Tick, Tick…Boom: A Review
Whenever my wife watches a musical, she ends up singing it whenever she has the opportunity to, which is…always. Both of us are theatre kids, so I don’t usually mind, except for when I haven’t seen the musical, then it’s just annoying.
I finally was able to watch it with her last night, knowing the premise and a little about the main subject, Jonathan Larson. I’m not afraid to admit that as a guy I enjoy musicals and I had enjoyed “Hamilton” from Lin-Manuel Miranda, so a musical directed by him and featuring Spiderman as the main character was too good to be true.
As a fellow starving artist, I always enjoy seeing that I’m not the only one that struggles through until I can make a break. Through all of the ups and downs of the film, there was one line/conversation that stuck with me. When Larson and his agent (who strangely reminded me of Estelle and Janice from Friends) when the workshop went amazing but no producer picked it up.
“So, what am I supposed to do now?” he asks her.
Rosa (Larson’s agent) then says the most accurate, relatable thing to him. She tells him to keep writing. Write the next one, then the next one, and then when you’re done with that…write the next one. Because “that’s what it is to be a writer, honey.”
As writers of anything wanting to make themselves feel significant in their art, to achieve some form of artistic success there is that false narrative that if you pour your heart and soul into this one work it will be successful and a level of fame will be achieved. When it’s not, as it most often isn’t, despair and hopelessness crowd the brain.
I’ve sent dozens of queries out for stories, some hundreds and thousands, but rejections come with the territory and they are more frequent than approvals. Or so it seems. I mean, J.K. Rowling was rejected by how many publishers? Stephen King threw “Carrie” away when his wife pulled it out. I believe the same thing happened with “MASH,” I believe. Imagine being one of those who rejected any of these writers.
Queries come back with rejections if they come back at all, or maybe they ask for the manuscript, but upon reading it they decided it doesn’t fit their list. So what do we do? We keep writing. Keep a steady stream of stories and musicals and playwrights, so the sting of rejection doesn’t keep you down for too long.
Keep writing.
