Rent is one of the most well-known stage musicals of all time. The show is based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, but it is set in late twentieth-century New York. The show became a new icon of modern musical theater thanks to its gritty subject matter, powerful songs, and tragic death of the young creator.
Jonathan Larson, a writer and composer, set out with a partner to adapt the tragic opera La Boheme into a modern-day New York setting, complete with rock music. In 1988, he began writing songs and making changes while waiting tables at a diner to make ends meet. Before reaching the final dress rehearsal on January 25, 1996, the show went through many incarnations and workshop productions. Larson died suddenly of an undiagnosed aneurysm after eight years of work and only a few hours after giving his first interview about the show. The show opened on time and was a runaway success, prompting a move to Broadway on April 29, 1996.
Rent tells the story of a group of young artists living in New York City’s East Village. Several members of the group are HIV positive, in addition to being unable to pay rent on their apartments. The play follows three couples: Collins and the cross-dressing Angel, Mimi and Roger, and Joanne and Maureen, who are constantly fighting. Mark, the group’s final member, is a filmmaker who spends more time filming his friends’ lives than he does living his own. The members of the group all refuse to live a traditional lifestyle, instead embracing bohemian concepts and eking out a living.
In terms of format, the play is more akin to an opera than a musical. Throughout the show, there is very little non-singing dialogue, with even minor bits of information and exposition being sung. The music spans slow ballads to hard-rock-influenced conflict songs while remaining true to its operatic roots. As musician Roger tries desperately to rediscover his ability to write music, he hears Musetta’s Waltz, one of La Boheme’s themes, several times throughout the show.
The show received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. The show was hailed as a groundbreaking work on the AIDS crisis in America, as well as a significant step forward for American musicals. The show was careful to keep its roots and message as a community show for poor artists, and would frequently sell front row seats for $20, far less than a typical Broadway ticket price. The hit show spawned several North American and international tours, and it has been performed in over 40 countries and translated into more than 20 languages. Rent won four Tony Awards in 1996, including Best Musical, Best Book in a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Performance a Featured Actor in a Musical for Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who portrayed Angel.
The majority of the original cast reunited in 2005 for Christopher Columbus’ film adaptation of Rent. The film received mixed reviews, with many praising the songs and actors while criticizing the script’s significant changes and additions. The idea that Hollywood was profiting off of the anti-establishment musical Rent enraged some Rent fans. The film did not do well at the box office, grossing only $31 million dollars in the United States (USD).
Rent has left a lasting impression on the theater community, which had seemed doomed for decades to revivals of 1950s classic musicals. Many theater critics credit the show with helping to resurrect the American musical. Since the 1996 premiere of Rent, the demand for new Broadway shows has skyrocketed, and the show’s message and power have attracted a new generation to the theater.