Tick Tick Boom
Larson's autobiographical musical
Tick, tick... boom is an expression mimicking the sound of a timer counting down before an explosion.
It suggests mounting tension or an inevitable crisis: The whole situation was tick, tick, boom—we knew it would blow up eventually.
The phrase gained wider recognition as the title of Jonathan Larson's 1990 autobiographical musical about an aspiring composer facing a deadline, later adapted as a 2021 film.
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- time bombExplosive on a timer
- explosionViolent burst of energy
- timerDuration-tracking mechanism
- musicalSung theatrical production
Broadway · one-man show · bomb · fuse · clock · rent · Andrew Garfield · audition · Lin-Manuel Miranda · pressure · deadline · urgent · detonation · anxiety · playwright · composer · Sondheim · theater
- musicalsWicked, Les Miserables, Cats, Chicago, Grease
- Netflix FilmsDon't Look Up, The Mother, Roma, The Irishman, Hillbilly Elegy
- Stage MoviesA Chorus Line, All That Jazz, Cabaret, Chicago, West Side Story
Tick Tick BoomHairspray
Musical about integration-era dancing
complacency · The Addams Family · Grease · Mary Poppins · Annie
Tick Tick BoomThe Lion King
Disney's savanna succession drama
Les Misérables · Miss Saigon · Wicked · Cats · Starlight Express