For its off-Broadway debut, “The Jonathan Larson Project” went back to its roots: the East Village.
The new musical has officially opened at the Orpheum Theatre in New York, just a few blocks north of where Larson first staged his career-defining musical “Rent.” Although Larson died suddenly at the age of 35, on the eve of the show’s first off-Broadway performance, the writer left behind a cannon of creative output. Some of that lesser-known work arrives onstage courtesy of the “The Jonathan Larson Project.”
The intimate — and at times nostalgic — production pays homage to Larson’s legacy, which was heavily influenced by his experience living in downtown New York. But while “The Jonathan Larson Project” tips its hat to Larson’s best known works, including “Tick, Tick…Boom!,” the intention was to showcase the writer’s range.
“As much as he obviously loved writing musicals, he also wanted to write songs for the radio,” says Taylor Iman Jones, who stars as part of the five-person cast. Her first major solo in the show is a ’90s-coded pop number, performed as a music video shoot. “He had some songs labeled: ‘Whitney Houston songs,’ aspirationally,” she adds. “And so this is one that is written to be just a one-off radio hit wonder.”
The new musical started out as a cabaret-style performance at Broadway haunt 54 Below, produced by programming director Jennifer Ashley Tepper. The fully staged off-Broadway production features one-off songs, mini-musical revues and excerpts, performed in alternating solos and several ensemble pieces.
The production benefits from Larson’s self-archival tendencies: the show opens with video footage from the ’90s, and includes scrappy songs that were likely never meant for the main stage, but provide insight into his creative process. Although the show lacks a central narrative storyline, the thread, of course, is Larson, and the central themes found throughout his work: the tension between art and commerce, friendship, addiction, politics and sexuality.
“We always ask ourselves, ‘What would Jonathan think? Would he be into it? Do we think he would like this?’” Jones says of the musical’s North Star. “And, obviously, he’s not here to answer those questions, but he gave us plenty of evidence and plenty of material to know what he did like and what he was working toward,” she adds. “And so we just do our best to bring those to reality in the best way that we can.”
For Jones, who is from the Bay area and began acting as a preteen, “Rent” was an early introduction to the world of musical theater. “It’s one of the first musicals I ever became obsessed with and ever knew front to back,” she says. After high school, she starred in a location production as exotic dancer Mimi, the show’s lead.
“Rent has been very important to me, not only as a musical and showing me what musicals can be, but also as a theater performer,” she says. “Mimi, but ‘Rent’ and ergo Jonathan Larson, has always been super important to my foundation.”
After several years of starring in regional theater on the West Coast, Jones decided to move to New York in 2016. “I’d kind of exhausted the theater scene in San Francisco. And then I knew it was time to either put up or shut up, and just see what happens.” Since landing in New York, she’s starred in the Broadway musical “Six,” originated the role of Andy Sachs for the 2022 world premiere of “The Devil Wears Prada” musical in Chicago and, most recently, starred in the musical adaptation of “Empire Records” for its world premiere last fall.
“The Jonathan Larson Project” opened on Monday, and is currently slated for a limited 16-week run. Reflecting on her intentions for the musical moving into performance post-opening, Jones reiterated the idea of highlighting the breadth of Larson’s work for old and new fans alike.
“We don’t get to have him with us now. Who knows what else he could have written by this point,” Jones says. “And so not only do I want to honor that legacy, but it’s nice to remind artists that there’s so much more to ourselves — it’s not just the big things you put out; you never know what’s going to be the thing that maybe makes you your big hit,” she adds.
“He didn’t even get to experience his big hit, but look how incredible his legacy is.”
