Review of The Jonathan Larson Project at the Orpheum Theater

In March 2025, which is when this blog post will also go live, I had the opportunity to go up to the city for work. The theater I work at, New Perspectives, was putting on a full length play at the Culture Lab in New York City, so I planned to go up for a week while I did work.

During that time, I packed my schedule at night with theatrical productions. I was stalking TDF every single day to see what kind of show I could get tickets for, and the first full night I was in town, I snagged a ticket to The Jonathan Larson Project in the East Village for $40 after fees.

If you don’t have a TDF account and qualify—get one if you can afford the subscription! I almost always get really nice seats to the shows I buy, even Broadway ones, and I feel like I get a bang for buck factor every single time because I’ve got $300 seats for like $60.

Anyways, I arrived in the East Village early and spent some time walking around for this production. I grabbed a Vietnamese coffee nearby and then picked up my TDF picket from the box office before continuing my walk around the town. They didn’t let people in until 7:00 PM for a 7:30 start time, and I had to wait outside because of the crowd indoors.

I was given a seat fairly close to the stage, but it was the furthest left. At my feet were literally wires for the tech to run the show. I think the leftmost seats further back in the orchestra should be considered partial view seats. There was a rig on the stage that was obscured by speakers, so when the actors climbed it, you literally could not see them from where I was sitting.

The Jonathan Larson Project had a listed run time of an hour and a half—I don’t think it was that. We got out at nine even with a late start time.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction, as I know it’s mostly what you’re not here for.

A collection of Jonathan Larson’s songs that were previously not in any show.

The Jonathan Larson Project is something that looks to bring to life his songs that were either cut from a show, or never saw the light of day. In this specific production, there are about 15 or so songs. There isn’t a storyline, as this is a compilation of his work, so don’t expect too many common threads. You can get a glimpse inside his brain though for sure with these themes.

There’s a little bit of everything in these songs. There’s desire, loss, politics, and so much more crammed into this hour and a half, and each performer gets a solo song or two to show off their talent.

The crowd was losing it with cheering throughout the course of the show, and I think I went to a performance where Taylor’s friends all came to support her. They were quite loud in the back when she walked onto the stage.

The solo songs are where Taylor Iman Jones and Andy Mientus really shone—they were my favorites in this cast, even though everyone did a great job. I really enjoyed the casting in general, and everyone plays off of each other quite well, especially when it comes to the group numbers.

The beginning portion of the show really sold me. The set is very minimal as well, with a lower portion of the stage then an elevated one that also contains the band. The actors move up and down the space, using every inch of it for the numbers, and there were some surprising ways they used props and imagery.

When it comes to the actual songs, I thought the first half and the final handful of songs were the ones that shone the most out of this lineup. I was really impressed with the first half of the show, especially the solo songs, but then when we started to lose some momentum as we got into the middle portion of the show.

Like I love a good political song, but they felt a little too forced for me, and that’s where it slowed down the most. I appreciate them for what they were saying, but in general I wanted more from them, even though I saw other audience members loving the jokes and gags implemented in these songs specifically.

Overall Thoughts

I’m glad I bought tickets to this show! I was curious because although I’m not very familiar with Rent, I loved Tick, Tick…Boom! and the movie adaptation. Larson’s work and unfortunate passing is something I’ve thought about before as an artist, which is what ultimately compelled me to purchase a ticket for this production.

Anyways, I’m happy I spent what I did for this show because of my budget. I don’t know if I would pay more that $70 personally if I had the money because of the short length and the fact there isn’t a linear story. But if you’re a Larson fan, I think that this show is quite the treat throughout.

The performers are excellent, the songs are solid, and it’s a fun time. I’ve never been to the Orpheum Theater as well, so it was nice getting to see a new Off-Broadway space. I love going to smaller shows and supporting them whenever possible, especially considering the state of the arts and its funding nowadays.

Go see this one if you have the budget and bandwidth! I think it was worth going to for sure.

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