by Bill De Young
Gainesville Sun
January 21, 2000

Shortly before "Rent" was scheduled to open on Broadway in 1996, playwright Jonathan Larson was asked what he would do if his unconventional musical became a smash hit. "I'll probably get cable," he replied.

"Rent" had been drawing raves for its off-Broadway run, but when it reached the big time, it exploded, the way "Hair," "A Chorus Line" and "Les Miserables" had exploded in their time. It sold out for months at a stretch and won a kitchenette-full of awards, including four Tonys (it was named Best Musical) and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical.

And it was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Unfortunately, Jonathan Larson was not around to bask in his show's glory. On Jan. 25, 1996, the night before the first Broadway preview of "Rent," he collapsed and died of an aortic aneuryism. He was 10 days away from his 36th birthday.

A national touring company of "Rent" (there are several) sets up shop at the Center for the Performing Arts this week. The show will run for eight performances between Tuesday and Saturday, Jan. 29.

So what, exactly, is "Rent"? It's perhaps easier to explain what it's not. It is not "Oklahoma!" It is not "Annie Get Your Gun."

Nor is it "Hair," "A Chorus Line" or even "Les Miserables."

Larson spent seven years perfecting his book and music for "Rent," which he considered a "rock opera," in the style of "Tommy" or "Jesus Christ Superstar." It's a contemporary re-working of Puccini's opera "La Boheme," in which the poet Rodolfo falls in love with a doomed seamstress named Mimi.

In "Rent," these characters have become Roger, an HIV-positive rock musician numb from the suicide of his girlfriend, and Mimi, an HIV-positive junkie.

"Rent," then, is about people trying to survive and thrive in the era of AIDS.

While "La Boheme" took place in 1830s Paris, "Rent" is set in New York's East Village, where a group of bohemians are trying to eke out a satisfactory living in a chaotic world. Other in-your-face issues include homelessness, drug addiction, transvestism and sexuality of all varities.

Along with Roger and Mimi, the characters include Maureen, a lesbian performance artist; Joanne, her lawyer companion; Mark, a filmmaker and Maureen's ex-boyfriend; Tom, an HIV-positive philosophy professor; and Angel, an HIV-positive drag queen and street musician.

"Rent" is a theater phenomenon -- according to the New York Times, "it shimmers with hope for the future of the American musical" -- and there are "Rentheads" who follow the touring companies across the country. Newsweek gave it a cover story. The original cast CD was a Top 20 hit.

Still, all who have done the "Rent" thing agree it would have been nice if its composer could have shared in all this success. "It was very clear after Jonathan died that there was an increased sense of urgency about making it as good as we could make it," said director Michael Greif.

"We felt an unusual bond and sense of shared urgency in keeping Jonathan's voice around."