Theater review by Raven Snook
The program may say, "Time: Now. Place: Here."—a hat tip to A Chorus Line—but The Jonathan Larson Project is a celebration of a time and a city long gone. Best known for his game-changing 1996 rock opera Rent, a portrait of East Village artists in the specter of AIDS, Larson died of an aortic dissection on the day before that show's first preview. He didn't get to see it transfer to Broadway, win multiple awards and inspire a generation of musical-theater makers and mavens. (Lin-Manuel Miranda figures prominently in The Jonathan Larson Project's opening video). This revue, conceived by theater historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper and based on a series of concerts she curated at 54 Below, doesn't attempt to tell Larson's story; you can stream the marvelous tick, tick …BOOM! for some of that. Instead, as five powerhouse vocalists perform 20 previously obscure songs from Larson’s trunk and archives, it offers a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating peek at what was and what might have been.
Divorced from their original contexts, the numbers can be intriguing or confounding, and sometimes both; a helpful program insert with background info for each song is best read before the show begins. Some of the selections, like "Casual Sex, Pizza, and Beer" and "Break Out the Booze,” are merely cute; one, the wan futuristic political satire "The Vision Thing," is pretty cringey. But there are also some gems in the bag. Andy Mientus, decked out as a jaded leatherman, delivers a haunting version of "Valentine's Day," about a man trapped in a cycle of romantic violence. Jason Tam sounds smashing on "Iron Mike," Larson's passionate response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Lauren Marcus stops the show with the wonderfully weird "Hosing the Furniture," about a housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Adam Chanler-Berat beautifully navigates "Rhapsody," a Gershwin-tinged cri de coeur about the expense of making art. The group number "The Truth Is a Lie" is lyrically blunt but undeniably timely and catchy.
The Jonathan Larson Project | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
Many elements of The Jonathan Larson Project seem designed to elicit Renthead nostalgia, from John Simpkins's direction—the use of a sheet in the pop ditty "Out of My Dreams" evokes the original staging of Rent’s "Without You”—to Michael Schweikardt's gritty two-tiered set. But if you get teary-eyed when the cast gathers at the lip of the stage to sing the AIDS elegy "Love Heals," with Taylor Iman's glorious belt soaring above the ensemble, it will not be just because the song is a bonus on the Rent movie soundtrack. Larson’s songs, which often tempered cynicism with aching sincerity, all too plainly belong to another century now. But if his hopes for the future belong to the past, there’s still a comfort in revisiting them, cold or even chilling as that comfort may be.
The Jonathan Larson Project. Orpheum Theater (Off Broadway). Conceived by Jennifer Ashley Tepper. Directed by John Simpkins. With ensemble cast. Running time: 1hr 30mins. No intermission.
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The Jonathan Larson Project | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
