Composer and lyricist Jonathan Larson died just before his rock musical Rent became a hit that changed musical theatre.

Less well known is tick, tick… BOOM!, which finally makes its Australian mainstage debut more than 30 years after Larson created this autobiographical work.

Directed by Tyran Parke, and starring Hugh Sheridan, it’s a minimalist production that reflects the show’s hardscrabble origins and subject matter.

Finn Alexander and Hugh Sheridan in tick, tick … BOOM! Photo supplied

Larson performed Tick, Tick… BOOM! as a “rock monologue” in the early 1990s, a few years before Rent brought rock to the mainstream musical-theatre stage. After his sudden death in 1996, it was reworked into a musical with three actors; for this production there are five, with all but Sheridan kept very busy playing multiple roles.

It’s set in 1990, just before the main character, Jon, turns 30. He is struggling to make headway in New York’s musical-theatre scene and wondering if it’s time to give up trying to create a show someone wants to produce.

He shares a miserable apartment with lifelong friend Michael, a former actor now making good money in marketing and about to move...