Video: THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT Rehearsal Sneak Peek

This show, when I hear it, when I experience it, it feels to me like it's like a survival guide for how to get through really tough times

If you really listen to the show, if you're really open to it, it's like a bomb for the spirit

And so I hope that audiences get to experience that because I think we need that now more than ever

One of these days, I'll find a way I'm gonna be number one

at least in someone person's eyes. One of these days. Someone will say you are my only one

that thing's gonna be one of these days. Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

The Jonathan Larson Project is the brand new musical that features over 20

Undiscovered songs by the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning writer of Rent. Conceived by Jennifer Tepper

they begin performances on February 14th at the Orphium Theater and we drop by the rehearsal room

to meet the company and bring you a sneak peek. You're gonna triumph, prepare

say, I'll razzle dous and blood a gleam. They've seen my face in every house on every screen

I'll be the hero. I'll change the world. I can see through the haze

A miracle's in for a landing. Gonna get here. Gonna happen one of these days

Oh my gosh. Well, anyone who knows me knows that Jonathan Larson is my god of the theater, my absolute hero

Brent was my entire personality from when I first saw it when I was 11 up until still today And so the fact that I am here premiering Jonathan Larson work that we you know I thought that was it

I thought, rent, Tick, boom, we have it all. We do not have it all. There is a lot more to share

And the fact that I get to share it is actually, like, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me

I'm not kidding. The Jonathan Larson Project is a collection of songs, never before heard songs from Jonathan Larson

and they're sort of organized in theme. So you meet our characters

and our characters are this, it's a community of artists who have sort of assembled on this day

in a sort of artist salon, and so they're kind of sharing material to each other

Being in the room with this cast. I love it. I wish every single show could be like this

It's so fun. I often find myself just like weeping with laughter because we're having so much fun

It makes collaborating so easy. Everybody is an artist that I've worked with or that I've admired for a very long time

And they're all artists that have like a really sharp point of view. And they're bringing that like sharp specific point of view to Jonathan's work and bringing it alive in a way that is like just so magical

Like the two coming together like this. I love it. What is it about Jonathan Larson that people generate

generation continue to fall in love with? I think he writes for the everyday person

and he writes for the marginalized people. He was so amazing at writing what he observed

but making it into really beautiful poetry. I think he also wrote to help heal

whether it was himself or the people are around him, and you can just feel that I'm getting goosebumps talking about it

And so I think that just makes it so special And that music continues to heal to this day I think a lot of people who have ever been in a show of his feel like corny but like a cosmic connection to him as a performer or a writer

And I keep saying he is like the most audaciously earnest writer in a way

You cannot be cooler than the material. You cannot, you cannot not be all in it or else you can't perform it

Like, you can tell, I feel like. But also, he's such a brilliant writer that it's not hard to step in

and be there with your whole heart. It's very easy. You must have had the time of your life going through the treasure trove

finding this stuff, and, you know, unmask it and be like, oh, my gosh

I really did. And when I tell you some of my favorite songs in the Jonathan Larson Project

are the songs that nobody had heard before it, you know. And there's also, you know, a third of the songs that are in our musical

We're not in the 2018 version. So we've unearthed even more. There's this musical that Jonathan wrote

called National Lampoons Tri-Sentennial Review, and it's about political campaigns. It's about a presidential candidate

And we're doing the show, and every line we're like, did he write this yesterday

You know, we're having that experience in rehearsal every day. And then there's songs that he wrote that are really personal

There's this song he wrote called Rhapsody, and it speaks to being an artist in New York City

and it speaks to the idea of the haves and the haves not have-nots. And we all just have been approaching this work

with such personal connections to it, both personal connections to Jonathan, and then, oh wow, this song hits me

I'm like, you know, it speaks to my experience. Is anybody here

Show me before it's too late. Does anybody care? Is this meant to be mankind's fate

Does anybody here answer me now if you do. Is anybody there I need you S O Savior S O S O Hero S O S Messiah

Yes, oh, yes. Oh. S. O Jesus. S. S. S. S. O Poodo

S. E. E. E. Yes. Oh. So you are working on the brand new Jonathan Larson

Jonathan Larson musical. How incredible is that? The most incredible and the biggest honor that I could ever imagine in my whole life

I mean, this is the person that a lot of people look to as the person who altered the course of musical theater forever in our lifetimes

just the same way that the Giants before him did. And so to have the honor of being in the room and working on cultivating and continuing that legacy

and introducing these songs to a brand new generation of people is thrilling

And amazingly, all these things were written years ago, and they sound like they were written yesterday

As you look at the political landscape and things like conservation and things like that, it could have been written yesterday

And we're like, wait, these are his words. We didn't make this up

This is not new. So it's a true honor. It almost feels sometimes like a disclaimer at the theater to say, I promise we didn't change a thing

This is what Jonathan was writing sometimes 35 years ago and it's really resonant right now

I'm trying to try and I ask why that's what I say