a brief summary of a loaded history

In order to understand the value, message, and fans of RENT, one must know about its history and its creator, Jonathan Larson. Fans say that this separates the true fans from casual fans. Knowing its history also has a great affect on how the show is received. Therefore, I will attempt to summarize an intense history in a brief post before my final ethnography posting.
Jonathan Larson was an actor, a singer, and a writer. He had talent as a performer ever since he could sing, starring in school musicals even as a child. Determined to go into theater, Jonathan Larson lived a difficult life. He lived in a small, run down apartment in the West Side of New York City, much like the characters of RENT, who live in the East Side. His bathtub was in his kitchen. He had to throw his keys down out his window to visitors, which will ring a bell to anyone who has seen the show – in the first scene, two characters, Mark and Roger, throw their keys down to their roommate Tom Collins. While writing plays, Jonathan worked at the Moondance Diner – minimal pay, but he was getting by. As a friend of Larson’s said in the documentary made when RENT was produced as a movie, “RENT was Jonathan’s dramatization of the life he was living.” He lived the poor, Bohemian lifestyle that his characters lived. Jonathan put everything into his writing, including inspiration from his own life.
Jonathan wrote several failed shows before RENT. None were ever produced. He faced rejection after rejection, but Jonathan never gave up. When the idea for RENT was given to him, by Bill Aronson, Jonathan could see it immediately. The idea was to re-write the opera La Boheme, placing it in modern times. Jonathan chose to set it in the poor areas of New York City, and while the characters in La Boheme suffered from tuberculosis, Jonathan made his characters suffer from AIDS. AIDS was the plague of the late 80’s and 90’s. Everyone in that time knew someone who had AIDS. Jonathan had several friends who died of AIDS; his best friend was a homosexual diagnosed with AIDS.
With inspiration from his friends and his life, Jonathan Larson wrote what would become a huge Broadway hit. RENT was first produced in a three week workshop in the New York Theater Workshop in 1994. In those three weeks, RENT came to life. The actors, who would go on to be the original cast members on Broadway, brought the characters off of the page, onto the stage, and into reality. At the end of those three weeks, the dress rehearsal was opened to an audience, and the audience was moved to a standing ovation.
That night, Jonathan Larson died.
He died of an aortic aneurism due to Marfan’s Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder. The next morning, news of Jonathan’s death spread. As those involved in the show learned of his untimely passing, they all gathered at the theater, in shock. Jonathan Larson would never live to see his dream fulfilled. It was the show’s opening day, but no one wanted to cancel the show – that was the last thing Jonathan would have wanted. Instead, they decided to just sing through the show that night, without acting and staging it. However, the actors couldn’t sing the show sitting down. By the end of the first act, they were out of their seats, performing the show full out. They performed the rest of the show as it was meant to be done, and at the end, the audience was silent. After a few moments of complete silence, one boy in the audience voiced the thought in everyone’s mind when he said, “Thank you Jonathan Larson.”
The show went on to Broadway, without Jonathan. It became everything Jonathan could’ve ever dreamed of and more. His life and death inspired everyone involved in the show. As Wilson Jermaine Heredia, the first actor to play the character Angel, said, “It was really Jonathan’s death that really drew us together.” Every step of the way, they thought of Jonathan and what he would want for the show. Twelve years later, Jonathan Larson’s story is still told, and his show still touches the hearts of millions across America.
True, thoughtful RENT fans know and respect this history. They idolize Jonathan Larson more than any of the actors. After hearing this story, I believe that Jonathan Larson deserves all the respect in the world. He struggled nearly every minute of his life, but he was happy. He never gave up, and he never even lived to see his show performed. And yet, he created a masterpiece that would affect generations after he was gone. A truly inspiring story that could change the way you view the show. Knowing what went into it, that Jonathan Larson literally gave his life to this show, makes me respect the work and the art so much more.
The history I've given you is really just a glimpse of the work that went into the creation of RENT. But hopefully it is enough to gain your respect.
For the creation of RENT, for the unending dedication, for everything he put into his art, only four words can be said: “Thank you Jonathan Larson.”