Review and photos by Melissa Griegel Photography; Videos by Sue Klein
Show Review, Red Carpet Photos, Video Interviews with Anthony Rapp and Jennifer Ashely Tepper
The air was electric last night as guests greeted each other to witness the opening of The Jonathan Larson Project at the Orpheum Theater (126 Second Avenue); a perfect locale as Larson loved the East Village and set his famous musical in that NYC neighborhood. Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer- and Tony-Award-Winning creative force behind Rent, died of an aortic dissection early in the morning of the day Rent was to begin previews Off-Broadway in 1996. He was only 35-years-old. He had been composing music and writing musicals since graduating from Adelphi University in 1982 with a BFA. Although his autobiographical show Tick, Tick…Boom! was staged Off-Broadway, other works such as Suburbia never made it to a full production. With his untimely death, Larson left behind a treasure trove of unfinished works and songs cut from his finished musicals. This is where self-acclaimed “Rent-head” Jennifer Ashley Tepper enters the story.
“I began immersing myself in the hundreds of boxes that Jonathan Larson left behind when he died. The hours of cassette tapes of undiscovered songs, piles of scripts that have never been produced, and many personal letters, photos, journals, and more were endlessly inspiring,” Tepper said. With the blessings of the Larson family, and the permission to explore the archives at The Library of Congress, Tepper, a theater historian and producer and creative director at 54 Below, pieced together a staging to showcase and honor the late lyricist. The first rendition of The Jonathan Larson Project was a concert version that ran from October 9 through 14, 2018 at 54 Below starring George Salazar, Lauren Marcus, Andy Mientes, Krysta Rodriguez, and Nick Blaemire. Each night, a different guest star would join the cast on stage for a song. The evening I saw it, the OBC Mimi, Daphne Ruben-Vega, was the special guest and several friends of Larson were in the audience. A CD of the 54 Below show was released by Ghostlight Records in April 2019. Music Supervisor Charlie Rosen left Larson’s lyrics intact but completed the orchestrations and arrangements of the music.
Now a fully-staged show, The Johnathan Larson Project is enjoying an Off-Broadway run at the Orpheum Theater. Two of the original cast members, Lauren Marcus and Andy Mientes, are reprising their roles from the 54 Below show. They are joined by Adam Chanler-Berat, Taylor Iman Jones, and Jason Tam, with husband and wife Gilbert L. Bailey II and Jessie Hooker-Bailey as standbys. Previews began appropriately on February 14th, 2025, as “Valentine’s Day” is one of the big numbers in the show, and is a song that was originally written for the character of Mimi in Rent, but was cut from the show.
The Jonathan Larson Project officially opened March 10th, 2025 with an after-party that included OBC Rent actors Anthony Rapp and Fredi Walker-Browne and Larson’s sister Julie Larson and his nephews Dylan and Matthew McCollum who were two and seven when their uncle died. The show opens to a montage of photos and film clips of Larson, his productions, and actors talking about the late composer. We are informed that every lyric we are about to hear was written by Larson. Tepper, as the Conceiver of the show, chose a representation of Larson’s works over his years of writing, to give a glimpse into the mind of Larson, who was an advocate for artists, for LGBTQ+ rights, and for a variety of political causes. He was very affected by the AIDS crisis, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and by “fake news”. In many ways, he was ahead of his time. This showcase of his varied works underscore how relevant all of these themes are today.
The first six songs are somewhat reminiscent of Rent, with young Bohemian characters singing about life and art. “Greene Street”, a standalone “theater song”, and “One of These Days” include the entire cast and show the camaraderie among friends wishing for their dreams to come true. The next set of songs each feature one actor singing cabaret, theater, and even pop music. Taylor Iman Jones evokes a very sexy “Mimi-esque” stage presence as she beautifully sings the powerful “Out of My Dreams” with fellow castmates using bed sheets in a similar fashion to “Contact” in Rent. This is followed by “Valentine’s Day” by Andy Mientes with the bed sheets used as a backdrop for the dancing shadows behind him. The lighting (Adam Honoré) and scenic design (Michael Schweikardt) have the right feel for Larson’s songs, and are complemented by the choreography of Byron Easley and the direction of John Simpkins.
The show then moves in a very different direction, with songs and sounds that do not sound like music one would expect from Larson based on only seeing Rent or Tick, Tick…Boom! We move into pieces like the Stephen Sondheim Award song “Hosing the Furniture” sung with great fervor by Lauren Marcus, a futuristic song with a 1950s housewife mentality, to songs about grooming presidential candidates for the media, oil spills, the perception of beauty and trying to live in a white male world, and fake news. The show then circles back to the New York City feel with “Rhapsody” by Chanler-Berat, “SOS” by Mientes, and “Pure Vida” by Tam. Watching these men on stage pouring their hearts out with Larson’s lyrics, you can’t help but envision Larson sitting at his piano writing out his emotions.
The penultimate song, “Love Heals”, written by Larson to memorialize his friend Alison Gertz who died of AIDS at the age of 26, brings the whole cast back to the stage with very powerful vocalization by Taylor Iman Jones. I saw the show three times, once with both standbys, and Jessie Hooker-Bailey’s rendition was equally beautiful. Tepper chose to end the show appropriately with the cast looking up at screens projecting Larson’s images and voice, including many childhood photos, and singing “Piano”, a song never publicly performed or recorded prior to The Jonathan Larson Project. It’s haunting lyrics, “Oh, piano, you saved my soul again” make you wish Larson had indeed been diagnosed correctly and saved so we could have had many more songs and musicals from him.
The Larson family established the Jonathan Larson Grant in 1996, joining forces with the American Theatre Wing in 2008. Notable winners include Kirsten Childs, Joe Iconis, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Shaina Taub, and Michael R. Jackson. The September 16th, 2019 American Theatre Wing “Say YES to Artists” Gala celebrated the legacy of Johnathan Larson and the contributions of the Larson family and featured performers from the 54 Below staging of The Jonathan Larson Project, Rent alums, previous grant winners, and future Jonathan Larson Project cast member Jason Tam.
Jennifer Ashley Tepper beamed at the curtain call and thanked everyone who helped her through her long journey to making this dream a reality. She brought the lead producers and owners of 54 Below Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, and Marc Routh on stage and led the audience in an audible shout out: “Thank you Jonathan Larson!”. Cynthia Meng is the Music Director. Addtional creatives are Tracy Christensen, Costumes, Shannon Clarke, Lighting, Alex Basco Koch, Video, Justin Stasiw, Sound, J. Jared Janas, Wig and Hair. For more information about the show, or to purchase tickets, go to https://thejonathanlarsonproject.com.
Melissa Griegel Photography https://griegelphoto.zenfolio.com
