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| by Julie York Coppens South Bend Tribune October 1, 2000 |
Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” premiered, almost to the day, 100 years after Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème.” Given the passage of time, not to mention Larson’s relocating the love story of Mimì and Rodolfo from Paris to New York’s East Village, how similar could the opera and the rock opera actually be? Pretty similar, it turns out. Not only did Larson lift the basic plot, settings and most of his characters from “La Bohème” (libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica), but he picked up some minor plot points and even lines (“They call me Mimi”) verbatim. Aside from these superficial connections, both “Rent” and “Bohème” are celebrations of youth, life, creativity and community, in a world that seems to have lost touch with these values. “There’s only this. There’s only us ... No day but today,” the “Rent” company sings — a feeling the characters of “Bohème” express in their own way time and again. Of course, none of this discounts the deceased Larson’s creativity; on the contrary, the similarities between “Rent” and the 100 year old opera that inspired it only highlight Larson’s achievement in creating a musical so ofthe moment, so in tune with the 1990s’ premillennial zeitgeist, that it became a sensation. Four years later, people — especially young people — are still lining up to experience it. A hundred years from now, will “Rent” enjoy the position in the musical theater repertory that “La Bohème” has among operas? In the bohemian spirit, we’ll put aside that question for the time being. This week, “Rent” comes to the Morris Performing Arts Center. Viva la vie bohème.
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