Tick, Tick… Boom! is a musical that portrays the life of Jonathan Larson, an aspiring playwright. He is offered an opportunity to present the musical he has been working on to other playwrights and producers who could potentially get him a spot on Broadway. While working on the musical Jonathan becomes overwhelmed with being unable to write what he calls "the most important song of the whole production". It is in this mental state that he learns that his best friend, Michael, has contracted HIV, a disease that has no treatment at the time and would result in death. Jonathan uses the song "Why" to explore his past lyrics and emotions and discover new revelations after the discovery that his friend is dying. A central theme of the song is how Jonathan doesn't want to waste time. Even out of context, this is a powerful and relatable message, but it is made more impactful after learning that his friend is dying. In the song, Michael becomes Jonathan's motivation. Before this, Jonathan felt like he was running out of time to create his musical, but now he feels regret for not understanding his friend's struggles with running out of time. In the song, he expresses that "With only so much time to spend / [I] …show more content…
Earlier in the movie Jonathan and his girlfriend break up over disagreements on priorities. His girlfriend believes that Jonathan cares more about his work than he does about her. Jonathan goes on to funnel his hurt emotions into creating a song for his musical. In the song he wrote, the singer switches between his former girlfriend and the singer for his musical. They both sing the lyrics "Come to your senses / Defenses are not the way to go." By repeating these lyrics in this song, Jonathan develops the meaning of the lyrics from a girlfriend wanting her boyfriend to acknowledge her into Jonathan chastising his past actions. He's telling himself to come to his senses and focus on doing what he loves,