Tick, Tick...Boom (2001)

He's no longer the new kid on the block, and she's got a few more than 16 candles on her cake, but '80s mainstays Joey McIntyre and Molly Ringwald are making new- millennium comebacks: They're both starring (she through Oct. 28) in this terrific pre-Rent musical by the late Jonathan Larson, the autobiographical story of a success-starved artist fast (and frustratedly) approaching his 30th birthday. Joe Mac plays the composer with an appealing aw-shucks charm and a raspy rocker's voice; Ringwald, as his girlfriend, sings the heck out of her pal Larson's gutsy, nuanced score. The excellent Jerry Dixon rounds out the three-member cast as Jonathan's yuppie ex-roomie. The kitsch casting may bring you in, but Larson's stirring songs and heartfelt lyrics will send you out soaring.