New York, 1990: The musical composer Jon is about to turn 30 in a week – and, to his great frustration, has yet to achieve a hit. The pressure is mounting, and so this Stephen Sondheim fan hears the clock ticking and begins to question the meaning of his life. His friend Michael has meanwhile abandoned his dream of becoming an actor and now earns good money in a market research firm. Jon’s girlfriend Susan, a ballet dancer, mainly teaches and is ready to leave her life in New York behind: she would like to start a family. But Jon has not given up his dream of making it on Broadway. He is staking everything on his current piece »Superbia«, which is due for a workshop presentation shortly.

Jonathan Larson originally conceived this profound rock-infused musical in 1990 as a solo »Rock Monologue«, thereby creating an entirely new genre. With his subsequent work »Rent« in 1996, he finally achieved major success. »tick, tick… BOOM!« contains autobiographical elements: Besides the name Jon, Larson turned 30 in 1990 and was hoping for his big break, which he tragically barely got to experience, as he died far too young on the day of the premiere of »Rent«.