I like Harrison Hilltop Theatre.  I like the location (parking issues aside).  I like the space.  And, I’ve been impressed with almost all of their productions.  And so, as Harrison expressed excitement about its first anniversary production, I wanted to like “tick, tick… BOOM!!!”, too.  Perhaps my raised expectations were part of the problem.

“tick, tick… BOOM!!!” follows Rent composer Jonathon Larson as he prepares for the workshop of his musical “Superbia” –  a futuristic take on Orwell’s “1984″ and Larson hopes it’ll reshape Broadway with its rock inspired score.  The auto-biographical show (tick, tick… BOOM!!!, not Superbia) was written by Larson as a one-man show, but reworked for a cast of three after Larson’s death.  Unfortunately, it feels like it’s a musical for musical’s sake.

In my opinion, Jonathon Larson was not a great composer.  Sure, Rent enjoys tremendous success and popularity.  But, I don’t think that’s due to the strength of composition of the songs themselves.  I think as a whole, the feeling of the shows lifts the songs beyond their mediocrity. They’re just not all that well composed. But, the ones in “tick, tick… BOOM!!!” are even worse!  There are some clever turns of phrase, but the melodies and harmonies are too simplistic and weak.  It makes “tick, tick… BOOM!!!” seem pieced together as a show about Jonathon Larson, so we have to pepper it with his songs.  There’s seemingly little regard for whether or not the songs are any good and even less for whether or not they actually advance the story, which they do not.  While I enjoyed the book, finding the dialogue truly interesting, with the storyline holding my attention, I felt like I was enduring the songs simply to get back to the story.

But, that’s the show.  As for Harrison’s production, I think Adam Lewis well cast.  His usual quirkiness is toned down, but not absent, making for a likeable Larson.  He’s simply endearing, which makes it easy to overlook some pitch problems throughout the course of the show. Tracy Pelzer-Timm and Michael Crowe are also amusing, but mainly in their secondary characters.  That’s not to say their performances as their main characters are bad.  They’re adequate, at least.  But, they each make use of fun accents and quirks for some of the more minor characters they portray, making them stand out.  Unfortunately, they too suffer pitch problems throughout the show, which didn’t help with the fact I already didn’t like the songs.  (And I find this odd, because I know Pelzer-Timm can sing, so I’m unsure of the reason for her pitch problems.)