Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Editors of ‘Tick Tick Boom’ on Cutting ‘Therapy’

variety.com:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorIn “Tick, Tick, …Boom!” the song “Therapy” is performed by Jonathan Larson, played by Andrew Garfield and Karessa played by Vanessa Hudgens.

The number intercuts mid-argument between Larson and girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp), as they fight over Jonathan’s reluctance to understand that he has been shutting Susan out of his life as his musical’s workshop gets closer.Director Lin-Manuel Miranda says the song, a Fosse-style inspired moment, is a charming number that pokes fun at counselor therapy speak, and the best way to tell your partner you’re ticked off at them.

Says Miranda, “The tone of that song was on a collision course with where our characters were.”In an interview with Variety, Miranda and WGA nominated screenwriter Steven Levenson explained they had road-mapped every song in the film with a postcard or note. “We settled on a big swing — this is our cabaret moment.

The directive was to intercut from this very cute, funny song to the most knockdown drag-out real shit, they could say to each other at this moment because they’ve been heading towards this for the whole film.” At one point, Levenson questioned whether the song would even make it into the film. “It feels so totally off and was larger than life in a way that most of the songs are much more grounded.”But he and Miranda flew into the fun challenge of making it work.“It felt like it could be a fun way of showing how something so deadly serious can become a musical with a capital M,” Levenson says, and the idea of mixing in the “Cabaret” inspired moments would make for great editing.That’s where co-editors Andrew Weisblum and Myron Kerstein stepped in.