And why should they? Theater is expensive, dull, stodgy, pretentious and definitely unhip. That, at least, is how this ancient art form is viewed by many 20- and 30-something Americans who prefer to spend their money on CDs, concerts and movies.

For the most part, the traditional theater patron since World War II has been gray and wealthy.

But two shows that opened in the 1995-96 Broadway season seriously challenged the status quo and brought in new faces by the thousands.

One, "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk," was an explosive showcase for gifted tap dancers set to hip-hop rhythms. The other was "Rent," Jonathan Larson's rock opera about junkies, transvestites, club dancers, would-be artists and other fringe-dwellers in the East Village.

"Rent" began life as a relatively humble off-Broadway production but became a cause celebre, thanks to an extraordinary number of awards that included the Pulitzer Prize for drama and, after its transfer to Broadway, the Tony Award for Best Musical.

The show also received phenomenal press coverage, much of it focused on the 35-year-old Larson's death of an aortic aneurism just before the show's off-Broadway opening in early 1996. The loss was a shocking, ironic twist that gave it all a tragic, romantic air. Here was a hit musical whose author never saw it take off.

"He wrote about what he knew and he also wanted to write stories for his friends," said Kevin McCollum, one of the show's producers. "He always used to say to me that younger people would go to Broadway if there were stories that would compel them. And he was a Broadway baby. He loved `Gypsy' and `West Side Story' and `Fiddler on the Roof,' and we'd talk about that.

"The thing about `Rent' was, yes, it was inspired by `La Boheme,' but there are issues of urgency. We all have as young people today ... these obstacles, whether it's economic or social."

McCollum said the perception of "Rent" as a show all about AIDS and drug use is wrong.

"It's a story of people," he said. "One is a recovered addict and yet at the same time some of these characters are infected by HIV. Jonathan saw some of his friends who were infected with HIV and he wanted to write a story (that said) these people still have to live. They're not dead. They're alive.

"Jonathan didn't want to write a story about people dying from their disease, but living with their disease. HIV is real but it also becomes another metaphor for all the diseases we have and all the obstacles we have. And no matter what we're living with, we can't afford to become a victim."

In the beginning

McCollum, who besides co-owning a national booking agency in New York is the president of the Ordway Music Theatre in St. Paul, Minn., traces his association with "Rent" to an early-November evening in 1994.

McCollum's producing partner, Jeffrey Seller, talked him into attending a workshop for a new musical called "Rent." McCollum had sat through many a rough-around-the-edges workshop productions, but he went out of curiosity. The idea of a modern musical derived from Puccini's "La Boheme" intrigued him.

"We went to watch the show and sat in the second row of this East Village theater called the New York Theatre Workshop, which I had never been in because it was a new space," McCollum recalled. "And I must say, for the first half-hour ... it was just very, very interesting young characters just sort of singing at us. I didn't quite understand what was really going on.

"Then, about 40 minutes into the show, the song `Light My Candle' happened."

That song was, and is, a duet between two of the show's HIV-positive principals -- Roger, a songwriter and ex-junkie, and Mimi, a heroin addict who dances in an S&M club. The song exists in the show today exactly as McCollum heard it that night.

"After that song I turned to Jeffrey and I went, `Wow,' " McCollum said. "That was a piece of music-theater writing that was actually full; that had a true beginning, middle and end, set up the whole relationship and also made us want them to get together. And I had not seen a piece of music written like that for the stage in a long time.

"At the end of the first act, even though it was very uneven, I turned to Jeffrey and I said, `We should do this.' "

In the following year there were many rewrites. The story was restructured in significant ways. Larson cut some songs and wrote new ones. The result clearly accomplished at least one of Larson's goals -- attracting a young audience.

McCollum, 36, said demographic surveys indicate that 50 percent of the show's audience is under 40 and 20 percent of ticket sales are repeat business. At the same time the show is attracting traditional theatergoers, McCollum said.

"Young people are coming and getting excited about telling stories through music rather than just telling stories on MTV or through films, where everything is resolved with an explosion," McCollum said. "What's good about the theater is we're still in an arena where conflicts are resolved through the persuasion of the human mind and ideas and sensibility and kindness toward one another."

"Rent," of course, isn't the first musical to tap into a young audience. And some in the media have, perhaps inevitably, compared the show to "Hair,"

the 1967 counterculture musical that drew protests for its nudity, language and druggy anti-war agitprop.

"I don't think it's correct," McCollum said. "I think it's closer to the impact of `A Chorus Line' because `Chorus Line' is about this community of people (the audience) didn't really know ... and gave them some insight of what it's like to be on the line. The great thing that made `Chorus Line' work was, yes, they were overcoming all their obstacles but they never became a victim."

"Rent" has become a phenomenal commercial success but McCollum said it was tough to celebrate the show's popularity in the shadow of Larson's death. Instead, the producers found themselves the custodians of a legacy.

"When I meet people who are fans of `Rent' and they talk about what the show means to them, just in terms of how they're moved, you see them sparkle," McCollum said. "And Jonathan had that sparkle.

"He had that innate curiosity and even though he knew the job was difficult he'd go to parties and say, `I'm gonna write the great American musical.' Jonathan knew this was going to change the American musical theater.

"I don't know if it has yet -- we'll leave that to history -- but I do believe it has had a major impact on the musical form. I think `Rent' has broken some barriers in terms of storytelling that we'll see in future musicals.

"And that's good. Change is good."