It isn't a rock opera.

It isn't a chorus line of homeless people.

It isn't a musical about AIDS.

It isn't a show that has succeeded because of the ironic death of its author.

It isn't even really a show about bohemians, even if it is based on "La Boheme."

What "Rent" is, most simply, is the biggest thing to hit the stage in the 1990s. The 1996 Tony and Pulitzer winner opens an eight-show run at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines on Tuesday. It also plays Feb. 23-28 at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.

The show has become an international phenomenon since its off-Broadway debut three years ago. Besides the current Broadway run, there are two companies touring the United States and more abroad. The original cast album debuted at No. 17 on the Billboard pop charts in 1996 and has been a steady seller ever since.

How about love?

"Rent" was the creation of Jonathan Larson, who wanted to pay tribute to the life struggles of many of his friends. Set in New York's East Village, "Rent" follows a group of friends as they form a family of their own as they cope with poverty, AIDS, creativity and commercialism. The mantra of the show is "Seasons of Love," which is an encouragement to "measure your life in love" rather than minutes, seconds, diapers or speeding tickets.

"The show is very sentimental in an unsentimental way," said producer Kevin McCollum. "It's very direct to the audience. It's not cloying; it's very honest about who these people are."

"Rent" is primarily the story of eight friends, including four who are HIV-positive. Roger and Mimi are in love but can't overcome their various personal crises to commit to each other. In contrast, Collins and Angel find great comfort in their love. Roger's roommate Mark recently lost his girlfriend to another woman, and their former roommate Benny is now trying to kick them out of the apartment building in which they all live and which Benny now owns.

"At the end, it doesn't matter what your politics are," McCollum said. "You might start out thinking, "Oh, I don't know if I'm going to care about these people," but in the end you really do. We all want that sense of family and community in some way, and if we don't, we're probably not going to the theater."

McCollum has been with the show since the beginning, when Larson and his cast of unknowns did a run-through at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994. McCollum and his partner, Jeffrey Seller, had been looking for a musical that had a different kind of appeal than what was currently playing in New York.

McCollum liked what he saw right away.

"When intermission came, I did one of those very cliche things and said, "Let's get out the checkbook," McCollum said.

Later that week, McCollum invited some of his other friends to a preview. When both an investment banker and an artist liked "Rent," the producer knew he was on to something.

"I kept wondering why nobody was trying to steal it from us," McCollum said. "Nobody got it, and I was just nuts about it."

Two songs from that original performance, "Seasons of Love" and "Light My Candle," sound exactly as they were back then. The rest of the show went through extensive rewrites.

"Rent" opened at the Workshop on Feb. 13, 1996. In April, it moved to Broadway. Larson never saw its success. Hours after the final dress rehearsal on Jan. 24, 1996, Larson returned to his apartment and died of an aortic aneurysm.

"The tragic irony of that, I still don't understand," McCollum said. "He should still be here, because he had so much more to give."

Much of the original cast of unknowns went on to more success. Anthony Rapp is currently starring in a Broadway revival of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Taye Diggs co-starred in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." Jesse L. Martin is on "Ally McBeal." Two other cast members have recorded solo albums.