When Gabby Catlin takes the stage as Susan to sing “Come To Your Senses” in High Tide Theatrical’s production of “Tick, Tick… Boom!” she’ll be singing for more than just the audience inside the Lightroom Lounge at Martha’s Vineyard.
She’ll be singing for her younger self.
“‘Come To Your Senses’ was a song that I auditioned for musical theater school with back in 2015 and I didn’t make it into any program,” Catlin said before rehearsal April 9.
“From that point on, I just felt like this is the song that I need to conquer. And then it became, this is the character that I want to portray as kind of an ‘I can do this, this is my victory story.’
“So almost 10 years after that, now I get to portray that character and sing that song and it kind of is telling little Gabby that you did do this, you can do this.”
Catlin’s personal story meshes well with the messages of “Tick, Tick… Boom!”, which runs April 12-20.
“Tick, Tick … Boom” is first multi-week production: Opening night April 12 will be a landmark moment for High Tide Theatrical, which is in its first full season. “Tick, Tick… Boom!” is the first multi-week production in the season. Tickets are $20-$25 and available online.
The semi-autobiographical story of the creator of ‘Rent’
“Tick, Tick… Boom!” is a semi-autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the creator of the influential Broadway show “Rent.” Set in New York City in 1990, it tells the story of an aspiring composer named Jon and the sacrifices he’s made to get his big break in theatre. While his best friend Michael has taken a job on Madison Avenue and is making big money, Jon is still waiting tables and trying to write “the great American musical.”
“Jon is having a crisis the entire time about turning 30 and how he hasn’t found this huge beautiful success yet even though he’s turning 30 and that should’ve happened by now,” said Mallory Maggi, the show’s director. “And then there are some circumstances in the show that force him to take a step back and really evaluate that life is not something that you should take for granted. It’s not something that’s guaranteed. Your tomorrow isn’t always going to be there. A really big message is not setting yourself up to feel like a disappointment to yourself, not letting life take control of you, but taking control of your life.”
That pressure to achieve something big has been felt by several of the cast members. That includes Tyler Simpson, who plays Jon. Though he’s just 22 — not exactly close to 30 — he understands it and has felt it.
“That’s the topic of conversation every time I speak to my family, especially distant family I don’t get to talk to a lot,” he said. “‘Oh, what are you doing? Are you going back to school? Are you doing this, doing that?’ So there’s a lot of pressure.
“Around college age, everyone’s kind of trying to tell you to go to school, figure out what you want to do. It’s kind of that time when you’re figuring out what you want to do and I definitely don’t have that figured out yet, but this kind of helps me realize maybe I don’t need to know 100%. Maybe I just keep chugging along and everything will work out how it’s supposed to.”
‘Saying no once doesn’t mean saying no forever’
Chugging along has worked for Catlin, who plays Jon’s girlfriend Susan. Catlin went to college for theater, but wasn’t cast in any shows and stepped away from that world for a while. She moved to Springfield in June of 2021 and auditioned for “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” at Springfield Little Theatre three months later.
“I was cast in that and I’ve been pretty consistently cast in shows ever since,” she said. “I think this is my 10th show that I’ve been able to do since then.”
Her resume includes shows like “School of Rock” and “Steel Magnolias” with Springfield Little Theatre as well as “Hands on a Hardbody” and “Urinetown” at Springfield Contemporary Theatre.
“It’s been within the past three years that I’ve kind of squished it all in,” she said. “Even if you set aside a dream for a time, you can always come back to it. Saying no once doesn’t mean saying no forever.”
Roland Netzer, who plays Michael, has also kept chugging along. After finishing undergrad at Missouri State University, he attended the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University and spent several years performing in New York as it emerged from COVID-19.
“I did some Shakespeare in a church basement, I did a lot of scene work in some little independent projects with some of my friends,” he said. “And then I got my master’s degree, and also got engaged at the same time, and money was very tight and rent was not going down any time soon. So I decided, ‘Let’s take a breather. We’re still young, let’s come back to Springfield and recollect ourselves.’”
Netzer was in the cast of Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s production of “Fairview” in 2023 before he saw Maggi, a friend from Kickapoo High School, post the listing for “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
“I thought it would be a lot of fun and I didn’t imagine I would get in,” Netzer said. “But I knew I would kick myself if I didn’t at least audition and here we are.”
Small cast, small room create intimacy
Audiences can expect an intimate experience when they see “Tick, Tick… Boom!” There are just four cast members and the Lightroom Lounge is only expected to seat 60-80 people. For actors like Teghan Breiner, who plays Karessa, it’s a big change from a room like the Landers Theatre.
“Me and Tyler were just talking about that the other day, how we’re used to there being so many people, they’re farther away and it’s darker because of the lights shining down on you,” Breiner said. “But here it’s going to be extremely intimate and you’re probably going to see every single face. So am I intimidated? Yes, just a little bit. But I’m also excited to see what that will be like and I think it’ll be fun to have a more intimate setting. It will make it special for (the audience) and for us.”
Catlin, too, is looking forward to working in a small space.
“This is the kind of theater I always dreamed of performing,” she said. “There’s something about being so close and having to be so raw and so vulnerable that shows humanity in a completely different way. This is the kind of theater that makes me excited to be doing theater, these small, intimate moments. It is more nerve-wracking because you don’t have anything to help block you from the audience, there’s very little of a barrier there and the goal is that provides the realness.”
Realness also comes from the connections made in smaller casts. It’s a setting Netzer particularly enjoys.
“In a show with a big ensemble you have to do a million interactions at once and you want to make each one unique and special, but you only have so much time to do it,” he said. “With just three other people to share the space with, you get a lot more time and I feel like we’ve had a lot more time to really flesh out what each character means to each other, where the arcs intersect and where we help each other and unintentionally hinder each other in our arcs. I find that a lot more fun.”
Then, with a laugh, Netzer quipped, “And it’s just a lot more fun to have more stage time, I’ll admit it.”
Live band adds to the collaborative spirit of the show
High Tide Theatrical’s production of “Tick, Tick… Boom!” also includes a live band, led by music director Kathryn Cole on keys. She’s joined by Captain Sibley (bass), Jacob Huges (drums) and Shawn Vomund (guitar). The director and actors all, unprompted, raved about their contribution to the musical.
“For a show like this, you always want a lot of space and you want a lot of time,” Netzer said. “They haven’t been offered that luxury and they still have just showm up and been absolutely fantastic. It feels much more like they’re part of the collaboration — especially since the vocal director is playing piano for the show and she’s been continually workshopping us and trying to make every part of the music work together. It feels like we’re all part of an ensemble that makes things happen.”
Maggi, who is directing her first musical, agrees, calling the band “incredible.”
“It’s truly a privilege that my name gets to be attached to this project along with theirs because the hard work and dedication of the people in that room is humbling to be a part of,” she said.
Landmark production for new company
Opening night April 12 will be a landmark moment for High Tide Theatrical, which is in its first full season. “Tick, Tick… Boom!” is the first multi-week production in the season, which opened with the one-night-only “Red Hot & Backwards” in February. Maggi, who also serves on High Tide’s board, is excited to share this new adventure with Springfield’s theater community.
“We’re really focusing on accessibility,” she said. “We’re trying to create theater productions that inspire people to come together, that inspire people to have empathy for stories that aren’t exactly like their own, inspire people to think differently. I’m excited that this gives people the opportunity to join us on the beginning of this adventure. I think it’s going to be really awesome.”
Breiner, who has performed on stages in Springfield and Branson, encourages fellow actors to consider auditioning for future shows. She said it’s been a great experience.
“Everyone’s super welcoming, they are just the kindest and they work with you,” Breiner said. “They want you to succeed and it’s just a great environment to be around and a great environment to have a show in. I just feel very accepted by everyone here and I can tell that they really have taken the time to dive into each and every one of us and help us become the best performers that we can.”
Want to go?
What: High Tide Theatrical presents “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
When: April 12-13, 18-20, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Martha’s Vineyard’s Lightroom Lounge, 215 W. Olive St., Springfield
Tickets: $20-$25, available online
For more information: Visit High Tide Theatrical’s website, or follow them on Facebook
