#Abrons Arts Center

[i-am-the-entertainer]

Tick, Tick... Boom! Filming Locations

Some people have too much time on their hands. I am one of those people.

One of the things I love about Tick, Tick... Boom is the obvious affection the filmmakers have for the NYC theater scene, an affection shared with the film's subject Jonathan Larson. To that end, I recently decided to try to identify some of the filming locations in the film.

One thing that was extremely helpful in this process was the "special thanks" list in the film's credits, which names a lot of the orgs that were used in location shooting and from which I was able to make some really good guesswork.

Note that this is mainly for location shoots. Things like the recreated Moondance Diner, which was done on a set, are not included in this.

508 Greenwich Street - Jonathan's apartment

(from MWhiteShelley on Twitter/X) This is probably the most obvious location: Jonathan Larson's actual address. While interiors of the apartment itself were filmed on a set in a soundstage, it is obvious on viewing the film that there was some location shooting at the building, most prominently in "No More" when Jonathan and Michael enter and climb the stairs.

The Underground Theater at Abrons Arts Center - The musical theater workshop scene

(from their website) You'll probably recognize this brutalist theater from the Stephen Sondheim workshop scene (which, according to this video, was one of the last scenes shot) – it also briefly appears a few shots earlier in the scene where Ira Weitzman is observing Jonathan rehearsing. The Abrons Arts Center is located in the Lower East Side and is part of the Henry Street Settlement.

The Strand Bookstore - "30/90" and Sextet

(From an article by The Guardian, photo by Bruce yuanye Bi/Alamy) The Strand is instantly recognizable to New Yorkers, maybe less-so for others unless you've visited as a tourist. It's a giant independent bookstore located two blocks from Union Square. Prominently featured in "30/90" and visited by Jonathan during the "Sextet Montage" where he tries to sell some of his records.

Teatro LATEA at the Clemente - Susan's dance recital

(from their Instagram) This one was a little harder, because obviously it's just a black box theater and how many of those are there in NYC? What clued me in was 1) the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, where Teatro LATEA is located, is thanked in the credits and 2) those chairs (a little bit more obvious in this photo). I've seen and worked a fair number of shows in that theater, and as soon as I noticed the very distinctive chairs for Susan's dance recital I was able to look more closely at the scene and immediately could map out the layout of Teatro Latea.

The Delacorte Theater - "Why"

Another easily recognizable location for locals, the Delacorte is the amphitheater where Jonathan sneaks in and sings "Why". It doesn't get named in the film but it does in the stage version.

Hunter College's Thomas Hunter Hall Sixth Floor North Dance Studio - The Superbia workshop

(from Facebook) This was, without question, the hardest location to find. In the film it's identified as being in the Theater District, specifically at Playwrights Horizons (an Untapped Cities article about filming locations even claims this, and uh, basically gets everything wrong). However, if you've ever been to the modern Playwrights Horizons, it looks very different, both on the inside and the outside, and while they do have rehearsal spaces in a slightly less-remodeled building on Lafayette Street, none of the spaces there look like that. The reference to Hunter College in the credits narrowed it down, and then it was just a matter of finding photos of the studios (this gallery of recent restoration work shows the different angles that you will recognize from the movie), discovering an architectural plan of some planned renovations in the building, and then looking out the windows of the building and comparing it to Google Maps street view to figure out which side of the building it was on.

...I have waaaaay too much time on my hands.

I do want to point out, Thomas Hunter Hall is actually located on Lexington Avenue between 68th and 69th, quite a few blocks northeast from the Theater District depicted in the film.

New York Theatre Workshop - The framing scenes

(from a New York Theatre Guide article) The real Jonathan Larson's artistic home, where he performed both Rent and the original version of tick, tick... BOOM! thirty years ago. Both the theater's exterior (at the start of "Louder Than Words") and interior (the tick, tick... BOOM! performance scenes) feature prominently in the movie.

Fun fact: when they were shooting the film in March, they originally planned to film the NYTW scenes inside a recreated set because there was a show playing at the theater at the time (though not referenced in the linked video, I happen to know that the show was Endlings by Celine Song, the writer/director of the recent Oscar contender Past Lives) but when filming restarted the theater was available again because of the shutdown.

Any other locations you recognized that I didn't include? Let me know! Currently trying to figure out where Michael's apartment building (Victory Towers) was located – the scene in the car leading to the arrival at teh building makes me think it's somewhere near Central Park, but that footage could also have been filmed separately.

[travsd]

The Panto Returns Tonight!

Well, I’m still grinning from ear to ear. I was one of the lucky few hundred who were at last night’s invited dress for ONEOFUS’s latest holiday panto at the Abrons Arts Center, Sleeping Beauty. The sideshow-burlesque-movie-theatre-TV-nightclub power couple of Matt Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz are the core of ONEOFUS. Matt writes the scripts and plays drums in the band and Julie (a great lover of…

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: No Snoozing Here: This ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Is Gearing Up for a Wild Ride by Elisabeth Vincentelli

By Elisabeth Vincentelli At Abrons Arts Center, a hilarious family show in the British holiday tradition that runs “like a steam train when it goes well.” Published: December 1, 2023 at 03:34PM from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/RkPH6wX via IFTTT

[laurasearles]

Throwback Oda performance (2021) and content with Keiyaa (featuring bandmates Buz, Nelson Bandela, Keenyn Omari, and 13th Law) during a live set at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on the Lower East Side.

Produced by Laura Searles-Mohale via Oda, Abrons Art Center

[pplindex]

Rehearsals for "On the Cranial Nerves of Barbarians II: A Carp Sanctuary" at Abrons Arts Center and Gansevoort space, spring/summer 2023. Esther Neff, Noah Ortega, 3dwardgsharp, Irina Varina, Thea Little, Mia Destiny, Jessica Bathurst. Photos by Jess Applebaum.

[citylifeorg]

Dance/NYC Releases Dance Industry Census Featurette Highlighting Diversity and Contributions of the NYC Dance Community

Dance/NYC Releases Dance Industry Census Featurette Highlighting Diversity and Contributions of the NYC Dance Community

Danielle Riley of Contemporary Ballet Theatre poses en pointe during Dance Industry Census featurette shoot at Abrons Art Center, Photo Credit: Emmanuel Agbeble, 2022 The dance service organization, Dance/NYC, released a featurette highlighting the diversity and contributions of the New York City dance industry to the local creative economy. The video was produced to encourage individuals,…

[jimrmoore]

Vaudevisuals interview with Tyler West ~ "Dick Rivington & The Cat"

Vaudevisuals interview with Tyler West ~ “Dick Rivington & The Cat”

I visited the Abrons Arts Center last week and got a chance to watch a tech rehearsal of OneOfUs production of “Dick Rivington & The Cat“. Always interested in hearing from the performers themselved about the show I was delighted to interview ‘Tommy the Cat’ actor Tyler West. The video is posted below. Make sure you get a ticket for this show! You have never seen anything quite as funny and…

[elizabethcarena]

NEXT UP!

I’m stepping into the official premiere of the live cine-performance "Why Why Always” by Shaun Irons & Lauren Petty, featuring Jim Fletcher, Laura Bartczak, and Marion Spencer. It’s my first time working with this fantastic group of artists!

It is seventeen minutes past midnight, Oceanic Time. In a theater of sorts, a show is about to begin. There is an occasional flicker of light, a sonic shudder, an atmosphere of electronic energy. Conjuring a live cine-performance through the interplay of otherworldly video, music, sound and technology, Why Why Always is a sci-fi misadventure of secret agents and seductresses, where Alphaville meets ASMR. Mesmeric whispers fill the air, lighters flash, linens are folded, and a super computer is foiled.

OCTOBER 13 THROUGH OCTOBER 29, 2017 at the ABRONS ARTS CENTER, NYC Underground Theater | Various Times | $25

TICKETS AND MORE INFO

[cheminhsiao]

Climbing.

[ninetynine-centdreams]

Marcos DaSilva with his mural for Abrons Art Center Queer Art Pride

more about Marcos here

[soniayuditskaya]

Abrons Art Center 2019

[travsd]

R.I.P. Jonas Mekas

We were watching an old episode of 30 Rock earlier this week and were amused when Liz Lemon bragged that she was going to see a movie at Anthology Film Archives. She said it to impress somebody, when she was really going to see some junk at the Multiplex. That’s the mission of Anthology: to nurture cinema that is the opposite of the junk at the Multiplex. Thus the death of its founder Jonas Mekas

[mybeingthere]

Melissa Zarem is an abstract painter and printmaker. Her work combines expressive gesture, layered texture and graphic formal elements. Melissa  grew up with artistic roots in two very different cities, New York and Savannah, Georgia.  After getting her BFA at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Melissa returned to Brooklyn where she started a career as an artist in residence with the Henry Street Settlement House’s Abrons Arts Center. Between 1992 and 1998 her art was featured in a number of shows at the Abrons Arts Center, as well as in galleries in Brooklyn, including Cold Fish (1995), The Montauk House (1996), and Henry 125 (1997).  After a hiatus to raise young children, Melissa returned to Ithaca with her family.

https://www.melissazarem.com/

[markelzey]

A few more #Outtakes from @mayfieldbrookz / @whalefallopera - @abronsartscenter for @nytimes ❤️ Appreciate it so much @jmwender ❤️✨✨✨ . #markelzey #Mayfieldbrooks #abronartscenter #nytimes #dance #arts #movement #whalefallopera #portraitphotographer #imagemaker #ilford #fujigfx50s #gfx50s (at Abrons Arts Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNqB6EulUgO/?igshid=1hcahmi61nfse

[skowhegan]

Edra Soto (A ‘00) Plaza Pública Abrons Arts Center 466 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002 June 24 - August 22

[jimrmoore]

Vaudevisuals interview with Jenni Gil ~ "Dick Rivington & The Cat"

Vaudevisuals interview with Jenni Gil ~ “Dick Rivington & The Cat”

https://vimeo.com/649813934 For Tickets/More Information! # # # # #