Tick Tick Boom Archives - Chicago Reader

Three gender nonconforming actors stand onstage, singing a rock song. The performers on the left and right are slightly back and facing each other with microphones in hand. The performer in the center is facing out, holding a microphone and with their left leg slightly raised and their right arm flung to the side of their torso.

Tick, tick . . . BOOM! embodies youth, passion, and raw talent

by Kelly Kleiman January 18, 2023January 18, 2023

It would be hard to find a more appealing trio to embody Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical tick, tick . . . BOOM! than the ones in BoHo Theatre’s production—and “embody” is very much the relevant word. Director Bo Frazier chose to cast trans and gender nonconforming actors as aspiring composer Jon, his girlfriend Susan, and […]

Three actors who are all transgender or gender nonconforming are photographed in front of a brick wall. On the left is Luke Halpern, wearing a red leather skirt and a black turtleneck. They have curly lightish brown hair and facial hair. Center and slightly forward is Alec Phan in a paisley patterned shirt, with a white undershirt visible beneath. They also wear blue-framed glasses and a beaded necklace and are clean shaven. At right is Crystal Claros, wearing black-and-white plaid trousers, a white T-shirt, and a denim jacket. They have short black hair

Arts & Culture

‘Queer joy and success as revolution’

by Karen Topham January 3, 2023January 3, 2023

Jonathan Larson is well-known as the playwright of the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent, but that powerful musical about struggling artists affected by the out-of-control AIDS epidemic in New York’s Alphabet City was not his only contribution to the genre. The playwright, who never even saw one of his own plays produced—he died […]