Rent Rent The 1996 Broadway rock musical Rent by Jonathan Larson is a modern expression of the Bohemian ideal. The musical is based extensively on Puccini's La Boheme , incorporating musical themes, plot twists, and even lyrics of the opera. However, Rent also examines modern issues, such as homosexual relationships, AIDS, and drug addiction. Premiering on February 13, 1996, the musical won widespread acclaim, a group of passionate fans (who call themselves "Rentheads"), and several important prizes: the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, six Drama Desk Awards, three Obie Awards, four Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. The musical takes place in New York City's East Village; its characters are young artists attempting to make a living while staying true to their ideals. Many of them are HIV-positive; the need to prove their brief lives were worthwhile and productive consumes them. They try to live each day at a time, concentrating on the value of their relationships with one another. More than a century later, Murger's story of Bohemian life continues to resonate.

Rent and La Boheme: Similarities Rent Mimi, a dancer - Roger's love interest Collins, a philosopher Angel Schunard, a musician - Collins's love interest Maureen, an actress - Mark's former girlfriend Joanne, a lawyer - Maureen's new girlfriend Benny, the landlord Mimi, a seamstress - Rodolfo's love interest Colline, a philosopher Alcindoro, Musetta's new boyfriend Benoit, the landlord Mark and Roger warm themselves in the first scene by burning Mark's screenplays and Roger's music posters. Rodolfo and Marcello warm themselves in the first scene by burning Rodolfo's five-act drama. Mimi enters Mark's and Roger's apartment during a power outage, looking for a light for her candle. Her first song ends with the words "They call me Mimi." Mimi enters Marcello's and Rodolfo's apartment looking for a light for her candle.

Her first aria begins with the words "They call me Mimi." Roger is mezmerized by Mimi's "hair in the moonlight." Rodolfo sings of Mimi's "sweet visage bathed in a soft lunar dawn." Maureen sings: "Every single day, I walk down the street I hear people say 'Baby's so sweet.' Ever since puberty, everybody stares at me Boys, girls, I can't help it, baby." Musetta sings: "When I walk alone through the street people stop and stare, and all seek in me my beauty from head to foot." Angel is hired to kill an annoying dog by drumming incessantly. Schaunard is hired to kill an annoying parrot by "incessant musical performance" (Groos and Parker, 14) Roger says he wants to leave town because Mimi has renewed her relationship with her previous boyfriend, but Mark encourages him to admit that he is afraid that she will soon die and does not want to grow too close to her. Rodolfo says he wants to stop his relationship with Mimi because she is flirtatious, but eventually reveals to Marcello that she is also deathly ill.

After Roger and Mimi's separation, Maureen finds Mimi "freezing" in a park and brings her to Mark and Roger's. After Rodolfo and Mimi's separation, Musetta meets Mimi, who is "so cold," on the street and takes her to Marcello and Rodolfo's. As Mimi lies dying, she says to Roger, "I should tell you - I love you" As Mimi dies, she says "I have so many things I want to tell you ... you are my love and all my life!" Mimi nearly dies of AIDS at the end of the musical. Mimi dies of tuberculosis at the end of the opera. ‘Rent,’ Like ‘La Bohème,’ Appears Ready to Endure - The New York Times The New York Times Music |Like Opera Inspiring It, ‘Rent’ Is Set to Endure Search Continue reading the main story Photo The original cast of "Rent" at the New York Theater Workshop. The show will close on Sunday after a run of almost 13 years.

Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times The opening of Jonathan Larson ’s “Rent” at the New York Theater Workshop in February 1996 coincided almost to the day with the 100th anniversary of the premiere in Italy of “La Bohème,” the enduring Puccini opera that inspired Larson’s musical. The coincidence, though unplanned, was very meaningful to Mr. Larson, as he told me in an interview late in the evening of Jan. 24 that year, after a dress rehearsal of “Rent” in the workshop’s 150-seat theater. “It’s the weirdest thing,” Mr. Larson said. Looking to milk anniversaries for maximum publicity, producers “try all the time to do stuff like this on purpose,” he explained, “but this is an amazing coincidence.” In another coincidence, the original Broadway production of “Rent” at the Nederlander Theater closes on Sunday after a landmark run of almost 13 years. And this fall the opera world will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Puccini’s birth on Dec. 22, 1858.

Maybe this is why the resonances between “Rent” and “La Bohème” seemed so freshly poignant as I took in a performance earlier this week at the Nederlander. There was certainly much else I could have dwelt on. For one, the phenomenon of “Rent,” which over the years has played in more than 200 productions around the world, from Tokyo to Reykjavik to Little Rock to Boise. Advertisement Continue reading the main story There was also my own role in Mr. Larson’s career during the last hours of his life. Tipped off by an editor that a young musical theater composer had transformed “La Bohème” into a contemporary rock musical, I decided to check it out. I almost did not go to the rehearsal that particular January night, since I was busy finishing other articles. But after watching the rehearsal, I sat with Mr. Larson for an interview in the only semi-quiet place amid the post-performance hubbub: the theater’s cluttered little box office. There we talked for an hour or so, as Mr. Larson spoke of his work as a composer; his valued mentors, especially Stephen Sondheim; and his newfound optimism.

Finally, thanks to this workshop’s limited-run production of “Rent,” he had been able to quit waiting tables after 10 years. Photo Jonathan Larson, the creator of "Rent," on Jan. 24, 1996. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Following the interview, he went home to his dingy walk-up West Village apartment with a bathtub in the middle of the kitchen floor, put a kettle on the stove to boil water for tea, and collapsed and died from what was later determined to be an aortic aneurism. Mr. Larson also talked that night about his fascination with “La Bohème,” which depicts a group of artists in the Latin Quarter of 1830s Paris who are quick to fall in love but shun emotional commitment in the face of poverty and disease. In Puccini’s depiction of four wisecracking guys who share a ratty garret and spend one another’s money, when they have any, Mr. Larson recognized himself and his friends, fledgling artists who held down makeshift jobs to support their work amid an urban scene of drugs, poverty and AIDS. Like the gifted composer and savvy dramatist he was, Mr.

Larson carefully studied the dramatic arc and musical content of Puccini’s opera. “I analyzed the libretto, broke it down beat by beat,” he said that night. In accounting for the international appeal of “Rent,” many admirers point to the work’s timely message. People must embrace each moment (“No day but today”) and celebrate life in all of its whacky diversity. Mr. Larson’s cast of scrappy, confused and eclectic characters voice their credo in “La Vie Boheme,” the exuberant Act I finale, through a string of toasts that could be a rockin’ version of a Cole Porter list song: Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion, Creation, vacation, mucho masturbation, Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it’s new, To Sontag, to Sondheim, to anything taboo. But, just as Puccini’s opera would fall flat were the music not so impassioned and savvy, “Rent” would not be so powerful if Mr. Larson’s score were not so rich and emotionally honest.

As a composer, he was trying to merge the song tradition of American musical theater (nodding to Sondheim) with the visceral pulse of rock, Motown, reggae, salsa and more. He brought off this difficult marriage about as well as could be imagined. The cult status of “Rent” has been a mixed blessing for the show. In trying to wow young audiences, many productions too often go for sheer volume, cranking up the amplification and allowing the cast to wail. Mr. Larson wanted his snappy words to be clearly sung and audible, something he emphasized in those last moments of his life. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Some of the words were garbled by the exuberant cast and drowned out by the band on Tuesday night at the Nederlander. Still, for the most part the show came through, and the young performers won your heart.

I was struck again by the subtly intricate choral writing in “Will I Lose My Dignity”; the aching lyricism of the ballads, like “Without You”; and the beautifully wide-spaced voicing of the sturdy chords that introduce the show’s theme song, “Seasons of Love.” With the closing of the Broadway production, the phenomenon that is “Rent” will start to fade. But Mr. Larson’s work will endure. This was brought home to me recently while on vacation in New England. In The Ammonoosuc Times, a small newspaper in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, I saw the photograph of 10 fresh-faced cast members for a six-performance run of “Rent” at the Weatherwane in Whitefield. And then, passing through Portland, Me., to see some friends, I was delighted when their younger daughter, just 16 months old, came toddling into the living room when her daddy put “Seasons of Love” on the CD player. “She just adores it,” he said. Sure enough, Jonathan Larson’s newest fan started dancing, all smiles, arms waving, hips swiveling.

A version of this review appears in print on , on Page B7 of the New York edition with the headline: Like Opera Inspiring It, ‘Rent’ Is Set To Endure. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Rent: Bohemia in the 90's Image courtesy of Photo of original London cast of Rent. Synopsis: Living for art: Rent centers around several diverse characters. The two main characters, Mark and Roger, are the archetypal bohemians. Roger is a young, struggling musician/songwriter trying to write one glorious song before AIDS claims his life. His roommate, Mark, is a film artist searching for opportunities to practice his art. Having no steady jobs and no idea how to obtain the next rent payment, they parallel the bohemians of Paris: they abandon the pursuit of comfort and financial security and focus fully on their art. This photo shows Mark with his camera (left) and Roger (right) on his guitar lounging in their seedy apartment. Mark, having nothing better to do, enjoys watching objects, people, and events through his camera. The scene illustrates each man's devotion to his art form, their idleness and poverty, all characteristics of 19th century Bohemia in Paris.

Defiance of the Mainstream Culture: The other principle characters, like Mark and Roger, are young and live in the margins of society. They include Angel Shunard, a transvestite and street musician with AIDS, his lover Tom Collins, a computer genius also plagued by AIDS, Mimi, a drug addict and club dancer, Maureen, a performance artist, and her lover Joanne. These characters are caught in a web of stormy relationships as they try to eke out an existence. None of these characters have a stable lifestyle or security. Some must do odd jobs for money. Angel, for example, is paid to play to a pesky dog until it barks itself to death. The characters are unconventional as well. They wear outlandish clothing, take drugs, and generally do what they wish. They live life on their own terms, with little concern for the future. To them there is "no day but today." (Jonathan Larson) Parallels to Puccini's La Boheme : In Puccini's opera there are four companions living together: Shunard, a musician, Colline, a philosopher, Marcello, a painter, and Rodolfo, a poet.

The four companions in Rent are similar in name and "profession." Angel Shunard is a street musician, Collins is a computer genius, Mark is a film artist and Roger is a songwriter. La Boheme is mainly a love story between Rodolfo and a young grisette named Mimi. In Rent, there is a love story between Roger and Mimi, the club dancer. In La Boheme Mimi is dying of rheumatism, in Rent Mimi is dying of AIDS. The most important parallel between the two shows is their faith to the age old bohemian ideals originally brought to life by Murger. Although Rent is romanticized and updated, it is basically the same as the Bohemia of 19th century Paris. Jonathan Larson | The Stars | Broadway: The American Musical | PBS Composers, Lyricists & Writers Jonathan Larson Born February 4, 1960 in White Plains, New York; died of an aortic aneurysm, January 25, 1996, at his home in Manhattan.

Larson lived in poverty, waited tables, and worked seven years to bring his rock opera “Rent” to the stage — only to collapse and die the night before previews were to open at the Off-Broadway New York Theater Workshop. The show’s initial five-week run sold out within 24 hours of opening night, and the play became an enormous critical and popular success. In addition, “Rent” achieved Larson’s ambition of updating musical theater and making it socially and personally relevant to a younger audience. NEWSDAY’s Linda Winer called it “the first original breakthrough rock musical since ‘Hair.'” The fresh, provocative, and exuberant show — and Larson’s heartbreaking story — quickly became Broadway legend. “The show features, among forty well-sung numbers, three songs that are as passionate, unpretentious and powerful as anything I’ve heard in musical theatre for more than a decade,” John Lahr wrote in THE NEW YORKER. “His songs have urgency — a sense of mourning and mystery which insists on seizing the moment. … Larson’s … talent and his big heart are impossible to miss. His songs spill over with feeling and ideas; his work is both juicy and haunting.” Larson lived his childhood amidst drama clubs and music lessons.

Larson lived his childhood amidst drama clubs and music lessons. He played the tuba in high school and attended Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. Although he graduated with dreams of becoming an actor, Stephen Sondheim encouraged him to focus on composing. Larson was a Sondheim disciple and his early work suggested his future success. He won the Richard Rodgers Studio Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for a workshop version of “Rent,” and a Rodgers Development Grant for a futuristic rock musical called “Suburbia.” He also earned a Stephen Sondheim Award from the American Music Theater Festival; composed the eclectic rock-to-ragtime score for a musical called “J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation”; and performed a rock monologue called “Tick, Tick, Boom” at the New York Theater Workshop and other stages. Among the original cast members of "Rent" were Idina Menzel and Jesse L. Martin.

“Rent” is based on the classic Puccini opera “La Bohème.” The musical is set in a dingy, dishevelled loft apartment in New York’s East Village and depicts “young … artists struggling to celebrate life in the shadow of drugs, poverty and AIDS,” Jonathan Wiederhorn wrote in ROLLING STONE. Larson’s score blends pop, dance, dance, salsa, rhythm and blues, gospel, and rock music, while his characters update those of Puccini: Rodolfo, the lovelorn poet, is resurrected in punk-rocker Roger; Marcello the painter becomes Mark the videographer; Mimi trades tuberculosis for HIV. “In both productions,” Wiederhorn noted, “the main characters are threatened with eviction and burn their written work to stay warm.” Larson, however, leavens the lost dreams and lives with his show’s “emphasis on love, friendship, and survival.” As the debut of “Rent” approached, Larson lived in poverty similar to that endured by his characters. He stopped working in a SoHo diner only two months before the play opened and dreamed of earning enough money to afford cable TV.

Ten days before he died, Larson sold some of his books to get money for a movie ticket. “It’s both tragic and ironic that Larson … never saw ticket holders enjoy his show,” Wiederhorn wrote. “Even more uncanny are the parallels between Larson’s life and his characters’ — many of whom cling to life knowing that it could end at any moment.” Jonathan Larson Rent | Broadway | Fandom powered by Wikia Drama Desk for Outstanding Book Rent is a romance musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson [1] inspired by Giacomo Puccini 's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of the Bohemian East Village, under the shadow of AIDS. Rent, which won a Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize , among other awards, was one of the first Broadway musicals to feature bisexual and transgender characters. In addition, its cast was very ethnically diverse. Rent brought controversial topics to a traditionally conservative medium, and it helped to increase the popularity of musical theater among the younger generation. The musical was first seen at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994.

On January 26, 1996, Rent opened in New York City off-broadway before moving to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996. [2] Rent has been successful on Broadway, where it had critical acclaim and word-of-mouth popularity. With more than 4,300 performances, it is the seventh longest-running Broadway show, [3] and the production has grossed over $280 million. [4] It became the second longest-running musical currently on Broadway, eight years behind The Phantom of the Opera , when Beauty and the Beast ended its run on July 29, 2007. After a 12 year run, the Broadway production of Rent will close on June 1, 2008. [5] In 2005, Rent was also adapted into a motion picture that features most of the original cast members. Certain plot elements were changed slightly, and some of the songs were changed to spoken dialogue.

Concept Edit In 1988, playwright Billy Aronson wanted to create "a musical based on Puccini's La Bohème , in which the luscious splendor of Puccini's world would be replaced with the coarseness and noise of modern New York." [6] In 1989 Jonathan Larson , a 29-year-old composer , began collaborating with Aronson on this project, and the two composed a few songs together, including "Santa Fe", "Rent", and "I Should Tell You". Larson made the suggestion to set the play in Greenwich Village , the artsy avant-garde neighborhood of Manhattan where he lived, and also came up with the show's ultimate title (a decision that Aronson was unhappy with, at least until Larson pointed out that "rent" also means torn apart). In 1991, he asked Aronson if he could use Aronson's original concept and make Rent his own. [7] Aronson and Larson made an agreement that if the show went to Broadway, Aronson would share in the proceeds.

[7] Jonathan Larson focused on composing Rent in the early 1990s, waiting tables at the Moondance Diner to support himself. Over the course of seven years, Larson wrote hundreds of songs and made many drastic changes to the show, which in its final incarnation contained 42 songs. In the fall of 1992, Larson approached James Nicola, artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop , with a tape and copy of Rent's script. When Rent had its first staged reading at the New York Theatre Workshop in March 1993, it became evident that despite its very promising material and moving musical numbers, many structural problems needed to be addressed including its cumbersome length and overly complex plot. [7] As of 1994, the New York Theatre Workshop version of Rent featured songs that never made it to the final version, such as "You'll Get Over It", the predecessor of "Tango: Maureen," featuring Mark and Maureen; "Female to Female A & B," featuring Maureen and Joanne; and "Real Estate", a number where Benny tries to convince Mark to become a real estate agent and drop his photography.

This workshop version of Rent starred Anthony Rapp as Mark, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi, and Gilles Chaisson in the same ensemble role he played in the eventual Broadway production. Larson continued to work on Rent, gradually reworking its flaws and staging more workshop productions. In 1996, after the musical's final dress rehearsal, Larson enjoyed his first newspaper interview with theater critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times who gave Rent a glowing review, calling it an "exhilarating, landmark rock opera" with a "glittering, inventive score" that "shimmers with hope for the future of the American musical." [8] Larson would not live to see Rent's true success; he died from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm (believed to have resulted from Marfan syndrome ) in the early morning of January 25 , 1996 , just a few hours after his first interview. The first preview of Rent was canceled and instead, friends and family gathered at the theater where the actors performed a sing-through of Rent in Larson's memory.

[7] The show premiered as planned and quickly became the hottest ticket in town, popularity fueled by its genuinely raw material, relevant subject matter, enthusiastic reviews, and the recent death of its composer. The show proved extremely successful during its off-Broadway run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theatre Workshop. [2] Due to such overwhelming popularity and a need for a larger theater, Rent moved to Broadway's previously derelict Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street on April 29 , 1996 . [2] Sources and inspiration for the best musical of all time! Edit Larson's inspiration for Rent's content came from several different sources. Many of the characters and plot elements are drawn directly from Giacomo Puccini 's opera La bohème , the globe premiere of which was in 1896—100 years before Rent's premiere. [6] La bohème was also about the lives of poor young artists. Tuberculosis , the plague of Puccini's opera, is replaced by AIDS in Rent; 1800s Paris is replaced by New York's East Village in the late 1980s .

The names and identities of Rent's characters also heavily reflect Puccini's original characters, though they are not all direct adaptations. For example, Joanne in Rent is an amalgamation of both Marcello and Alcindoro in Bohème: Joanne Jefferson, a lawyer (Also partially based on Marcello) Benoit, a landlord Benjamin 'Benny' Coffin III, also a landlord Other examples of parallels between Larson's and Puccini's work include Larson's song "Light My Candle", which is nearly identical to the first scene between Mimi and Rodolfo in La bohème, "Musetta's Waltz", a melody taken directly from Puccini's opera, and "Goodbye Love", a long, painful piece that reflects a confrontation and parting between characters in both Puccini's and Larson's work. [9] The song "Quando me n' vo'" from La bohème is also referenced in the first verse of "Take Me or Leave Me," when Maureen describes the way people stare when she walks in the street.

"Musetta's Waltz" is also directly referred to in "Rent." Rent is also a somewhat autobiographical work, as Larson incorporated many elements of his life into his show. Larson lived in New York for many years as a starving artist with an uncertain future. He sacrificed a life of stability for his art, and shared many of the same hopes and fears as his characters. Like his characters he endured poor living conditions, and some of these conditions (e.g. illegal wood-burning stove, bathtub in the middle of his kitchen, broken buzzer (his guests had to call from the pay phone across the street and he would throw down the keys, as in "Rent") made their way into the play. [10] The line, "I'm more man than you'll ever be... and more woman than you'll ever get!," attributed to Angel Dumott Schunard at his funeral, was previously used by the character Hollywood Montrose , who appeared in the films Mannequin (1987) and Mannequin: On the Move (1991). Like Angel, Hollywood is a flamboyantly homosexual man who performs a song and dance number and sometimes wears women's clothing.

The earliest concepts of the characters differ largely from the finished products. Everyone except Mark had AIDS, including the lesbians ; Maureen was a serious, angry character who played off Oedipus in her performance piece instead of Hey Diddle Diddle ; Mark was, at one point, a painter instead of a filmmaker; Roger was named Ralph and wrote musical plays; Angel was a jazz philosopher , while Collins was a street performer; Angel and Collins were both originally described as Caucasian; and Benny had a somewhat enlarged role in the story, taking part in songs like "Real Estate", which was later cut. [11] Many actual locations and events are included in, or are the inspiration for, elements of the musical. The Life Café , where the "La Vie Boheme" numbers are set, is an actual restaurant in the East Village of New York City. [12] [13] The riot at the end of the first act is based on the East Village conflicts of the late 1980s that arose as a result of the city-imposed curfew in Tompkins Square Park .

[13] "Will I?", a song which takes place during a Life Support meeting and expresses the pain and fear of living a life with AIDS , was inspired by a real event. Larson attended a meeting of Friends in Deed , an organization that helps people deal with illness and grief and the other emotions, much like Life Support. After that first time, Larson attended the meetings regularly. The people present at the Life Support meeting in the show, such as Gordon, Ali, and Pam carry the names of Larson's friends who died of AIDS. In the Broadway show, the names of the characters in that particular scene (they introduce themselves) are changed nightly to honor the friends of the cast members who are suffering from/have died of AIDS. [14] During one meeting, a man stood up and said that he was not afraid of dying. He did, however, say that there was one thing he was afraid of: Would he lose his dignity? From this question stemmed the first line in the single stanza of this song. Template:Fact The scene and song "Life Support" was also based on Friends in Deed, as well as on Gordon, Pam, and Ali.

Originally, the members of Life Support had a solid block of the "forget regret" refrain, and they talked about remembering love. When Jonathan's HIV+ positive friends heard this scene, they told him that having AIDS wasn't so easy to accept: it made you angry and resentful too, and the song didn't match that. Jonathan then added a part where Gordon says that he has a problem with this "credo...my T-cells are low, I regret that news, okay?" Paul, the leader of the meeting, replies, "Okay...but, Gordon, how do you feel today?" Gordon admits that he's feeling the best he's felt all year. Paul asks, "Then why choose fear?" Gordon says, "I'm a New Yorker. Fear's my life." In her 1998 book Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America, author Sarah Schulman claims that plot elements from Rent were lifted from her 1990 book People in Trouble.

In an interview, she said, "The gay part of Rent is basically the plot of my novel." Schulman claims that upon reading her novel, Larson stole her ideas and altered them to make them more consumer-oriented and "gay friendly" in order to turn the best profit. [15] Lynn Thomson is a dramaturg who was hired by the New York Theatre Workshop to help rework Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent. She claims that between early May and the end of October of 1995 with Larson as principal author and Thomson as secondary author they co-wrote what they designated as the October 1995 "new version" of Rent. She sued the estate for forty million dollars, seeking 16 percent of royalties from the show. She claimed she had written a significant portion of the lyrics and the libretto. In August 1998 the case was settled outside of court with the Jonathan Larson estate. The settlement addressed claims of Lynn Thomson regarding credit, royalties and other issues concerning the rewriting of Rent. The terms of the settlement were confidential and not to be disclosed by either side as pursuant to a court order.

[16] Musical numbers File:Rentt.JPG Act I Pre-show, the stage is visible to the audience as stagehands, musicians etc. informally move about the stage, preparing for the performance. The show begins as Mark, a filmmaker and the narrator of the show, begins shooting an unscripted documentary about his friends on Christmas Eve in his loft , turning the camera on his roommate Roger, a songwriter who is picking up his guitar for the first time in a year ("Tune Up #1"). Mark's mother interrupts with a call from the suburbs; she reassures Mark after his girlfriend Maureen dumped him for a woman, and says that his family will miss him at home for Christmas ("Voice Mail #1"). Outside, their friend Tom Collins, a former professor of philosophy , comes to visit them but is jumped by thugs and lies bleeding on the street. Meanwhile, their former friend Benny, who married wealthy Alison Grey of Westport and bought Mark and Roger's apartment building and the lot next door, calls and breaks his promise to let them live in the apartment for free. He asks for the rent, which he knows they do not have ("Tune Up #2").

The power to Mark and Roger's apartment shuts off, and they vent their frustrations about being broke artists unable to pay the rent and unable to find inspiration for their art. Meanwhile, Joanne, a Harvard-educated lawyer and Maureen's new girlfriend, is working on the sound system for Maureen's performance protesting Benny's plan to develop the lot where many homeless people are currently living, when the sound system blows. Maureen calls Mark to fix the sound system for her against Joanne's wishes, and Mark agrees to help against his better judgment. Mark and Roger decide to rebel against Benny and refuse to pay their rent ("Rent"). Back on the street, Angel, a street drummer, spots Collins and comes to his aid; later, they leave the alley together to tend to Collins's wounds ("You Okay Honey"?). They are instantly attracted to one another and quickly discover that they both have AIDS . Meanwhile, Mark asks Roger to come to Maureen's show or dinner that night in an effort to get him out of the house, but Roger declines. Mark reminds Roger to take his AZT , revealing that Roger is HIV positive .

He also reveals that Roger's girlfriend, April, committed suicide after finding out that they were both HIV-positive, probably from using contaminated needles ("Tune Up #3"). After Mark leaves, Roger sings about his desperate need to write one great song to make his mark on the world before he dies of AIDS ("One Song Glory"). He hears a knock on his door and answers it to find Mimi, a nineteen-year-old junkie and S&M dancer at the Cat Scratch Club. She lives in the apartment downstairs and asks Roger to light a candle for her because her electricity and heat have also been shut off. Mimi also needs the candle to prepare her heroin, which she drops inside the loft and then employs as means to flirt with Roger. There is mutual attraction, but Roger is hesitant as this is his first romantic situation since his ex-girlfriend April's death ("Light My Candle") In Maureen and Joanne's loft, Joanne's parents call about law and family business, but she is not home to hear it ("Voice Mail #2"). Collins finally reaches to Mark and Roger's apartment, bearing gifts. He introduces Angel in full and gorgeous drag, flashing a large stack of money.

Mark inquires about the money, and Angel explains that a wealthy woman paid him to play his drums outside her neighbor's apartment to drive the yappy Akita (named Evita) that lived there into jumping off a window ledge ("Today 4 U"). The audience finds out later that the Akita belonged to the Greys. Benny arrives and tells Mark and Roger that he will guarantee that they can live in the apartment rent-free if they convince Maureen to cancel her protest ("You'll See"). Mark refuses. After Benny leaves, Angel and Collins invite Mark and Roger to attend Life Support, a local HIV support group meeting. Roger declines, but Mark assures them he will come after he fixes Maureen's sound equipment. Mark arrives at the lot and meets Joanne. After initial distrust, they agree that dating Maureen, a self-absorbed flirtatious diva , is like dancing an exasperatingly complicated tango , and the two reluctantly discover that they can be friends ("Tango: Maureen"). After fixing the sound system, Mark joins Collins and Angel at the Life Support meeting, where members share their thoughts and fears about living with AIDS.

Gordon, a member of the group who has found out his T-cells are low, voices his hurt and anger at the news and explains that while afraid of what lies ahead, he tries to accept it "because reason says/I should have died/three years ago..." Roger echoes this last refrain.("Life Support"). Meanwhile, Mimi returns to Roger's apartment and playfully asks him to take her out ("Out Tonight"). Roger is terrified of caring for Mimi because she is a heroin addict, which led to Roger's own HIV infection, and because he knows he does not have long to live and does not want Mimi to feel the loss he felt for April. Roger yells at her to leave. Mimi gently urges Roger to forget past regrets, saying that there is "no day but today." However, he refuses to listen and drives her out of his apartment ("Another Day"). Roger changes his mind and leaves the loft at last. At the Life Support meeting, everyone sings of the fear and uncertainty in his or her lives ("Will I?"). After leaving Life Support, the friends save a homeless bag lady from being beaten by a police officer, only to be reprimanded by her for being pretentious artists ("On The Street").

As they walk away contemplating her response, Collins fantasizes about living in an idealized Santa Fe , where the climate and the people are much warmer ("Santa Fe"). Mark leaves, promising that he will try to convince Roger to go to Maureen's show. Collins and Angel then sing about their newfound love and officially become a couple ("I'll Cover You"). Meanwhile, Joanne is getting ready for the protest and her upcoming legal case ("We're Okay").Roger apologizes to Mimi and invites her to the protest and the dinner party afterwards, and she accepts. Meanwhile, the riot police and Benny prepare for the protest, and Angel buys Collins a new coat ("Christmas Bells"). Everyone attends Maureen's performance, a thinly veiled criticism of Benny through a metaphor involving a cow and a bulldog, cribbing from "Hey Diddle Diddle" ("Over The Moon"). The protest ends in a riot that Mark catches on camera. A local news station purchases his footage. Afterwards, the group goes to the Life Café , where they spot Benny and his investor, Mr. Grey, who is also Benny's father-in-law. Benny criticizes the protest and the group's Bohemian lifestyle, declaring that Bohemia is dead.

Mark gets up and delivers a mock eulogy for Bohemia, and all the bohemians in the café rise up and celebrate La Vie Boheme , ("the bohemian life"), joyfully paying tribute to everything they love about life while dancing on the tables. It is revealed that Benny and Mimi used to be in a relationship that ended three months earlier when Benny confronts Mimi about Roger. Joanne catches Maureen kissing another woman and angrily stalks off ("La Vie Boheme"). Mimi's beeper goes off reminding her to take her AZT, and Roger and Mimi discover that they are both HIV-positive. They talk openly for the first time and despite their uncertainties and fears, they finally take the plunge into starting a relationship ('I Should Tell You"). Joanne comes back to break up with Maureen, and informs everyone that the homeless are refusing to leave the lot despite police presence. This news sparks a new round of joyful revelry (" La Vie Boheme B "). The act closes as Mimi and Roger share a small kiss. File:Rent.JPG Act II The act opens with the cast singing about the various ways one can measure a year, ultimately deciding to measure in love ("Seasons of Love").

Mimi, Mark, and Roger's building has been padlocked because of Maureen's protest. On New Year's Eve , Roger, Mark and Mimi try to break into their building. Mimi optimistically makes a New Year's resolution to give up her heroin addiction and go back to school. Joanne and Maureen decide to try for a relationship again, and all the couples are happy together. Collins and Angel make an appearance as James Bond and Pussy Galore , and Angel brings a blowtorch. Mark, Maureen, and Joanne scale the fire escape and break in through a window, while the others use Angel's blowtorch to break down the door ("Happy New Year A"). Alexi Darling of "Buzzline," a tabloid newsmagazine , had seen Mark's footage of the riot and has left a message on Mark's answering machine offering him a contract ("Voice Mail #3"). All the friends enter the apartment celebrating the new year, but Benny shows up prematurely ending the festivities. Benny asks Mark to film him offering a rent-free contract, but the friends accuse him of trying to get good press.

Incensed, Benny maliciously implies that Mimi showed up at his place and "convinced" him to rethink the financial situation, while Mimi denies everything. Roger becomes extremely upset and renounces their relationship, but Angel convinces everyone to calm down and make a New Year's resolution to always remain friends. Roger and Mimi make up, but Mimi is still upset and sneaks off to buy heroin ("Happy New Year B"). On Valentine's Day, Maureen and Joanne have a fight while rehearsing for a new protest, and break up again ("Take Me or Leave Me"). In the spring as everything deteriorates, the cast poses the question, "How do you measure a last year on earth?" ("Seasons of Love B"). Mimi comes home late again after secretly buying drugs, causing Roger to believe that she is cheating on him with Benny. Roger jealously storms out, and Mimi sings about life without him. All the while, Angel's health suffers and Collins tries to nurse him back to health. All the couples reconcile because they realize the emptiness in living alone ("Without You"). Alexi keeps calling Mark to try to convince him to join Buzzline ("Voice Mail #4").

The scene turns to a bed containing all the couples, with the implication that they are all having sex , which quickly transforms into a frustrating and awkward situation for all of them. However, for Collins and Angel, the bed is both a place for sexual contact and a place where Angel, embodied in a release of sexual and bodily energy, dies from AIDS. ("Contact"). Collins is heartbroken, and at Angel's funeral, he declares his undying love. The others take part in the funeral, mourning the loss of such a close friend ("I'll Cover You (Reprise)"). Mark expresses his fear of being the only one left surviving when the rest of his friends die of AIDS, and finally accepts Alexi's job offer ("Halloween"). Everyone leaves the funeral, and Roger reveals that he is leaving New York for Santa Fe , which sparks an argument about commitment between both couples, with Mark and Benny desperately trying to restore calm. Collins arrives and puts everyone to shame, stating, "You all said you'd be cool today/So please, for my sake...Angel helped us believe in love/I can't believe you disagree". Maureen and Joanne make up again, but Mimi leaves with Benny after Roger shuns her.

When Roger prepares to leave, he gets into a fight with Mark: Roger accuses Mark of living a fake life by hiding in his work, and Mark accuses Roger of running away because he is afraid of watching Mimi die. When Roger leaves the apartment, he is horrified to find a clearly weak Mimi, who had come to say goodbye, standing outside the door. He realizes that she overheard everything. She is visibly shaken and bids Roger a tearful goodbye, as Roger runs away determined to find his song. Finding a distraught Mimi, Mark suggests that she enroll at a rehabilitation clinic, which Benny offers to pay for ("Goodbye Love"). In Santa Fe, Roger cannot forget Mimi; back in New York, Mark remembers Angel and his overall joy in life and love. They both suddenly have an artistic epiphany , as Roger finally finds his song in Mimi and Mark finds his film in Angel's memory. Roger returns to New York just in time for Christmas and Mark quits Buzzline to work on his own film. ("What You Own") On Christmas Eve, everyone's parents call to try to find his or her children but nobody is home ("Voice Mail #5"). Mark is preparing to show his finished documentary.

Roger is ecstatic about finding his song. No one, however, has been able to find Mimi. Collins arrives with money, revealing that he rigged a nearby ATM to dispense free cash with the PIN "A-N-G-E-L". Suddenly, Maureen and Joanne arrive, calling for help. They bring in Mimi, who is sick and delirious from living on the streets in the dead of winter. Roger is frantic and Collins calls 9-1-1 but is put on hold. Mimi and Roger finally clear up their misunderstandings, and Mimi tells Roger that she loves him ("Finale A"). Knowing that time is short, Roger asks Mimi to listen to the song that he had been working on all year that was inspired by her ("Your Eyes'). He shortly reprises the beginning of "Another Day" by saying "Who do you think you are?/Leaving me alone with my guitar/Hold on, there's something you should hear/It isn't much, but it took all year." As he finishes his song to Mimi and finally tells her that he has always loved her, they kiss. Mimi goes limp and Roger, in tears, believes her to be dead.

Suddenly Mimi comes back to life, saying that she was heading into a warm, white light and that Angel was there, telling her to turn back and listen to Roger's song. She and Roger embrace, and everyone is touched and relieved as they are reminded of the fleetingness of life and reaffirm that there is "no day but today" ("Finale B"). Then Mark plays the Documentary he has been working on. [17] Characters Edit Mark Cohen, a struggling documentary filmmaker, the narrator of the show and the person who creates a final movie which details his friends' lives and journeys throughout the story. Ex-Boyfriend of Maureen. Roommate of Roger. Roger Davis, an HIV infected musician who is recovering from heroin addiction ; Mark's roommate and Mimi's love interest. Tom Collins, a philosophy teacher and anarchist with AIDS; friend and former roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen; Angel's lover. Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive exotic dancer and heroin junkie ; Roger's love interest who used to be involved with "Benny" Coffin III Angel Dumott Schunard, a drag queen street percussionist/musician with AIDS; Collins' lover.

Joanne Jefferson, a Harvard -educated Template:Fact lawyer ; Maureen's lover; lesbian. Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist ; Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building; ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys and thus considered a yuppie sell-out. Productions Edit North American tours There have been three very successful United States national tours. The "Angel Tour" and the "Benny Tour" launched soon after the Broadway production opened. More recently, the non- Equity tour started its run. There was also a Canadian tour (often referred to as the "Collins Tour"). The Angel tour began in November 1996 in Boston. It then went on to St. Paul, Minnesota, Washington, DC, Chicago (where Anthony Rapp temporarily joined the cast), Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Los Angeles (where Daphne Rubin Vega temporarily joined the cast), before finishing in San Francisco in September, 1999.

Cast members appearing in the Angel Cast included Simone, Manley Pope, Christian Anderson, Carrie Hamilton , Amy Spanger, Cheri Smith, Julie Danao, Sylvia MacCalla, Kamilah Martin, Dan Robbins, Luther Creek, Kristoffer Cusick, Tony Vincent, and Shaun Earl. The Benny Tour began in May 1997 in Los Angeles. It originally featured Neil Patrick Harris in the role of Mark Cohen. The Benny tour generally played shorter stops and often smaller markets than the Angel Tour did. Cast members appearing in the Benny Cast included Curtis Cregan , Dana Dawson , d'Monroe , Yassmin Alers , and Wilson Cruz . Production history It has been performed in twenty-one languages: English, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Finnish, German, Magyar, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Slovak, Estonian, Greek, Norwegian, and Hebrew. Tenth Anniversary production On April 24 , 2006 , the original Broadway cast reunited for a one-night-only performance of the musical at the Nederlander Theatre.

This performance raised over $2,000,000 for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation , Friends in Deed , and the New York Theatre Workshop . Former cast members were invited back and many from prior tours and former Broadway cast members appeared, performing an alternate version of "Seasons of Love" as the finale of the performance. [18] Rent - School Edition In 2007, a modified edition of Rent was made available to five non-professional acting groups in the United States for production. Billed as Template:Nowrap , this version omits the song "Contact", and eliminates the coarse language of the original. [19] There were four test shows of the Rent- School Edition. The first Rent-School Edition premiered in June, 2007 in Stuart, Florida (Lyric Theatre). Shorewood High School in Shorewood, WI became the first high school to perform the musical in 2006. Rent Remixed On October 16 , 2007 , the production Rent Remixed opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. Kylie’s creative director, William Baker, put the show together.

This production has been modernized for 2007. The cast includes Oliver Thornton (Mark), Luke Evans (Roger), Craig Stien (Benny), Leon Lopez (Collins), Francesca Jackson (Joanne), Jay Webb (Angel), Siobhán Donaghy (Mimi) and Denise Van Outen (Maureen). The ensemble consists of Ruth Augilera, Lewis Griffiths, C.J. Johnson, Antony Luperi, Earl Perkins, Jamie Sampson, and Philippa Stefani. However, following a throat infection [20] , Van Outen was forced to cancel several performances, and the role of Maureen was played by C.J. Johnson. From December 24, 2007, the role of Maureen will be played by former EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace . [21] The production has received generally bad reviews. The Guardian gave it 1/5 stars "They call this "Rent Remixed". I'd dub it "Rent Reduced", in that the late Jonathan Larson's reworking of La Bohème, while never a great musical, has been turned into a grisly, synthetic, pseudo pop concert with no particular roots or identity.

" [22] Although initially booking until April 5 , 2008 , the production closed on February 2 , 2008 . A European tour may follow. [23] Australian Cast The Australian cast featured Justin Smith , as Mark, Rodger Corser as Roger, Opell Ross as Angel and Australian ARIA Award winner Christine Anu as Mimi. The tour wrapped in Melbourne in 1999. Australian Cast 2007 The Australian cast of the Perth production featured Anthony Callea , as Mark, Tim Campbell , as Roger, Jaya Henderson as Mimi, Courtney Act as Angel, Shai Yammanne as Tom Collins, Sharon Wisniewski as Joanne, Andrew Conaghan as Benny and Nikki Webster as Maureen. Cultural impact Edit Rent has gathered a huge following of fans that refer to themselves as " RENT-heads ." The name originally referred to people who would camp out at the Nederlander Theater for hours in advance for the discounted $20 rush tickets to each show, though it generally refers to anyone who has an obsession with/love of the show.

These rush tickets are discounted tickets to seats in the first two rows of the theater reserved for sale by lottery two hours prior to each show. [24] Many other Broadway shows have followed Rent's example and now also offer cheaper tickets in efforts to make Broadway theater accessible to more people who would otherwise be unable to afford the ticket prices. The song "Seasons of Love" became a somewhat successful pop song and is often performed on its own. Pop culture references References to Rent or parodies of it have been included in a wide variety of media. On television, series such as The Simpsons , [25] Family Guy , [26] Friends , [27] Will and Grace , [28] Scrubs , [29] and Felicity [30] have incorporated references to the show. Some examples in film are Team America: World Police , which has a character having a lead in Lease, a Broadway musical parody of Rent (where the performers sing the finale song "Everyone has AIDS!"); [31] a character in Hedwig and the Angry Inch wears a Rent t-shirt and speaks of his aspiration to play the role of Angel.

[32] Recent movie Knocked Up refers to Rent in the scene where the child in the car wants to listen to the soundtrack on the car stereo. The film The 40-Year-Old Virgin features a scene in which Dave jokes that Cal must be gay because he has seen Rent three times. The off-Broadway musical Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back includes parodies of Rent songs such as "Rant" (Rent), "Ouch! They're Tight" (Out Tonight), "Season of Hype" (Seasons of Love), "Too Gay 4 U (Too Het'ro 4 Me)" (Today 4 U), "Pretty Voices Singing" (Christmas Bells) and "This Ain't Boheme" (La Vie Boheme). [33] Casts Edit On January 16 , 2008 the production's website announced that the musical would end its 12-year-run on June 1 , 2008 . [35] No official reason was given at the time of the announcement, but, according to League of American Theaters and Producers, ticket sales were down and box office figures showed that the production was playing at approximately fifty-percent capacity.

[35] Over the course of the production's 12-year run, With more than 4,300 performances, Rent is the seventh-longest-running Broadway show, [3] and the production has grossed over $280 million. [4] Recordings Edit Template:Main A recording of the original Broadway cast is available on DreamWorks, which contains most of the musical material in the show on a double-disc "complete recording" collection with a remixed version of the song " Seasons of Love " featuring Stevie Wonder . [36] It also contains a single-disc "best of" highlights. [37] Movie adaptation Template:Main Rent was adapted into a movie directed by Chris Columbus with a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky . With the exception of Mimi and Joanne, the original Broadway cast members reprised the principal roles. For the film, Rosario Dawson appeared in the role of Mimi, the role Daphne Rubin-Vega originated on Broadway; Tracie Thoms was cast as Joanne, originally played by Fredi Walker. The roles were re-cast because Rubin-Vega was pregnant and Walker felt she was too old for the part.

Released on November 23 , 2005 , the film remained in the box office top ten for three weeks. Awards Rent - Off-Broadway | Story | Broadway.com Broadway New World Stages - Stage One Rent Browse more shows you may also be interested in. Theater Story What Is the Story of Rent? Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, Rent tells the story of a group of impoverished friends struggling to survive and create in New York’s gritty Alphabet City in 1991. Over the course of one year, Rent follows these starving artists as they strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness, impending gentrification and the AIDS epidemic. Rent ‘Rent’ rocks ‘n’ rolls into San Bernardino RENT is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. ABOUT THE COMPOSER: Jonathan Larson received the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for RENT.

He also won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 1994 Richard Rodgers Award for RENT and twice received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundation's Commendation Award. In 1989 he was granted the Stephen Sondheim Award from American Music Theatre Festival, where he contributed to the musical "Sitting on the Edge of the Future." In 1988 he won the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical "Superbia," which was staged at Playwrights Horizon. He composed the score for the musical "J.P. Saves the Nation," which was presented by En Garde Arts in 1995. Mr. Larson performed his rock monologue "tick, tick...BOOM!" at Second Stage Theatre, The Village Gate and New York Theatre Workshop. In addition to scoring and songwriting for "Sesame Street," he created music for a number of children's book-cassettes, including Steven Speilberg's "An American Tail" and "Land Before Time." Other film scores include work for Rolling Stone Magazine publisher Jann Wenner.

He conceived, directed, and wrote four original songs for "Away We Go!", a musical video for children. RENT, his rock opera based on La Boheme, had its world premiere on February 13, 1996 at New York Theatre Workshop and opened at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996. Mr. Larson died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, ten days before his 36th birthday. Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson Musical Arrangements by Steve Skinner Original Concept & Additional Lyrics by Billy Aronson Music Supervision & Original Arrangement by Tim Weil Dramaturg: Lynn Thomson RENT was originally produced in New York by New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Allan S.

Gordon, and New York Theatre Workshop ‘Rent’ THEATER REVIEW;Rock Opera A la 'Boheme' And 'Hair' - The New York Times The New York Times Theater |THEATER REVIEW;Rock Opera A la 'Boheme' And 'Hair' Search Continue reading the main story The subject of the work is death at an early age. And in one of the dark dramatic coincidences theater occasionally springs on us, its 35-year-old author died only weeks before its opening. Yet no one who attends Jonathan Larson's "Rent," the exhilarating, landmark rock opera at the New York Theater Workshop, is likely to mistake it for a wake. Indeed, this vigorous tale of a marginal band of artists in Manhattan's East Village, a contemporary answer to "La Boheme," rushes forward on an electric current of emotion that is anything but morbid. Sparked by a young, intensely vibrant cast directed by Michael Greif and sustained by a glittering, inventive score, the work finds a transfixing brightness in characters living in the shadow of AIDS. Puccini's ravishingly melancholy work seemed, like many operas of its time, to romance death; Mr. Larson's spirited score and lyrics defy it.

Rent" inevitably invites reflections on the incalculable loss of its composer, who died of an aortic aneurysm on Jan. 25, but it also shimmers with hope for the future of the American musical. Though this production still has its bumps, most visibly in its second act, Mr. Larson has proved that rock-era song styles can be integrated into a character-driven story for the stage with wildly affecting success. (Only the Broadway version of the Who's "Tommy" has supported that premise in recent years, and its characters were more icons than real people.) Actually, while Mr. Larson plays wittily with references to Puccini's masterpiece, the excitement around "Rent" more directly recalls the impact made by a dark-horse musical Off Broadway in 1967: "Hair." Like that meandering, genial portrait of draft-dodging hippies, this production gives a pulsing, unexpectedly catchy voice to one generation's confusion, angep and anarchic, pleasure-seeking vitality. The setting has shifted east, from Washington Square to St.

Mark's Place; the drug of choice is now heroin, not LSD; and the specter that gives its characters' lives a feverish, mordant edge isn't the Vietnam War but H.I.V. Advertisement Continue reading the main story And Mr. Larson has provided a story line and ambitious breadth of technique miles away from "Hair," with its funky, loosely plotted patchwork of countercultural ditties and ballads. But both works, in a way, are generational anthems, not so much of protest, finally, but of youthful exuberance, even (or especially) when the youth in question is imperiled. The denizens of Mr. Larson's bohemian landscape are directly descended from their Puccini prototypes but given a hip, topical spin. The poet Rodolfo becomes Roger (Adam Pascal), a songwriter who has shut down emotionally after the suicide of his girlfriend. The painter Marcello is now Mark (Anthony Rapp), a video artist who shares an abandoned industrial loft with Roger on Avenue B.

Mark has recently been thrown over by his lover, Maureen (Idina Menzel), th' show's answer to Musetta and a performance artist who has left him for another woman, the lawyer Joanne (Fredi Walker). And Puccini's frail, tubercular Mimi sheds her passivity to be reincarnated as Mimi Marquez (Daphne Rubin-Vega), a tough stray kitten of a woman who dances in an S-and-M club. The plot is a peppery hash of lover's quarrels and reconciliations, with a slightly labored subplot in which the men's landlord, Benjamin (Taye Diggs), a former confrere gone Yuppie, padlocks their building while trying to evict a colony of homeless people next door. Obviously, poverty is less picturesque in Mr. Larson's world than in Puccini's. (The moon, in the most inspired touch in Paul Clay's gritty set, is only an oversize Japanese lantern.) This show's equivalent of the Latin Quarter cafe scene, with its jolly parade of children and vendors, is an angry Christmas Eve vignette set among bag people on St. Mark's Place. And this Mimi has cold hands because she needs a fix.

Moreover, Mimi, who is H.I.V.-positive, isn't the only candidate for an early death. Roger and his friends, Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin), a self-styled computer age philosopher, and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a transvestite sculptor, also carry the virus. Accordingly, the leitmotif of the show is the image of time evaporating; its credo, quite unabashedly, "Seize the day." Mr. Larson gives refreshingly melodic life to these sentiments with a score of breathta'ing eclecticism, lovingly and precisely interpreted by the production's excellent five-member band, led by Tim Weil. The styles include not only electric rock but salsa, Motown, be-bop and reggae, with a firm nod to Stephen Sondheim and even a passing one to Burt Bacharach. There is also a disarmingly dexterous use of operatic, multi-voiced counterpoint and of duets that range from the exquisite (the candle-lit meeting of Roger and Mimi) to the two-fistedly comic (Musetta's waltz becomes "Tango: Maureen").

Advertisement Continue reading the main story An alternately agile and baldly declarative lyricist with a tireless knack for all manner of rhymes, Mr. Larson, like his characters, is clearly a child of postmodernism. (This, after all, is a show that rhymes "curry vindaloo" with "Maya Angelou.") But he ultimately avoids the style of brittle, defensive irony, with everything framed in quotation marks, that has become the hallmark of downtown theater in recent years. In fact, on one level, "Rent" is about breaking through the self-protective detachment, here embodied by both Roger and Mark, of a generation weaned on the archness of David Letterman and the blankness of Andy War'ol. Like such other recent works as Mr. Sondheim's "Passion" and Nicky Silver's "Raised in Captivity," this show directly addresses the idea of being cut off from feelings by fear. This is definitely not a problem for Mr. Larson. Indeed, one forgives the show's intermittent lapses into awkwardness or cliche because of its overwhelming emotional sincerity.

And when the whole ensemble stands at the edge of the stage, singing fervently about the ways of measuring borrowed time, the heart both breaks and soars. It should also be pointed out that Mr. Greif lets his cast come to the edge of the stage to serenade the audience entirely too often. He is also guilty of staging that obscures crucial plot elements. And he and his choreographer, Marlies Yearby, don't make the most of the varied possibilities of the score. Only the heady, intricately rhymed "Vie Boheme" banquet number, which concludes the first act, and the erotically staged death of Angel really match the inventive sweep of the music. The cast, however, is terrific, right down to the last ensemble member, and blessed with voices of remarkable flexibility and strength. The unflaggingly focused Mr. Rapp gives the show its energetic motor; the golden-voiced Mr. Pascal its meditative soul and Ms. Rubin-Vega its affirmative sensuality. Mr. Martin, Ms. Walker, Mr. Heredia and Ms. Menzel are all performers of both wit and emotional conviction.

It is the latter trait that lifts "Rent" well above the synthetic, cleverly packaged herd of Broadway musical revivals and revues. Along with George C. Wolfe and Savion Glover's "Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk," this show restores spontaneity and depth of feeling to a discipline that sorely needs them. People who complain about the demise of the American musical have simply been looking in the wrong places. Well done, Mr. Larson. RENT By Jonathan Larson; directed by Michael Greif; musical director, Tim Weil; choreography by Marlies Yearby; sets by Paul Clay; costumes by Angela Wendt; lighting by Blake Burba; sound by Darron L. West; dramaturge, Lynn M. Thomson; musical arranger, Steve Skinner; assistant director, Martha Banta; original concept and additional lyrics, Billy Aronson; film, Tony Gerber; production manager, Susan R. White; production stage manager, Crystal Huntington; assistant stage manager, Catherine J. Haley. New Director/ New Directions Series. Presented by New York Theater Workshop, James C. Nicola, artistic director; Nancy Kassak Diekmann, managing director.

At 79 East Fourth Street, East Village. WITH: Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Adam Pascal (Roger Davis), Jesse L. Martin (Tom Collins), Taye Diggs (Benjamin Coffin 3d), Fredi Walker (Joanne Jefferson), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel Schunard), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi Marquez), Idina Menzel (Maureen Johnson) and Kristen Lee Kelly, Byron Utley, Gwen Stewart, Timothy Britten Parker, Gilles Chiasson, Rodney Hicks and Aiko Nakasone. Rent (2005) - Plot Summary - IMDb Plot Summary Showing all 3 plot summaries This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village New York. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, AIDS, and modern day life in one truly powerful story.

- Written by Alex W Based on Puccini's 'La Boheme', 'Rent' tells the story of one year in the life of friends living the Bohemian life in modern day East Village, New York City, 1989-1990. Among the group are our narrator, nerdy love-struck filmmaker Mark Cohen; the object of Mark's affection, his former girlfriend, Maureen Johnson; Maureen's Harvard-educated public interest lawyer and lesbian lover Joanne Jefferson; Mark's roommate, HIV-positive musician and former junkie, Roger Davis; Roger's new girlfriend, the HIV-positive drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi Marquez; their former roommate, HIV-positive computer genius Tom Collins; Collins' HIV-positive drag queen street musician/lover Angel; and Benjamin Coffin III, a former member of the group who married for money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for. Shows how much changes or doesn't change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year.

- Written by Anonymous This is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS, and the impacts they have on America. "Rent" Overview - Utah Rep Read Press Releases Rent is the award-winning rock musical by Jonathan Larsen that played for 12 years on Broadway. Based on Puccini’s opera La Bohème, Rent tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create their works in New York’s Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Rent will be accompanied by a live professional band. Copyright © 2017 Utah Repertory Theater Company

Question: The rock musical 'Rent' is based on which Puccini opera?
Answer: La Boheme