Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433736
the crucial contrast between where Jonathan was as an outsider and where he yearned to be. After a sixborough ew Jersey being the sixth search for a location, the production finally settled on a one-block stretch of 3rd Avenue in Harlem. We chose it because the avenue was wide enough to be believable, there were no trees lining the street and many of the storefronts had preserved their original architecture. I poured over every available period-appropriate image of the area I could get my hands on and selected businesses that I felt conveyed the spirit of that part of New York in 1990. Assistant Art Director Lisa Merik and Graphic Designer Andrea urrell then went about adapting versions of each establishment to fit the preexisting stores that inhabited 3rd Avenue, with the idea that we would build everything on the ground oor practically and then provide detailed concept art by Ali ashfi to F to fill in the rest. As luck would have it, the Times Square set was slotted to shoot the Tuesday following what would be the last day of filming due to the pandemic, a Thursday. Much of the scenery was already installed and there would be no time to dismantle it due to the shutdown. Uncomfortably, the neighborhood was stuck with signs advertising peep shows and other sordid enterprises for the better part of a year. Eventually, we were able to get a small crew out there to cover them up, but the situation was less than ideal. We really owe a lot to the residents and proprietors for their enormous show of patience and goodwill in allowing us to see the shots we needed through to completion. The making of tick, tick…BOOM! was a particularly uniue experience, not just because it was set against the AIDS epidemic and made while we were grappling with another tragic pandemic thirty years later, but also because I've never been a part of a project in which so many of the collaborators involved in its making had such a deep connection to the material. It seemed as if barely a day would go by that a member of my crew wouldn't have a story to share about a party they went to at 508 Greenwich treet when they first moved to ew ork, or the tenant they had that used to work with Jonathan, or grabbing a cinnamon coee in the wee hours at the Moondance Diner and listening to the wirey- haired waiter hold court about the future of musical theatre. I am humbled and honored to have been able to help recreate a window back to this special time. ADG E. TIMES SQUARE DRESSED STOREFRONT. F. TIMES SQUARE DRESSED STOREFRONT. G. THEATER DISTRICT FAKE POSTERS FOR "PLAY GAME" SEQUENCE FEATURING FICTIONAL SHOWS THAT REPRESENT EVERYTHING LARSON THOUGHT WAS WRONG WITH BROADWAY. POSTERS DESIGNED BY ANDREA BURRELL. SET PHOTO. Alex DiGerlando, Production Designer Deborah Wheatley, Super vising Art Director Blythe Quinlan, Jeffrey D. McDonald, Lisa Merik, Jonathan Mosca, Assistant Art Directors Ali Kashfi, Concept Artist Andrea Burrell, Graphic Artist Loren Kane, Assistant Graphic Artist Grant Shaffer, Stor yboard Artist Lydia Marks, Set Decorator G E F