Rent – A musical dealing with sensitive topics

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‘Rent’ is a musical that has been immensely popular and is now running for its eleventh year. It is based on the Opera La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini. ‘Rent’ will become the second longest-running show currently on Broadway when ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ends on July 29, 2007.

‘Rent’ was one of the first musicals to deal with issues such as homosexuality, transsexuals and AIDS. It’s a rock musical with an enduring look at the lives of various characters who live on the East Side. These characters struggle to survive the harsh realities of their lives. Jonathan Larson wrote the book for Broadway and also wrote the lyrics and composed the music. Unfortunately, he died before he could see the success of his work.

The story of ‘Rent’ deals with the lives of various characters. We see Mark Cohen, a filmmaker and also narrator of the story, and Roger Davis, a musician who shares Rent with Mark. Mark has just lost his girlfriend Maureen to another woman, Joanne. Mimi is a dancer and falls in love with Roger. Other characters include Angel, who is a cross-dressing gay drummer, and Tom Collins, who is also gay, a philosophy professor, and Angel’s love interest. All the characters except Mark have AIDS.

The story has been altered a bit to fit contemporary life. Puccini’s La Boheme was based in the late 19th century. Larson rewrote the play and changed the characters to fit the situation in the 1980s. The characters’ names and occupations were changed, but they are a reflection of the original characters. Mimi was a seamstress with tuberculosis in the original, and now she’s a ballerina with AIDS. Rodolfo the poet has become Roger the musician and Marcello the painter is now Mark the filmmaker.

The story brings together people in love, like Mimi and Roger, Angel and Tom, and also Maureen and Joanne. But it also shows the reality that AIDS leads to death no matter what. Angel becomes very ill as the play progresses and dies leaving behind a heartbroken Tom who professes undying love for him at his funeral. At the end of the play, Maureen and Joanne find a sick and delirious Mimi lying in the street and take her to Roger’s apartment. She expresses her love to Roger, who in turn sings her a song he had written inspired by her. After the song, she goes limp and everyone thinks she’s dead, but after a while she wakes up again and claims that she saw Angel telling her to turn around. Roger and Mimi are delighted to be able to meet and everyone remembers that it is important to live each day to the fullest since “there is no day but today”.

Directed by Michael Greif, ‘Rent’ has become something of a musical cult and getting tickets is no easy task. You can get your tickets directly at the Nederlander Theater box office, or book your tickets online or by phone.

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