This article contains a list of musical compositions, stage works, and unproduced projects by the American composer, lyricist, and playwright Jonathan Larson (1960–1996). While best known for his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Rent, its 2005 film adaptation by Chris Columbus, and the Obie and Dramatist Guild award-winning musical tick, tick... BOOM! and its 2021 film adaptation by Lin Manuel Miranda, Larson's creative output encompassed a wide range of forms beyond this single show. His work includes experimental rock musicals, solo performance pieces, numerous cabarets, contributions to musical revues, scores for dance, and compositions for film, television, and children's media. Larson characteristically blended pop, rock, and traditional musical theatre idioms, often infusing his work with socially conscious themes drawn from his own life and observations. These themes frequently centered on identity, community, artistic ambition, poverty, addiction, multiculturalism, social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and the impact of the AIDS epidemic, particularly on his close friends. His works reflect his experiences in New York City's "Boho" neighborhood, near the gritty edge of Soho and East Village during the 1980s and 1990s.

Stage musicals and shows

El Libro de Buen Amor Jonathan Larson composed the score for this musical adaptation of the 14th-century Spanish didactic poems featured in Libro de buen amor (The Book of Good Love) by Juan Ruiz, considered the greatest poet of medieval Spain, in 1979 while he was an undergraduate student at Adelphi University. The book and lyrics were written by Jacques Burdick, the head of the theatre department and Larson's mentor... The show was to be presented in European Street Theatre style, presenting the actors as if they were a troupe performing impromptu on the street. El Libro de Buen Amor was performed twice - once on October 17 and 18 1979 at Adelphi University, and again in November 1985 at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Songs featured in El Libro de Buen Amor

"Entrance" "I'm Don Juan "Intellectum Tibi Dabo" "Wandering Student's Song" "Aristotle" "Enviada" "Summertime" "Don't Slander Love" "Have a Care" "I'm Urraca" "Blind Beggars" "Urraca's Lay" "Dies Irae and Epitaph" "Finale"

1984

An ambitious early project conceived and started in 1982, 1984 was Jonathan Larson's musical adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He intended for the musical, for which he wrote the book, music, and lyrics, to be produced in the actual year 1984. This adaptation followed the source material very closely, with one of the only significant changes being that Winston uses a video camera to record his observations rather than a diary.Larson, Jonathan. "1984 (1983) [Manuscript], Box 7, folder 7. Jonathan Larson Collection. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress. It uses numbers in which Winston directly addresses the audience, such as "Prelude", to introduce the audience to the world of 1984 and quickly acclimate them to terms used throughout the show. Larson actively pursued the rights and sought production, drafting letters to prominent theatre figures like Harold Prince, Joseph Papp, and Alan Alda, creating scripts and set designs, and recording a demo score. However, the project was ultimately halted when the Orwell estate denied him the necessary adaptation rights, partially due to the imminent release of the Hollywood film, directed by Michael Radford. Facing this setback, Larson repurposed the thematic material, and two songs, into his next major original work, the futuristic musical Superbia. The song "SOS," originally written for 1984, was later included in the posthumous off-broadway 2025 revue The Jonathan Larson Project.

Mowgli Mowgli is a musical based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, which was worked on from 1984 to 1985. The book and lyrics were written by Seth Goldman, with music by Larson. The script was not intended for children and did not soften the dark writing in Kipling's original work.Larson, Jonathan. "Mowgli (1984) [Manuscript], Box 7, folder 6. Jonathan Larson Collection. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress. While a demo tape was recorded, when the show failed to attract a producer, Larson ultimately moved onto other projects, most notably Superbia.

Songs featured in Mowgli

"Mowgli" "Call to Council" "Ruler of the Jungle" "Shere Khan" "We Be of One Blood" "Morning Song" "Fear"

Superbia

Superbia was Jonathan Larson's major artistic focus for a significant portion of the mid-1980s, and striving toward the show's production became his consuming ambition during that period. Developed between 1985 and 1991 with book, music, and lyrics by Larson, this futuristic rock musical was conceived during the late night hours at the projectionists room at AREA nightclub in February 1985, where he would spend time with his roommate, Jonathan Burkhart. Superbia would absorb many ideas from his unproduced adaptation of 1984, offering commentary on MTV culture and Reaganism.

Superbia underwent numerous revisions throughout its development. In the early drafts, the story was set in the year 2064 and followed Josh Out, a resident of OutLand — a sector of Superbia, a society where emotions are suppressed at birth. Due to a birth complication, Josh retained his ability to feel and spent his life as an inventor, searching for a way to awaken emotions in his family and fellow citizens. One day, he discovers a mysterious Music Box capable of restoring emotions to the people of OutLand. His path crosses with Elizabeth In, a girl from InCity, who persuades him to share the Music Box's power with others. Josh ventures into InCity, home to the "Ins" — society's celebrities whose scripted lives are broadcast as entertainment for the emotionless Outs. There, he must resist the seduction of fame to complete his mission.

By the time creator Larson completed the final draft, Superbia had evolved into a darker, more introspective narrative exploring humanity's emotional depth and dependence on technology. In this version, Josh is already married to Elizabeth at the story's outset, and both are Outs. Like many others, Elizabeth is deeply addicted to technology and incapable of genuine love. As the plot unfolds, Josh leaves her behind to travel to InCity after discovering that humanity faces an impending "delimbination" — a form of eradication by the very machines that govern Superbia. In his absence, Elizabeth begins to experience real emotions and sets out in pursuit of Josh.

Superbia won the Richard Rodgers Production Award and the Richard Rodgers Development Grant. However, despite performances at Playwrights Horizons, attended by Stephen Sondheim, and a rock concert version produced by Larson's close friend and producer Victoria Leacock at the Village Gate featuring Roger Bart and Valarie Pettiford in September 1989, as well as a final performance in 1991 at the New York Public Theatre, Superbia never received a full production.

In the 2001 production of tick, tick... BOOM! (a three-person adaptation created with script consultant David Auburn), the showstopping number from the early drafts of Superbia, "Come to Your Senses" was selected for inclusion by Larson's close friend Victoria Leacock. Another song from Superbia ("LCD Readout") was included on the 2007 album "Jonathan Sings Larson", produced from Larson's demo tapes and released by the Library of Congress.

"One of These Days" was featured on The Jonathan Larson Project album; and an abridged cover of "Sextet" entitled "Sextet Montage", as featured in the tick, tick... BOOM! film adaptation was released as a digital single in 2022.

tick, tick... BOOM!

Inspired by the solo pieces of Spalding Grey, Laurie Anderson, and Eric Bogosian and following the disappointment of not achieving a full production of Superbia, Jonathan Larson created tick, tick... BOOM!, an autobiographical piece performed by himself as a solo "rock monologue". Developed between 1990 and 1993, it was originally titled 30/90 (because he was turning thirty in the year 1990), then Boho Days (Boho being the term he created for his neighborhood west of SoHo, but also fit nicely with the term "Bohemian"), before settling on tick, tick... BOOM!, which addressed the urgency of the clock ticking in his head as he turned thirty without having a fully produced broadway show. Larson performed the work himself, accompanied by a piano and rock band, at venues including The Village Gate and the Second Stage Theater in the early 1990s, in productions produced by frequent collaborator Victoria Leacock. The piece channels Larson's anxieties about approaching his 30th birthday, his feelings of artistic rejection after Superbia's failure to launch, the conflict between pursuing a creative career and opting for a more stable life, and his grief and fear surrounding the AIDS crisis, which was affecting his closest friends. Future RENT producer Jeffrey Seller saw the Second Stage reading of Boho Days and subsequently expressed interest in producing Larson's work, organizing a smaller reading of Boho Days for investors.

After Larson's death, Victoria Leacock and Robyn Goodman, with the permission of the Larson family, brought in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Proof playwright David Auburn to go through Larson's five versions of the rock monologue, and expand it to use three actors. Stephen Oremus was hired to orchestrate and be the musical director, as he had already been immersed in Larson's music while working on the tour of RENT. This version premiered Off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theatre on June 13, 2001, starring Raul Esparza as Jon, Amy Spanger as Susan, and Jerry Dixon as Michael. Esparza received an Obie Award for his performance. The adaptation allowed the work to have a significant theatrical life beyond Larson's own performances, with subsequent productions on London's West End and internationally. In 2021, tick, tick... BOOM!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield as Larson (in an Academy Award-nominated performance), was released in theaters and on Netflix.

The score includes several notable songs reflecting Larson's life and career, such as "30/90," "Johnny Can't Decide," "Therapy," "Real Life," "Sugar," "See Her Smile," and "Louder Than Words". It also incorporates "Sunday," an homage to Larson's mentor Stephen Sondheim, and repurposes "Come to Your Senses" from Superbia. The song "Find the Key," cut from Larson's original monologue, was later featured the posthumous off-broadway 2025 revue The Jonathan Larson Project, created by Jennifer Ashley Tepper.

J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation

This one-act musical, with music by Jonathan Larson and book and lyrics by Jeffrey M. Jones, premiered on June 6, 1995. Produced by the experimental theatre company En Garde Arts, Larson was brought onto the project after the original composer, Dan Moses Schreier, withdrew; En Garde's artistic director Annie Hamburger suggested Larson, having seen his work on the Rent workshop.

The musical offers a satirical take on American economics and history through the life of financier J. P. Morgan, focusing particularly on his role in stabilizing the economy during the Panic of 1907. The production was uniquely staged outdoors on the steps of the Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street, across from Morgan's own bank building. The cast, which starred James Judy as Morgan, featured a small ensemble and orchestra.