The motto of college students seems to be “follow your dreams,” but those dreams don’t come easy.
Jonathan Larson’s “tick, tick … BOOM!” shows the audience that going after your dream doesn’t necessarily mean a life of skipping down the street singing and dancing.
This Thursday and Saturday, HOOLIGAN Theater Company is performing Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical in the Northwest Campus Auditorium. Larson also wrote the musical “Rent.”
The show is set in the 1990’s in New York and records the struggles and relationships of an aspiring musical theater composer, Jonathan (or Jon), played by first-year musical theater student Robby Dyess. The show follows his bitter rejection from the theater world and weaves in everyday, honest interactions with his girlfriend Susan and best friend Michael.
The cast is smaller than your average show-stopping Broadway musical. With a company of only three cast members, HOOLIGAN’s more intimate show will focus on the story rather than on technical elements.
Joanna Syiek, a second-year global studies student and the show’s director, said the show’s size makes it easier to focus on the relationship dynamics of the characters.
“It’s more simplistic,” Syiek said.” “It allows us to … figure out why Michael is getting mad at Jon or why Jon feels like he can’t deal with Susan. It really allows you to dig deep.”
Keely Stinner, a first-year musical theater student, plays Jonathan’s girlfriend Susan, a dancer who eventually decides to leave performing to pursue a dream of raising a family. Her goals for the show as an actress also reflect these values of persistence.
“I would hope that it just would be an encouragement to people to not give up on what they really, really want,” Stinner said.
Due to the size of the cast, the actors also play more minor roles, like Jonathan’s parents or, in the fast-paced, chaotic song “Sunday,” waiters in a diner. Stinner said making these character changes apparent to the audience proves difficult.
“It’s always hard to evolve into a different physical body than your own,” she said.
Similar to Larson’s “Rent,” the witty dialogue in “tick, tick … BOOM!” oftentimes includes an action-pausing self-narration that creatively transforms the stage into a conversation.
This casual style accentuates the fiery chemistry between the characters. Syiek said that Dyess and Stinner have a realistic connection when playing Jonathan and Susan, who have been in a two-year relationship, because they were friends before the show.
“You get to see the good and the bad, the sacrifices you make as a couple, the things you make compromises for … and the things that eventually break down a couple,” Syiek said.
Though the rehearsal schedule of five weeks was shorter than most of HOOLIGAN’s productions, Syiek feels confident of the show’s success because of the unity of the cast and crew.
“It required a lot of dedication from a lot of people and they’ve all been wonderful and supportive,” she said.
Fourth-year English student and one of HOOLIGAN’s founders Tamara Williams agreed that a cooperative cast is necessary for a successful production.
“We work very well together, which is good because theater’s such a collaborative art,” she said.
The show portrays the relevant theme of following your dreams in a freshly endearing way. This is incredibly applicable to the predicaments UCLA students face every day, and Williams anticipates the musical will be particularly appealing to college students.
“(The show) is about that striving toward something great and being a little bit frustrated that you’re not there yet. And … to be in college is that,” Williams said.
However, the show is not intended to end when the curtain falls. Syiek aims for the audience to leave with some valuable lessons for their own lives.
“I want the audience to be able to walk away with a sense of cherishing the people in your life,” Syiek said. “You don’t know how long you’re going to be around … so truly show you care to the people that are around you.”
And in the end, Syiek understands the appeal of musical theater to bring welcome relief to the hardships of everyday life.
“People like to live in a brighter world than we have,” she said. “There is a lot of stuff that can wear you down; there’s the realities of life, there’s a war going on, there’s financial situations … it’s easy for us to say, “˜let’s forget it and sing and dance.'”