In the full trailer for Netflix’s tick, tick... BOOM!, starring Andrew Garfield, we see young playwright Jonathan Larson grasping for glory with his next musical creation. In addition to the trailer, the first song from the soundtrack, “30/90,” premieres today, performed by Garfield.
tick, tick... BOOM! follows Jon (Garfield), a young theater composer who’s waiting tables at a New York City diner in 1990 while writing what he hopes will be the next great American musical (hint, it’s Rent! and it did indeed become a hit). After eight years of composing, writing, and rewriting, Larson begins to feel the pressure from from everywhere. His girlfriend Susan dreams of an artistic life beyond New York City and his friend Michael has moved on from his creative dream to a life of financial security. All the while, the community surrounding him continues to be ravaged by the AIDS epidemic.
As the clock keeps ticking toward his make-or-break performance, Jon is at a crossroads and faces the question everyone must reckon with: What are we meant to do with the time we have?
Larson never lived to see success of his “next great American musical,” dying on the morning of Rent’s first Off Broadway preview in 1996 at the age of 35. The cause of death was an aortic aneurysm believe to be caused by undiagnosed Marfan’s Syndrome.
Larson himself first wrote and performed tick, tick... BOOM! (then titled Boho Days) in 1990 as a solo performance. After his death, playwright David Auburn helped sculpt tick, tick... BOOM! into a three-structure musical. Today’s release, “30/90,” is the lead single from the full soundtrack of music written by Jonathan Larson.
In addition to Garfield, tick, tick… BOOM! stars Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Pose’s Mj Rodriguez, Emmy Award winner Bradley Whitford as composer Stephen Sondheim, Tariq Trotter aka Black Thought of The Roots, as well as Emmy and Tony Award winner Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens.
Actor, composer, and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his directorial debut with tick, tick... BOOM! The film is written by Tony Award winner Steven Levenson, and produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Julie Oh, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Tick, tick... BOOM! debuts in theaters on Nov. 12, and then arrives on Netflix on Nov. 19.