Rent (play)

Identification Broadway musical

Author Music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson (1960-1996)

Date Premiered on Broadway on April 29, 1996

This prize-winning rock opera took Broadway by storm. Focusing on the lives of young New Yorkers struggling with HIV/AIDS, poverty, homelessness, and sexual identity, the show’s creator attempted to bring a new layer of relevancy to musical theater.

Jonathan Larson got his start studying theater and music at Adelphi University; during that time, he met Stephen Sondheim, who became his mentor. After moving to New York City, the aspiring musical writer attempted to break into Broadway. Two of his pieces, Superbia and Tick, Tick . . . Boom! were staged in small workshop-type settings; in 1988, he won a Richard Rodgers Studio Production Award for the former. The idea for Rent came in collaboration with Billy Aronson, a young playwright, and was to be a modern retelling of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème (pr. 1896). Puccini’s is the story of struggling artists and philosophers living in the 1830’s Parisian Left Bank; Rent tells the story of young bohemian artists and musicians in 1990’s New York lower East Side. Larson ultimately took the idea on his own and penned the music and book. Aronson is credited as “Original Concept/Additional Lyrics.”

After repeated attempts and multiple revisions, Larson received a $45,000 Richard Rodgers Award in January, 1994, to stage a workshop version of the show the following October. After a well-received two-week run, plans were made for a full-scale workshop production at New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW). Rent was set to open on January 25, 1996. The night before, after the final dress rehearsal, Larson collapsed from an aortic aneurysm; the creator of Rent was dead at thirty-five. The official NYTW opening was delayed, but when the musical opened, it received critical acclaim. The first month of the workshop’s performances sold out in a matter of days. Its run was extended by one month to the end of March and sold out within one week. Rent opened on Broadway on April 29, 1996, at the Nederlander Theatre. The U.S. national tour began in Boston in November, 1996, with other scheduled tours in Los Angeles, Toronto, and London for the following year.

Recognition

Rent received multiple awards and international acclaim. In 1996, it received ten Tony Award nominations. It won for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Larson), Best Original Score (Larson), and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Wilson Jermaine Heredia). Rent tied with Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk and The King and I for four Tonys. Larson posthumously received the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in drama.

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle awarded Rent Best Musical. Rent also received Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music (Larson), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Heredia), and Outstanding Orchestrations (Steve Skinner), and the Drama League Award for Best Musical. The Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent went to two Rent cast members, Adam Pascal and Daphne Rubin-Vega. The Village Voice’s Obie Awards for Outstanding Book, Music, and Lyrics (Larson), Outstanding Direction (Michael Greif), and Outstanding Ensemble Performance also speak to Rent’s success.

Impact

Jonathan Larson set out to write a Hair (pr. 1967) for the 1990’s. His rock opera was intended to be a response to the HIV/AIDS crisis and a celebration of the lives of those lost at a young age. He wanted to “reclaim Broadway from stagnation and empty spectacle . . . to bring musical theater to the MTV generation.” By all critical accounts he succeeded, offering a generational anthem of sorts and bringing a new energy to the Great White Way. Many credit Rent with revitalizing musical theater as an art form. New York Times theater writer Peter Marks remarked that Larson “rekindled faith in the American musical when many in the theater business, particularly younger people, believed it had reached an artistic dead end.”

Rent also brought to the public eye issues of sexuality, poverty, and homelessness and heightened awareness of the AIDS crisis. Critics argue that Larson gave warmth and emotion to difficult and controversial personae, particularly with a little-known disease and non-normative sexual identities.

Subsequent Events

Rent’s enormous popularity resulted in a cult following. Fans of the rock opera camped outside the Nederlander Theatre for the chance to win one of the thirty-four seats in the first two rows. Seats were offered for $20, as Rent’s producers wanted to ensure that the musical was affordable for all. Fans who camped out multiple times were dubbed “Rent Heads,” some seeing the show dozens of times.

Shortly after Rent’s Broadway debut, novelist Sarah Schulman threatened a plagiarism suit against the Larson estate, claiming that Larson had lifted entire portions of her book People in Trouble (1990). Schulman also did not appreciate what she viewed as the commodification of the gay culture portrayed in the musical, as well as the placement of straight allies as saviors in the homosexual cause. However, no claim was filed and no legal action taken.

Rent has enjoyed numerous tours across the United States and Canada, as well as several international tours, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain, Japan, and South Korea. In 2005, Rent became a major motion picture from Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures, starring many members of the original Broadway cast.

Bibliography

Larson, Jonathan. Rent. New York: Rob Weisbach Books/William Morrow, 1997. Compendium of photographs, stories, and libretto. Follows Larson’s and Rent’s journey through the stories of those who knew Larson and those involved in the musical’s production, including cast and family members.

Rapp, Anthony. Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical “Rent.” New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. A fascinating backstage account of the production of Rent from an original cast member.

Schulman, Sarah. Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1998. Schulman’s provocative take on Rent and her argument for Larson’s taking her plot and characters. Also offers a different perspective on the musical and its impact.