by Elizabeth Kieszkowski
Honolulu Advertiser
August 3, 2000

Part of the lore of "Rent," the international smash that’s been running on Broadway since 1996, is the tragedy of its author’s untimely death.

"Rent" concerns itself with the fates of struggling modern-day Bohemians in a sometimes-cold city. Challenged by homelessness, AIDS and other threats to their survival, the characters face a tenuous existence.

Jonathan Larson, the author of "Rent," also lived under constrained circumstances on New York’s arty, anarchic lower East Side. And though he didn’t know it, his existence was also tenuous. On the eve of his grand success with "Rent," after seeing its dress rehearsal prompt a standing ovation, Larson died in his apartment, felled by an aortic aneurysm.

Larson, who was born in 1960, moved to the city after college. He paid the rent by working as a waiter. Often, while writing, he went for long stretches without leaving his apartment, eating only spaghetti and cereal. He knew the effort involved in staying true to one’s art: On turning 30, he wrote a one-act rock monologue about the tension involved in growing older and not having "made it," calling the piece "tick, tick . . . BOOM!"

"As he was working on this, he had a number of friends and acquaintances who were stricken with AIDS," added his father, Al Larson. "Jonathan wanted to do something to acknowledge their lives."

The senior Larson came out of retirement after his son’s death to help oversee affairs connected with "Rent." He remembers Jonathan not as a prodigy, but as a prankster who cared almost exclusively about the theater.

Larson sacrificed to stay true to his desire, to make art and make an impact. "As far as I was concerned, it would have been the height of insolence to question that," his father said. "Here was a man who was doing exactly what he wanted to do."