Tick, Tick … Boom! Andrew Garfield is up for an Oscar win
Gar-fields an Oscar nom
ANDREW Garfield. Up for an Oscar for “Tick, Tick . . . Boom!”
This film reprises the genius behind the B’way musical “Rent” which ran 12 years and dealt with young talent struggling to claw from the low-rent district into the big time during HIV days. Garfield re-creates its real-life creator Jonathan Larson.
Garfield: “My character is a deeply physical person ‘tuned up to 11.’ Musical theater is everything tuned up to 11. That expression means everything to me. I like to work physically. I love to move my limbs and body.
“Understand, this is my first time singing. I’ve never sung professionally. I did one of my favorite musicals of all time, ‘Bugsy Malone,’ but that was years ago at the Epsom Playhouse. My character was ‘Fat Sam’ but he doesn’t sing. Nor was I fat. I had to put a pillow under my shirt. So that’s where I initially fell in love with musicals. But I’d never sung professionally onstage, on film or anywhere until last year at age 37. It’s crazy. I’m grateful for the chance.
“The character of Larson was inspiring because he sang with every cell in his body. He wanted to reach the rafters. He was singing for life and death. For lost artists. For anyone affected by the AIDS epidemic. He was singing for anyone who felt their dreams had been crushed.”
Did Garfield ever see the original “Rent”? “No. I had to dig it out. I went to the Lincoln Center Library and found a VHS copy of the original production. And I sat there with my headphones on. And I watched the grainy footage of that New York Theatre workshop production. It was a beautiful transportation back in time.”
“Tick, Tick . . . Boom!” is tick tick great.
Another scary epidemic
NOW, a problem. Our planet is being laced with fentanyl. The deadly synthetic opioid begets deaths from heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamine, etc. Spreading since 2015, last year this nationwide epidemic was responsible for losing over 100,000 American lives.
New York State ranked fourth. Infirmed seniors in Florida came in first. California has it wall to wall. Teen deaths tripled from 2019 to 2021. Fentanyl, now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, is responsible for more fatalities than gun violence or car accidents.
Blame points to the forced closing of substance abuse programs. Additional blame’s on social media being co-opted to market the drug illicitly. Per Families Against Fentanyl: “Fake pills with deadly amounts of fentanyl are up everywhere. It’s in fake Xanax and Percocet. It’s being laced in cocaine and ecstasy. Its poison is tearing families apart and killing disgruntled youth at an alarming rate.”
The crack epidemic was bad? This could be worse. Those Hollywood hills are alive with the sales of drugs.
Love’s in the heir
MONDAY. A time for lovers. May we all be warmhearted, kindly, caring, awash in kindness and devotion and adoration and appreciation — and whatever else you can throw in to help support Great Britain.
That’s despite former HRH Harry whose wife will start ignoring him in another year. That’s despite former HRH randy handy dandy Prince Andy whom courts will start debriefing soon. That’s despite twice-married future King Charles who changes wardrobe multiple times daily, picks bugs off plants and travels with his own toilet seat (he says that’s crap).
Besides Brexit, besides PM Boris, may all civilization be in massive heavy support of Charles’ twice-married former mistress and presumptive Queen Consort — Her soon to be semi Maj Camilla.
SO this producer told his staff: “New story’s great but the title must go. Needs to be simpler. We all know what an optimist is — but how many morons out there will go see a picture about an eye doctor?”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
