Rent

January 24, 2010

This evening, I met up with my friend to watch the musical Rent at the Cannon Theatre. I did not have any background or knowledge of the story, but went to be entertained by the music and the dancing. For those that don’t know, the story centres around a group of bohemians in Greenwich Village, New York facing the health and social issues of the 1980s. I loved it, especially the grittiness of it all. We did have a few comments including the disjointedness of the story, and the fact that the first act had a timeline of one week while the second documented the events of an entire year. But despite all of that, I walked away having really enjoyed myself. Today’s question is: what was the inspiration for Rent?

A: Rent began as a collaboration between Billy Aronson, a playwright, and Jonathan Larson, a composer, based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème. Larson began working on Rent and agreed with Aronson that if it Rent made it to Broadway, they would split the proceeds. Larson’s vision was to create a modern-rock opera.

In 1994, Rent was debuted for a three-week run at the New York Theatre Workshop and continued to be rehearsed and work shopped in preparation for its off-Broadway debut in 1996. One day before its official opening, Jonathan Larson died of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm.

Rent has gone on to critical acclaim and went on to win a number of awards, including the Tony for Best Musical. Additionally, the Broadway show ran for 12 years and became the 8th longest running show in Broadway history. It grossed almost $300 million. Rent was turned into a movie in 2005 featuring the likes of Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson and Taye Diggs (who is a beautiful, beautiful man!).

Sources:
Rent Musical
Rent the Broadway Tour
Wikipedia: Rent (Musical)