jonathan larson family jonathan larson family

He received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Rent. | "And we found out that the disruption was that Jonathan was feeling very ill.", Rehearsal stopped, says music director Tim Weil: "And Jonathan, as only Jonathan would, said, 'Can you believe it? Afterwards, Rapp says, "We felt super happy and excited. There's nothing like the feeling you get when you're hearing from somebody who says: It saved my life.The Rent cast, particularly Anthony Rapp, after many performances, handed out literature and collected donations at the back of the theatres. The knowledge. is available to stream on Netflix. Theater producer Jeffrey Seller, whod go on to work on musicals like In the Heights and Hamilton, attended a production of the show and told Larson he wanted to produce his musicals. One tick, tick BOOM! And he was very excited because he had this thing set in the East Village and he was looking for the right theater in the East Village to do it. He continued to write new material but was also showing signs of illness. Rent became one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, and in 2005, it was adapted into a movie, featuring almost the entire original cast of the Broadway show. Jonathan Larson was born in White Plains, New York, in Westchester County to a Jewish family. In Something to Live For, Gertz was played by Molly Ringwald, who went on to appear in Larson's off-Broadway musical "tick, tickBOOM!". March 4, 2023, By And that sort of broke the spell. Sitting there watching Andrew do such a beautiful job, sometimes I would feel like I was sharing time with my brother," she says. The 41-year-old Broadway star announced Allan's death Friday on Twitter. writer and director. [The music publishing company is called Unky's Music.]. . Tick, Tick Boom! Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites. For almost 11 months weve been afraid our suspicions were correct, and that with proper care, Jonathan would not have died, Larsons father, Allan, said at the time. Those things are very universal, whether it's downtown New York in the middle of the AIDS crisis, or any other time or place. In terms of Jonathan, I am hopeful of some of his other works. March 3, 2023, By Jonathan Larson >In February of 1996, the musical Rent, created by Jonathan Larson >(1961-1996) and billed as "The Rock Opera of the Nineties, " opened in New >York [1] City. By the time Larson finished his final draft of the show, it was a much darker piece that took a deeper look into the power of emotions and mankind's attachment to technology. "And then, finally, a voice from the back of the theater said, 'thank you, Jonathan Larson.' The show was performed off-Broadway at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village, then at the Second Stage Theater on the Upper West Side. .css-5rg4gn{display:block;font-family:NeueHaasUnica,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-5rg4gn:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-5rg4gn{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:-0.02em;margin:0.75rem 0 0;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-5rg4gn{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:0.02rem;margin:0.9375rem 0 0;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-5rg4gn{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.4;margin:0.9375rem 0 0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-5rg4gn{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.4;}}Riley Keough Explains Sex Scene With Her Husband. It was just something we all felt compelled to do, and it was amazing and unbelievable to us to watch the trajectory of Rent unfold. Then I got on the table. We called the cast. Nanette (Nan) spent her early years in the Bronx before her family moved to. In college, Larson dated Victoria Leacock. Cast members in Rent recall him almost collapsing backstage. A talented actor and musician, he was offered a full scholarship to Adelphi University on Long Island, where he met his idol (and later mentor) Stephen Sondheim. L-R, Jonathan Larson's sister Julie Larson, mother Nan Larson and father Allan S. Larson. The bottom line is that he had severe chest pain and that was not pursued or diagnosed in either facility, she said at the time. song, called "Sunday," is a homage to Sondheim, who supported Larson, staying close to the melody and lyrics of Sondheim's own song of the same title but turning it from a manifesto about art into a waiter's lament. More than that I can't ask for. With this work I celebrate my friends and the many others who continue to fulfill their dreams and to live their lives in the shadow of AIDS. Email. "He knew as much about Billy Joel's piano playing as he knew about Sondheim's lyric writing. The preview of Rent was cancelled and the musicals company sang the score of the show for Larsons family and friends instead. Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. Watching Jonathans work resonate with the next generation of fans has been remarkable, Larson says. The Larson family maintains an archive of materials such as manuscripts, correspondence, and demo recordings. When I would say something to him, he would say, "Well, you play the opera just that loud," and then I would have no answer for that. In 1983, Larson planned to write a musical adaptation of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, which he planned to get produced in the year 1984; however, the Orwell estate denied him permission. But Miranda was never able to meet Larson, who tragically passed away in 1996 the night before the first public performance of Rent at the New York Theatre Workshop. The distance between what we were experiencing ourselves, and as the characters was, like, tissue paper thin.". He had paid gigs here and there and worked for a long time on a futuristic musical called Superbia. Dr. Barbara DeBuono, the New York State Health Commissioner at the time, told The New York Times that Larsons dissecting aortic aneurysm, which caused torn vessel lining in his aorta, would have been difficult to diagnose, but she still faulted the doctors for not being thorough enough in their efforts to find a reason for his chest pain. "I remember being very moved, but also thinking, oh, he's so goofy, you know what I mean?" Cabrini was fined $10,000, while St. Vincents was fined $6,000. Larson stopped acting to focus on compositions. Both hospitals were also fined by the Health Department for their poor quality of care. Idina Menzel, Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs and other stars, went on to gross $31.6 million worldwide. The other pieces? Thomson has been suing the Larson estate for. [20] His body was found on the kitchen floor by his roommate at 3AM. It was ten days before his 36th birthday. The Larson kids grew up in a close-knit New York home, and as adults they talked sometimes multiple times a day, even after Julie relocated to the West Coast. Their Net Worth Is Unknown. "I remember going backstage and said, 'well, it's clear that we want to do more of this, so let's do a staged version of whatever you want to do of Act II.' It became an international phenomenon, winning the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, among others, but the performance almost didn't happen. The decision was finally made to move the show to a Broadway theatre, and it opened at the Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996. Jon's nephews [were] the light of his life. In the first drafts, the story, set in the year 2064, followed the character Josh Out, a member of OUTLAND, a society where emotions are erased from everyone at birth. Jonathan Larson Playwright #18089 Most Popular Boost Birthday February 4, 1960 Birthplace New York DEATH DATE Jan 25, 1996 ( age 35 ) Birth Sign Aquarius About Won three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score posthumously for his work on Rent. I would hear every beat, every time he was excited and felt there was something promising happening, Larson recalls. The highly acclaimed musical also garnered him a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This movie only exists because we have the support of Julie Larson [Jonathan Larson's sister], and Al Larson [his father], and the family. Measure a year? Who's Still Together From 'The Perfect Match'? In addition, it has toured throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Singapore, Philippines, Mexico, Germany, Poland, and throughout Europe, as well as in other locations. The show was a retelling of La Boheme, set on the Lower East Side of New York, as people were dying of AIDS. After Larson's death, playwright David Auburn turned Tick, TickBoom! When she's not on the internet, you can most likely find her taking a nap or eating banana bread. In addition, our family was very influenced by folk music listening to the Weavers, Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. Allan was best . Jonathan lawson wiki ionformation include family relationships: Jenny lawson has not been previously engaged. It was the morning of the first Off-Broadway preview of Rent. He was exposed to the performing arts from a young age, particularly music and theatre, as he liked to play the trumpet and tuba, sang in his school chorus, and had formal piano lessons. They also inserted a tube through his nose and pumped his stomach. Even beyond all the wisdom and insight Julie shared with us, the experience of sitting on set with her and watching her brothers story through her eyes reminded us every day of our responsibility to get it right and do justice to Jons extraordinary vision, says Levenson, a Tony winner for Dear Evan Hansen. The department also believe that treatments and tests at Cabrini for food poisoning may have worsened Larsons condition, as doctors at the hospital gave him a powerful painkiller that could have masked important symptoms that may have led to an accurate diagnosis. The show continued to sell out at the New York Theatre Workshop and eventually went to Broadway, where it became a phenomenon. I pass out in the theater right as the characters are singing [the lyrics] "dying in America." Friends and family filed into a small off-Broadway theater to see Rent. on Netflix now. There have been seven leap years in the last 25 years, and thus the headline has been changed to "13,150,080 Minutes: It's Been 25 Years Since The First Performance Of 'Rent. Jonathan Larson was born in White Plains, New York, in Westchester County to a Jewish family. March 3, 2023. HBO Max Comedies Thatll Put You in a Good Mood. In 2014, Miranda actually performed in an Off-Broadway revival of tick, tickBoom! Sue Moline Larson died February 23, 2023 at University Hospital, Madison, WI. .css-4975pa{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#fff;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;display:inline-block;background-color:#030929;font-family:Termina,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:0.02rem;padding:0.6rem 0.7rem;text-transform:uppercase;width:auto;}.css-4975pa:hover{color:#fff;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:#9a0500;}.css-4975pa:focus-visible{outline-color:body-cta-btn-link-focus;}SUBSCRIBE NOW, .css-1du65oy{color:#323232;display:block;font-family:NewParis,Georgia,Times,serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-font-smoothing:auto;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1du65oy:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.3125rem;line-height:1.2;}}How to Watch The Whale, How to Watch Everything Everywhere All at Once, Everything We Know So Far About the 2023 Oscars, How to Watch All Quiet on the Western Front, Movie of Prince Andrew's Infamous BBC Interview, 'Legally Blonde 3' Is Actually, Really Happening. For almost 11 months weve been afraid our suspicions were correct, and that with proper care, Jonathan would not have died, Larsons father, Allan, said at the time. June 23, 1927 - December 8, 2018 Nanette T. Larson, 91. It starred George Salazar, Lauren Marcus, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez, and Nick Blaemire. He ended up going to the emergency room twice, but doctors found nothing wrong. On February 4, 2022, "Sextet Montage" was released on streaming platforms as a single, and is currently the only song from Superbia available for streaming.[10]. During one tech rehearsal, Larson collapsed in the back of the theater. Other than the discussion about AIDS and all that, the bigger messages are, to me, about tolerance and inclusion and community and being present in your life and hope. Joan Marcus Mar 3, 2023, 8:00pm PST. Production spokesperson. How did Jonathan Larson die? I knew this world." His early musical influences included Elton John, The Beatles, The Doors, The Who, and Billy Joel. Daphne Rubin-Vega played Mimi in Rent. Jonathan Larson never got to see his masterpiece on Broadway. According to The New York Times, Larson was first taken by an ambulance to Cabrini on January 21, 1996, with complaints of severe chest pain, dizziness and shortness of breath that started as he was eating dinner. "We were rehearsing 'What You Own' and there was a disruption," says director Michael Greif. The family of late Rent composer Jonathan Larson filed a countersuit May 18 against Lynn Thomson, seeking an injunction and damages against her. AL: The last word from me should be that we constantly get reminders that Jonathan has influenced, not just Lin-Manuel, but a whole generation of theatre people, creators and the actors, and to me that's a hell of a legacy. [11], Larson's strongest musical theatre influence was Stephen Sondheim, with whom he corresponded, and to whom he occasionally submitted his work for review. I didn't think I was the best person for this job because I was not fluent in rock music styles. New York Theatre Workshop became the first theater to produce Rent, allowing Larson to officially quit his job at the Moondance Diner. He was dynamic in melodic and dramatic creation when he was in school. It transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 12 years, had touring productions in the States, played abroad and was filmed, with most of the original cast. It played a four-week showcase run at Rusty's Storefront Blitz, a small theatre on 42nd Street in New York, Manhattan, and won both authors a writing award from ASCAP. He was 35. He played the trumpet and tuba in his high school band, was involved in his school's choir and took formal piano lessons. TheatreWorks USA presents the family-friendly production at New World Stages. Larson was born in Mt. mappychris. [3] His family was Jewish. We need to be together. And so, I wanted to open my home to you.' The musical officially opened at the New York Theater Workshop in February 1996, a month after Larsons death. His musical, "Rent," at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2016 Joseph Jefferson (Non-Equity) Award for Musical or Revue Production. Copyright 1991-2023 Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved. He also impacted the medical community since Jonathan's death was caused by Marfan syndrome. 2023 SheMedia, LLC. His early musical influences and his favorite rock musicians included Elton John, The Doors, The Who, and Billy Joel, as well as the classic composers of musical theatre, especially Stephen Sondheim. Here's How to Watch 'King Richard' For Free to See Will Smith as Serena & Venus' Dad Jonathan David Larson was born on February 4, 1960, in White Plains, New York. All Rights Reserved. [30] He also dated a dancer for four years who sometimes left him for other men, though she eventually left him for a woman. is headed to the 2022 Academy Awards, where its crew has been nominated for Best Film Editing, and Garfield has been nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. David Taback, the lawyer that represented Larsons family and estate, estimated to The Washington Post in 1996 that Rent would earn $250 million in its lifetime, with a third going toward Larsons estatewhich includes his parents and sister. But after Rent opened on Broadway, an archivist at the Library of Congress wrote to the Larson family asking them to consider donating Jonathan's papers to a collection that includes the rough drafts of significant writers and performers of the American Musical Theatre. Its unbelievable. His musical, "Rent" at the American Theater Company and About Face Theatres in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award or Musical Production (Midsize). New York State medical investigators concluded that Larson may have lived if the aortic dissection had been properly diagnosed and treated with cardiac surgery. | Larson was found dead by his roommate 10 days before his 36th birthday on the kitchen floor of his home in manhattan. After graduating, he moved to the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan and, over a period of 12 years, wrote many plays and musicals, including the off-Broadway hit "TicktickBOOM!" 343-344. March 3, 2023, By You know, he worked late into the night. AL: I think I saw it when it was in a workshop situation. The genre-defying work has transferred to Off-Broadway's The Shed. There, he put water on the stove to make tea and unexpectedly died from an aortic aneurism. [25] Notable winners of the grant include Dave Malloy, Laurence O'Keefe, Nell Benjamin, Amanda Green, Joe Iconis, Pasek and Paul, Shaina Taub and Michael R. Jackson. And, frankly, in my head at that point, this was Jonnie's, this was his. Carmody found Larsons body on the kitchen floor when he arrived home at 3 a.m. after a night of bar-hopping, according to The New York Times. Born in Bronx, NY, the only child of Tess and Louis Notarius. He adored them, and "Unky," as he was called by them, was their favorite person on the planet. Two of them, Theron (Cipher) and Mirren (Magdalene Shaw), have already appeared in previous installments . In 2006, a documentary about the making of Rent titled No Day But Today: The Story of Rent was released, featuring interviews with Larsons parents, sister, cousins, friends, and former co-workers. The 2016 winners will be announced will be March 21.]. He meets Elizabeth In, a girl his age from INCITY, who convinces him to spread the power of the music box. ", "The show itself is so much about, in the face of loss, still finding opportunities to find joy and to live life to the fullest," says Rapp. The 2019 Sterling Scholar finalists are introduced during the Deseret News/KSL Sterling Scholar Awards ceremony at the Conference Center's Little Theatre in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 15, 2019. From the spring of 1985, when he was 25 years old, until October 21, 1995, when he quit since Rent was being produced by the New York Theatre Workshop, Larson worked as a waiter at the Moondance Diner on the weekends and worked on composing and writing musicals during the week. According to the Post, Seller wrote Larson a letter that read: Your workmusic, lyrics, and spoken wordhas an emotional power and resonance that I have rarely experienced in the theatre.. "It was a lot of fun to actually be able to practically apply my research of partying " she says. has provided fans with a precious,. In these dangerous times, where it seems the world is ripping apart at the seams, we can all learn how to survive from those who stare death squarely in the face every day, and we should reach out to each other and bond as a community, rather than hide from the terrors of life at the end of the millennium. Other than that I've become such a Lin-Manuel [Miranda] fan. Jonathan Larson was born on month day 1939, at birth place, New York, to Carl Harry Larson and Maria Emilie Larson (born Garber). The posthumously revived Tick, Tick Boom! [6] Larson attended White Plains High School, where he was also involved in acting, performing in lead roles in various productions, graduating in 1978. [31] At the diner, Larson met Jesse L. Martin, who was his waiting trainee and later performed the role of Tom Collins in the original cast of Larson's Rent. Larson spent years working as a waiter at the Moondance Diner in Manhattan in order to earn money while he was writing and composing. Boom!" an early musical by Jonathan Larson, who created "Rent" was born of sadness, anger and frustration. When he won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Original Score, his sister Julie accepted on his behalf and told the audience: It took Jonny 15 years of really hard work to become an overnight sensation, so wed like to share this award with all those who are out there still working in restaurants or driving taxis or doing whatever they have to to scrape by for their art. [We produced] videos, one particular video was aimed at medical professionals to make them aware of it, and one was to make the general population a little more aware of recognizing the signs. . [12], In addition to his three larger theatrical pieces written before Rent, Larson also wrote music for J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation;[13] numerous individual numbers; music for Sesame Street; music for the children's book cassettes of An American Tail and The Land Before Time; music for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner; a musical called Mowgli; and four songs for the children's video Away We Go!, which he also conceived with collaborator and composer Bob Golden and directed. For a while, he and his roommates kept an illegal wood-burning stove because of lack of heat in their building. He would make a film out of his book report or a play about his book report. Larsons family subsequently filed medical malpractice lawsuits against both Cabrini and St. Vincents. There are still moments when I think, That was just my punky little brotherthe one who used to kill spiders and then chase her around the house with them. Jonathan David Larson (February 4, 1960 - January 25, 1996) was an American composer and playwright noted for exploring the social issues of multiculturalism, addiction, and homophobia in his work. An autopsy found that Larson died of an aortic aneurysma tear inside the aorta, the main artery that carries blood from the heart to all other organs. StyleCaster is a part of Penske Media Corporation. "JL: It was very important, especially to my dad, for the casts to get a sense of who Jonnie was and personalize it for them, which is why we tried to do "Peasant's Feasts" for as many new casts as possible. hide caption. Madison is a senior writer/editor at ELLE.com, covering news, politics, and culture. I got communications from people who said, "Rent saved my life," because they were gay [or other reasons], and Rent gave them the strength to face up to their families, in many cases, and the world at large. Larson was survived by his parents, Allan and Nanette Larson, and his sister, Julie Larson McCollum. An autopsy determined Larson died from an aortic dissection. [15] Larson had been suffering severe chest pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath for several days before his death, but doctors at Cabrini Medical Center and St. Vincent's Hospital could not find signs of an aortic dissection even after conducting a chest X-ray and electrocardiogram, so his condition was misdiagnosed as influenza or stress. However, the version that is now known worldwide, the result of three years of collaboration and editing between Larson and the producers and director, was not publicly performed before Larson's death as Larson died the day before the first preview performance. After Larson and Armstrong graduated in 1982, they renamed it Saved! Sign up for reopening news, announcements, and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows! "Not that I was a junkie stripper with AIDS no offense to junkie strippers with AIDS but I knew these people. ' ", Larson stayed away from rehearsal for a few days, seeing doctors and taking a trip to the ER. Before Jonathan Larson wrote Rent, the landmark 1996 rock musical about down-and-out denizens of Manhattans East Village, he documented his own vie bohme as a budding composer struggling to fully bloom. Boom! Larson posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards. In memory of Larson, his friends and family started the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation which provides financial grants to artists in support of their creative work. So I said, let's start giving some help to others that were in the same boat Jon had been in all those years.JL: Jonathan had won [several] grants and awards. ', The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jonathan_Larson&oldid=1142711482, 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights, American people of Russian-Jewish descent, Jewish American dramatists and playwrights, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from January 2021, All articles needing additional references, Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Denis Markell and Douglas Bernstein (1993), Erik Frandsen, Michael Garin, Paul Lockheart and Robert Hipkins (1992), This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 23:55. .css-dkuuw0{background-color:#000000;border:thin solid black;border-radius:0;color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:NeueHaasUnica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.875rem;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.1;margin-top:0.625rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-transform:none;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;width:auto;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-dkuuw0{padding:0.625rem 1rem;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-dkuuw0{padding:0.75rem 1.5625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-dkuuw0{padding:0.75rem 1.5625rem;}}.css-dkuuw0:focus-visible{outline-color:body-cta-btn-link-focus;}.css-dkuuw0:hover{color:#000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:#ffffff;}Watch tick, tickBoom! Since he was little he was exposed to the performing arts as music and theater. After graduating, Larson participated in a summer stock theatre program at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, as a piano player, which resulted in his earning an Equity card for membership in the Actors' Equity Association. Rapp remembers, "he gave us this really lovely toast, which was, like, 'You are bringing to life my friends, some of whom are friends that I've lost. As for what happened to the lawsuit, the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine reported that the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount, with part of the money donated to fund educational efforts by the National Marfan Foundation, which provides research for Marfans syndrome, that condition believed to have led to Larsons death. Greif adds, "We were painfully aware that Jonathan wasn't, you know, getting up and coming in from the back of the house. One of my most favorite memories, and I know it was meaningful to my parents too, was seeing the show in Milan when it was produced by Pavarotti [the titular producer was Nicoletta Mantovani, Pavarotti's finance], and seeing him giving a standing ovation with tears in his eyes. We knew every beat, every note. For other people with similar names, see, Learn how and when to remove this template message, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, 11th longest running show in Broadway history, Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, "Allan Larson Dies: Father Of Playwright Jonathan Larson And Caretaker Of Legacy", "Jews in News: Alana Haim, Sean Penn and Andrew Garfield", "Jonathan Larson Talks About His Writing Process and Making 'Rent', "Jonathan Larson, 35, Composer of Rock Opera and Musicals", "5 Jonathan Larson Songs You've Probably Never Heard", "LISTEN: TICK, TICKBOOM! [21][22] It has been speculated that Larson had undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, a claim promoted by the National Marfan Foundation at the urging of the New York State Health Department.[23]. Both hospitals sent him home. The doctor recognized Marfan because he had had some training in it, and he told the patient that this is what saved your life.