Jennifer Ashley Tepper's The Jonathan Larson Project officially opened Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre March 10, and the reviews are rolling in!
Directed by John Simpkins, the project celebrates the dozens of seldom-heard songs, unfinished and unproduced musicals, and pop songs found in files and boxes when the visionary writer of Rent died suddenly at the age of 35 in 1996.
The production stars Adam Chanler-Berat, Taylor Iman Jones, Lauren Marcus, Andy Mientus, and Jason Tam, with Gilbert L. Bailey II and Jessie Hooker-Bailey as standbys. Both Marcus and Mientus have been with the project since its initial concert presentation.
Read the reviews below.
The Musical Theatre Report (Ben West)
New York Daily News (Chris Jones)*
New York Magazine / Vulture (Jackson McHenry)*
New York Stage Review (Michael Sommers)
The New York Sun (Elyse Gardner)*
New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)
New York Theatre Guide (Caroline Cao)
Times Square Chronicles (Suzanna Bowling)
*This review may require creating a free account or paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Conceived by Tepper, The Jonathan Larson Project contains songs from a variety of unproduced Larson shows, including 1984 and Superbia, as well as songs that were cut from Rent and tick, tick…BOOM!, songs written for theatrical revues and for the radio, and a variety of songs never publicly performed or recorded before The Jonathan Larson Project. The project was originally presented as a concert at 54 Below in Fall 2018 and was released as an album from Ghostlight Records in 2019.
The Jonathan Larson Project features music supervision and orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and co-arrangements by Rosen and Natalie Tenenbaum, choreography by Byron Easley, and music direction by Cynthia Meng. Casting is by The Telsey Office's Rachel Hoffman, with general management by Evan Bernardin Productions.
Visit TheJonathanLarsonProject.com.
