I think that's the thing that really frustrated him, was that he had this kind of shipload of cargo to deliver to the world, and it seemed like the world didn't want it until it was, you know, that fateful evening of the first preview of 'Rent,' where it was as if the theater gods said, OK, well, your work is done you can rest. And I think it's a universal experience for anyone reaching those thresholds, I think especially for a young artist who - like Jon, who was so driven and so ambitious and not through pure ego, but through a sense of calling and a feeling that he had so many songs to sing, so much soul to give to the world. SIMON: Does even a fabulously successful actor begin with the thought, this could've been me? It's very, very moving even how you just described the bare essentials of. GARFIELD: No, thank you and what a lovely introduction. Andrew Garfield joins us from Los Angeles. It is directed by no less than Lin-Manuel Miranda. SIMON: Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson in a company of great Broadway talents that include Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Joshua Henry, Judith Light and Vanessa Hudgens. And in eight days, my youth will be over forever. They had careers with steady paychecks, a mortgage. By the time my parents were 30, they already had two kids. GARFIELD: (As Jon) Older than Stephen Sondheim when he had his first Broadway show, older than Paul McCartney when he wrote his last song with John Lennon. The film of his musical 'Tick, Tick.Boom!' tells his own story, the road he took there on a week in which he's about to turn 30.

Jonathan Larson wouldn't live to see himself become famous and hear his musical sung and beloved - died in 1996 of a heart disorder at the age of 35 on the day of the first off-Broadway preview of his musical 'Rent,' for which he won Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, 'TICK, TICK.BOOM!')ĪNDREW GARFIELD: (As Jon) The date is January 26, 1990.

Jonathan larson musicals