If there's one thing that we come to know about Jonathan Larson very early on in the film, it's that he's in a desperate race against an invisible clock that's audibly ticking in his brain and setting the pace for his life. So it doesn't take long for "Tick, Tick... Boom!" to establish the meaning of its title or its dizzying impact on Larson's existence. As keyed up and overextended as he constantly is, though, Larson is also a deeply kind and compassionate individual who radiates with affection for the people he loves.
So, when he discovers that his close friend, Freddy (Ben Levi Ross), has been hospitalized with complications associated with his HIV positive diagnosis, Jonathan is immediately devastated and wants nothing more than to drop everything and visit him. Garfield plays his reaction of distress with an authentic mixture of horror and humor, as the wheels begin to turn in Jonathan's head about where his priorities are — and where they should be.
He's visibly pained by the flurry of thoughts that race through his mind as he digests both this terrible news and the mountain of other pressing matters in his life — from his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) wanting him to move with her to the Berkshires to his intense writer's block that's making it impossible to complete his rock musical "Superbia" in time. However, as his mental clock ticks ever louder and his mind races out of control, a single ding of the door reminds him that he can have only one focus right now, and that's his day job and the stream of hungry customers who'll be coming in shortly for Sunday brunch at the Moondance Diner.
