L.A. stage favorites Melissa Fahn and Sam Zeller light up the big screen in Tick Tock Boom Clap, an enchanting movie dramedy that combines the tried-and-true romcom genre with a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making theater, whether it be a big-bucks Broadway production or a small-potatoes community theater musical like the one around which Tick Tock Boom Clap revolves.

Fahn stars as Sara Pedri, whose preteen infatuation on future a future Broadway star may not have led to romance, but definitely did leave its mark in Sara’s memory and heart.

Now, some thirty years later, what should present itself in Sara’s life but the chance to appear in a show her childhood crush guest choreographing, not only offering her a second chance at love but also a means of getting over her father’s recent death and getting on with her life.

What she doesn’t count on is falling in love with Captain Hook.

 Fahn lights up the big screen in a beautifully nuanced, utterly engaging star performance as Sara (coincidentally or not so coincidentally the same name as the filmmaker’s) and she couldn’t have found a better leading man than Zeller, Captain Hook to her Peter Pan in this backstage romantic comedy with heart.

(On a Life Imitating Art note, Zeller recently starred as Hook opposite none other than Cathy Rigby in the Chinese leg of Rigby’s latest Peter Pan tour.)

Tick Tock Boom Clap film has a professional look that belies what was surely a shoestring budget.

Supporting cast performances by Heather Phillips, Gene Becomo, Dyan McBride, Jack Beck, George Maguire, Michael Kern Cassidy, Hector Correa, Dae Spering, Ben Van Dyke, Amy Griffith, Charles McGowan, and Wesley Mann are uniformly fine, and I loved the original song score by Joel Alpers (Fahn’s real-life hubby).

Major kudos go out to writer Sara Pedri and co-directors Sara and Jason Pedri for bringing Tick Tock Boom Clap to the silver screen as the fictional Sara fulfills her own dream to play everyone’s favorite flying boy on the small stage.

While it’s true that musical theater lovers will get a special kick out of Tick Tick Boom Clap, you don’t have to be a show queen to fall under its spell.

–Steven Stanley
August 20, 2012

www.ticktockboomclap.com