Review: The Jonathan Larson Project

This autumn, Rent returns to the West End, introducing a new generation to the musical that transformed Broadway in 1996 and redefined what musical theatre could be. Winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Jonathan Larson’s rock opera became far more than a hit show – it was a cultural phenomenon that put contemporary stories, popular music and raw emotion at the heart of musical theatre.

Tragically, Larson never lived to witness any of it. He died suddenly from an undiagnosed aortic dissection in January 1996, just hours before Rent‘s first Off-Broadway preview. Larson was just 35. Now we know the brilliance of Rent and through tick, tick… BOOM! (the show and the film) understand something of the relentless ambition and determination that drove the young composer. But if anyone still needed convincing that Larson’s genius extended far beyond those two celebrated works, The Jonathan Larson Project provides overwhelming proof.

Conceived by Jennifer Ashley Tepper, whose belief in Larson’s unpublished work never wavered, this remarkable revue brings together 18 songs rescued from archives, unfinished projects, abandoned musicals and numbers cut from his better-known shows.  But the songs never feel like leftovers. What they do is reveal an astonishing Jewishsongwriter whose creative well seemed limitless.

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Quite simply, this production deserves an extended London run.

Larson’s gift was not just writing memorable melodies, but songs that pulse with humanity. They are funny, heartbreaking, politically charged, romantic and glorious to listen to. Whether exploring love, loneliness, ambition, addiction, friendship or social injustice, his lyrics feel startlingly relevant three decades after they were written. There is an emotional honesty to his work that few composers ever achieve, and he had a ability to fuse rock, pop, theatre and storytelling.

Under John Simpkins’ energetic direction and a supremely vocally gifted cast – the shows is a celebration of possibility – the thrilling sense that every song could have grown into a fully realised musical of its own. If only!

As I said the cast could scarcely be better – so I’ll not be singling them out because Marcus Collins, Michael Mather,Max Harwood, Edward Flynn Haddon and Natalie Kassanga bring warmth, charisma and vocal power for 90 minutes without an interval and together they create a genuine ensemble, constantly handing the spotlight to one another. I do however have to mention Imelda Warren-Green because she is simply sensational and attacked every one of her numbers as though it were her first. Her deliciously unhinged rendition of Hosing the Furniture, and the emotionally charged Break Out the Booze have not left my head.

There are so many good songs – the exuberant opening number Greene Street, and the touching Out of My Dreams – each song demonstrating Larson’s extraordinary range, making it almost impossible to believe so much of his exceptional material has remained unheard for so long. Jennifer Ashley Tepper has simply ensured that, three decades after his death, we can finally hear the rest of the conversation.

Anyone who loves musical theatre should make this show a priority. It is not merely a tribute to Jonathan Larson. It is compelling evidence that one of musical theatre’s greatest talents left behind far more masterpieces than the world ever realised. See it before Rent.

https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/the-jonathan-larson-project/