tick, tick… Boom! Trivia | 57 facts about the new film

“tick, tick… Boom!” is a new film directed by Lin- Manuel Miranda starring Andrew Garfield. The film is streaming on Netflix.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the new film.

1. Tick, Tick… Boom! is a 2021 American musical drama film
2. The title is also stylised as tick, tick… BOOM!
3. The film is directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda
4. It is his feature directorial debut
5. From a screenplay by Steven Levenson
6. The film is based on the semi-autobiographical musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson
7. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Robin de Jesús, Alexandra Shipp, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens
8. Tick, Tick… Boom! had its world premiere at AFI Fest on November 10, 2021
9. It began its limited theatrical release on November 12, 2021
10. Before streaming on Netflix on November 19, 2021
11. The film received positive reviews from critics
12. Critics praised Miranda’s direction, Levenson’s screenplay, and the musical sequences
13. Garfield’s performance garnering universal acclaim
14. “Sunday” features cameos from Broadway actors André De Shields, Bebe Neuwirth, Beth Malone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Chita Rivera, Chuck Cooper, Howard McGillin, Joel Grey, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Phylicia Rashad, and Bernadette Peters
15. It also prominently features Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia as homeless bums
16. All three were original cast members of the Broadway production of Rent, which was also written by Larson
17. Director Miranda also cameos as a cook at the Moondance Diner during the scene
18. The musical theater workshop scene includes cameos by various established theater composers and lyricists as “aspiring theater composers and lyricists”
19. These cameos include Alex Lacamoire, Amanda Green, Chad Beguelin, Dave Malloy, Georgia Stitt, Grace McLean, Helen Park, Jason Robert Brown, Jeanine Tesori, Joe Iconis, Marc Shaiman, Matthew Sklar, Nick Blaemire, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Shaina Taub, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Trask, screenwriter Steven Levenson, and Tom Kitt
20. Green, Beguelin, Malloy, Iconis, Sklar, and Taub are all previous recipients of the Jonathan Larson Grant for aspiring composers
21. Although not named onscreen, the workshop depicted is the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop
22. In which Larson attended and through which he first met Stephen Sondheim
23. The character of Walter Bloom, played by Richard Kind, appears to be based on Charles Strouse
24. Christopher Jackson cameos as a patron at the New York Theatre Workshop performance of Tick, Tick… Boom!
25. Miranda’s father Luis A. Miranda Jr. cameos as a building concierge in “No More”
26. Among the performers in the Superbia presentation are Joel Perez, Kate Rockwell, and Janet Dacal
27. Although Whitford portrays Sondheim onscreen, Sondheim voices himself when he leaves a message on Jonathan’s voicemail, as he does in the original musical
28. Miranda’s wife Vanessa M. Nadal voices “Deborah”, Susan’s friend who calls Jonathan towards the beginning of the film about equipment for his workshop
29. New York Theatre Workshop artistic director James C. Nicola and Broadway actor Roger Bart make credited appearances as “featured diners” at the Moondance Diner in the background of the opening scene
30. Both were friends and collaborators of the real Larson
31. Nicola was in charge of New York Theatre Workshop at the time of the film’s events and helped program Rent
32. While Bart was a fellow waiter at the diner who contributed backing vocals to the original rock-monologue version of Tick, Tick… Boom!
33. The character “Roger”, played by Joshua Henry, is loosely inspired by Bart
34. It was announced in July 2018 that Lin-Manuel Miranda would make his directorial debut with the musical adaptation
35. With Imagine Entertainment and Julie Oh producing and Dear Evan Hansen’s Steven Levenson penning the script
36. In June 2019, Netflix had acquired the film, with Andrew Garfield the top choice to star
37. He would be confirmed to star in October, with Alexandra Shipp, Vanessa Hudgens and Robin de Jesús joining in November
38. Joshua Henry, Judith Light, and Bradley Whitford would join in January 2020
39. In January 2020, it was also announced that choreographer Ryan Heffington would be working on the film
40. Principal photography began in March 2020
41. Production had shut down by April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
42. Production resumed in October 2020
43. Production wrapped in November 2020
44. The film’s production designers painstakingly recreated both the Moondance Diner and Larson’s former apartment at 508 Greenwich Street
45. In the latter case sourcing some of Larson’s actual possessions to decorate the set
46. The pool scenes were shot at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center in the West Village
47. The location was chosen due to its resemblance to that described in the lyrics of “Swimming”
48. It was only during filming that the designers and creative team learned this was the actual swimming pool Larson frequented
49. Sondheim’s vocal cameo (a concept that carries over from productions of the original musical) came about when he asked to rewrite his voicemail message after viewing the film, as he felt he would not say what had originally been written
50. However, at this point in production Whitford was not available to re-record the line, so Sondheim offered to record it himself
51. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88%
52. Based on 128 reviews
53. With an average rating of 7.6/10
54. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Tick, tick… BOOM! makes musical magic out of a story focused on the creative process—an impressive feat for debuting director Lin-Manuel Miranda”
55. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100
56. Based on 33 critics
57. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”