The Marvel model is not the only one that works – Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is another successful example that was constructed in a completely different manner.
The producers of the first three Superman movies, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, reportedly agreed to consider financing part four only if Superman III grossed at least $40m these days Marvel already has another seven movies on its slate after No Way Home, and that’s only the ones we know about.įacile as it might seem, there is a simple joy for comic-book movie fans in witnessing a saga with a neat beginning, middle and end. If studios thought much about the connective tissues between movies, the result was rarely much more than a tease for the next instalment in the movie’s final frame. While de Jesús doesn’t get as many singing opportunities as the other principals, his intensely interpreted dramatic scenes more than compensate.Prior to the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or should it be Multiverse?), with its web of interlinked tales, this would never have seemed possible. Displaying considerable range as Susan discovers her own journey, Shipp also delivers on her character’s solos and duets. Garfield, who studied musical performance to prepare for his role, latches onto the Larson character with inspired enthusiasm, digging deeply into Jon’s creative struggles and conflicted emotions, consistently surfacing the bittersweet rewards of his artistic life path. Other highlights include “Sunday,” an entertaining multicharacter performance staged at the Moondance Diner that forms the film’s biggest Broadway-style production number, and “Why,” Jon’s solo lament concerning many of the social problems he’s observed in New York, particularly the AIDS crisis that’s raging through the city’s creative community.
In a last-minute burst of creative energy, he composes “Come to Your Senses,” by far one of the film’s strongest tunes and a standout from Hudgens. Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford), Jon’s musical theater idol and occasional creative mentor, originally pointed out the problem to him after an earlier workshop reading of the piece, but the young writer hasn’t yet been able to draft anything suitable. With the workshop performance of Superbia only a few days away, Jon faces a creative crisis writing a song for performer Karessa (Vanessa Hudgens) to fill a hole in the second act. Susan, meanwhile, is considering shifting away from modern dance performance and accepting a teaching job that would take her away from New York, a source of conflict with Jon that prompts a painful examination of their relationship in the downbeat “Therapy.”
Michael has already quit his unsuccessful acting career for a lucrative job in advertising and rented a fancy new apartment, the setting for “No More,” an amusing duet between Jon and Michael celebrating the consumer comforts of an upscale lifestyle. Most of the first act focuses on Jon’s preparation for a workshop staging of Superbia and his sense of time slipping away as his friends begin to move on from the theater world. When Larson was writing and developing Tick, Tick … Boom!, he was just another broke New York theater composer, working a day job at the downtown Moondance Diner, a key setting in Miranda and Dear Evan Hansen screenwriter Steven Levenson’s dynamic reimagining of Larson’s work.Īlthough it’s initially a rather unwieldy structure, once the film hits its stride the alternating onstage and on-set scenes provide a palpable sense of variation and energetic pacing. It’s not an entirely convincing tactic, although hard-core musical theater fans are likely to find it fairly irresistible.
Despite the resonance of Larson’s source material, particularly evident throughout Rent, Miranda’s approach to Tick, Tick … Boom! lacks a similar sense of immediacy, as if he’s regarding the musical through a haze of nostalgia, seeking to persuade viewers to fall under the creative spell that clearly still lingers for him. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Vanessa Hudgens, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, Michaela Jaé (Mj) RodriguezĪfter the overwhelming success of Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winner Hamilton and his collaborations on animated family movies, Miranda emerged as something of an heir apparent to Larson, with a similar ability to capture the specific tenor of the national mood and distill it into an individual song or an entire creative work.