'The Jonathan Larson Project' to premiere off Broadway this spring

The new musical contains previously unreleased songs from the late creator of the multi-award-winning musical Rent, who died in 1996 at the age of 35.

The world-premiere musical The Jonathan Larson Project will open off Broadway this spring at the Orpheum Theatre, playing for 16 weeks only beginning February 14. Opening night is March 10.

Jonathan Larson is best known as the creator of Rent, the 1996 rock musical that won the Pulitzer Prize and multiple Tony Awards and played on Broadway until 2008. Larson died suddenly at age 35 on the day Rent played its first Off-Broadway performance earlier that year.

The Jonathan Larson Project celebrates previously unreleased and lesser-known works of Larson's, including show tunes, pop songs, and full musicals. Over 20 undiscovered songs by the writer feature in the show, including tunes from the unproduced musicals 1984 and Superbia, cut songs from Rent and tick, tick... BOOM!, songs written for revues and the radio, and songs never publicly performed or recorded before at all. In the show, the songs trace Larson's life as a struggling young artist in New York.

“Jonathan Larson dreamed of revolutionizing musical theatre. Tragically, he wasn't around to see his wildest dreams come true,” Jennifer Ashley Tepper, who conceived the musical, said in a statement. “Over a decade ago, I began immersing myself in the hundreds of boxes that Jonathan Larson left behind when he died. The hours of cassette tapes of undiscovered songs, piles of scripts that had never been produced, and many personal letters, photos, journals, and more were endlessly inspiring.

“Jonathan's lost songs are political, personal, surprising, galvanizing, relevant, and tell a fascinating new story about a young man following his heart in New York City, trying to change the world,” she continued.

John Simpkins directs, and the show also features music supervision and orchestrations by Charlie Rosen, co-arrangements by Rosen and Natalie Tenenbaum, choreography by Byron Easley, and music direction by Cynthia Meng. Casting and additional creative team for The Jonathan Larson Project has yet to be announced.

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