around her character’s all-but-encouraging words of encouragement to the struggling Jon.
Jon is well played by Tristan Rumery whose f-bomb dropping, pot smoking, Twinkie eating character wants nothing more than to make it. His growing frustration with mediocre success is taking its toll on other things in his life too. He is quickly deconstructing his relationship with his antsy girlfriend who longs for a different life that is far away from New York and includes a dishwasher; something their hole in the wall apartment is lacking. He seeks solace in his best friend Michael played perfectly by Mickiewicz himself. But while seeking a shoulder to cry on, he is at the same time jealous of Michael’s wealthier lifestyle and bitter towards his choice of careers; opting for a 401 K over being a struggling artist like Jon.
Mickiewicz has created a very simple set for his production. Black walls with white tally marks written in chalk, a visual representation of Jon’s ‘ticks’ that throughout the show keep getting louder and louder as he gets closer and closer to the inevitable 30. Tick, Tick…Boom! is well done and spoke to me personally. I too am chasing the dream while steadily (but gracefully) approaching thirty. Hopefully it all pans out like it does for Jon. Until then, go see a musical; this one in fact.
Tick, Tick…BOOM!, written by the late (and great) Jonathan Larson who wrote the critically acclaimed musical Rent, might be the piece of musical theatre that can bring out the non-theatre types. This 90 minute rock musical follows Jon, an artist struggling to write the next great American, er, rock musical. Tick,Tick…BOOM! was originally written as a monologue that Larsen’s father later described as an autobiographical piece and was performed as a one man show. It was later turned into a three actor show which is the version that Mickiewicz decided to work from. It’s minimal and contained inside the Artisan’s black box theatre, but the sound and the acting is gigantic.
A live band led by pianist and cabaret host Graham Sobelman kicks serious ass during the entire length of the show. There were moments where I was lost in the songs, forgetting I was watching actors on a stage but rather imagining that this was a marvelous hidden jewel of a band that was stopping through town on tour. Mickiewicz has found the key to Sacramento’s heart by incorporating live music into the shows. And not just any band, but musicians who understand rock music and can take the concept of the rock musical and make the most of it. Plus, it helps that all three actors have the singing chops to hang with any live band.
Nanci Zoppi’s voice is electric, course and lathered with style. She eases her way through a handful of songs that range from ballads to full on rock and roll tunes-changing stylistically with ease. Zoppi, who plays the role of Jon’s girlfriend as well all the other female characters in the musical, is brilliant. Her portrayal of Jon’s cigarette smoking, shall-wearing agent is so funny to watch as Zoppi stretches and frowns her mouth around her character’s all-but-encouraging words of encouragement to the struggling Jon.
Jon is well played by Tristan Rumery whose f-bomb dropping, pot smoking, Twinkie eating character wants nothing more than to make it. His growing frustration with mediocre success is taking its toll on other things in his life too. He is quickly deconstructing his relationship with his antsy girlfriend who longs for a different life that is far away from New York and includes a dishwasher; something their hole in the wall apartment is lacking. He seeks solace in his best friend Michael played perfectly by Mickiewicz himself. But while seeking a shoulder to cry on, he is at the same time jealous of Michael’s wealthier lifestyle and bitter towards his choice of careers; opting for a 401 K over being a struggling artist like Jon.
Mickiewicz has created a very simple set for his production. Black walls with white tally marks written in chalk, a visual representation of Jon’s ‘ticks’ that throughout the show keep getting louder and louder as he gets closer and closer to the inevitable 30. Tick, Tick…Boom! is well done and spoke to me personally. I too am chasing the dream while steadily (but gracefully) approaching thirty. Hopefully it all pans out like it does for Jon. Until then, go see a musical; this one in fact.
Tick, Tick...Boom! runs through November 14th at the Artisan, 1901 Del Paso Blvd in Sacramento, CA.
Here is a trailer.
Have fun.
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