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Jan 3, 2021 · Rent review: scrappy New York musical grows up – and finds its heart and soul. Drama theatre, Sydney Opera House. Director Shaun Rennie lets the characters shine and adds an authenticity that...
- Cassie Tongue
- It's Loosely Based on The 1896 Opera La Boheme.
- To NAB A Role, Adam Pascal Had to Break A Bad Singing habit.
- Larson Didn't Live to See Rent's Success.
- Rent Is in Some Elite Company, Awards-Wise.
- It Pioneered The Broadway Ticket Lottery.
The story of Rent began with playwright Billy Aronson, who moved to Manhattan's Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in 1983. Homelessness was a huge issue in the city at that time, as was the emergence of AIDS, which would affect 1096 new victims by year's end. One night, Aronson caught a performance of La Boheme. The opera, written by the Italian composer...
Pascal played Roger Davis, a musician and ex-junkie with HIV. Though he’d never appeared in a musical before trying out for Rent, the performer—like his character—did have an impressive rock and roll background; he’d spent many years in bands, including one that had recently broken up. But things that work well at concerts don’t always cut it on an...
On January 24, 1996, Rent had its final dress rehearsal at the New York Theatre Workshop, an Off-Broadway venue. By all accounts, the run-through went well, and afterward, Larson sat down for an interview with New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini. When their discussion wrapped up, the composer headed back to his Greenwich Village apartment. The ...
With the impromptu memorial performance behind them, the cast dove into their first public preview on January 26. That April, Rent made the jump to Broadway, where it would remain for the next 12 years. Altogether, Larson’s passion project nabbed four Tony Awards, including the coveted Best Musical. It also took home the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, s...
For many, it can be tough to catch a show on the Great White Way without breaking the bank—but these days, most Broadway productions offer daily ticket lotteries before a performance, with the winners getting the right to buy choice seats at a bargain price. Rentis credited with inventing this concept. According to Seller, he and McCollum felt the ...
- 6 min
Critics' Reviews. See what all the critics had to say about Rent with Broadway World! Read the most influential Rent Broadway and Off-Broadway reviews here!
Feb 25, 2021 · Within weeks, “Rent” had achieved a level of hype that would not be rivaled on Broadway until “Hamilton” almost 20 years later: earning rave reviews (The New York Times’s Ben Brantley said it...
- Eric Grode
Apr 30, 1996 · The final musical entry in the 1995-96 season, “Rent” is the best show in years, if not decades. Larson, on the cusp of 36 when he died of an aortic aneurysm, wrote songs in a wide range of ...
Mar 27, 2022 · Read BWW's critic's review! RENT's 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour, directed by Evan Ensign, is a reminder of the decades of love that this musical has brought to so many people, especially...
Rent (stylized in all caps) is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. Loosely based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village, in the thriving days of the bohemian culture of Alphabet City ...
