The cast of "Rent" portrays a community of musicians, filmmakers, performance artists and other free spirits struggling to realize their dreams amid the hard realities of life in New York's East Village.

"I honestly don't know," he said. "I've seen it in rehearsals and in productions all around the world."

You would think he must enjoy the show a lot, and he does, in a way. Nevertheless, watching the musical - which arrives in Omaha Tuesday for a six-day, eight-performance run - is a bittersweet experience for the retired marketing man.

His son, the show's author, Jonathan Larson, died at age 35 of an aortic aneurysm just as the musical was about to open.

At the time, Larson could only grieve and hope that the show - which would go on to win a slew of awards, including the 1996 Tony Award for best musical and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for best drama - would become a living memorial for his son.

Now that it has, however, Larson finds the blessing mixed.

"It has given me - and my wife and daughter and Jonathan's friends - very mixed emotions," he said. "I'm delighted to see it delivering the message Jon wanted to deliver, but it's a constant reminder that he's not here to enjoy it.

"He worked like a dog for that success.

"You can use all the cliches," Larson said. "In the early days I kept talking about it as bittersweet."

"Rent" is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera "La Boheme," a tragedy of poor artists in love. Mimi, a tubercular seamstress in Puccini's original, becomes an HIV-positive heroin addict in Larson's 1990s version. The poet Rodolfo becomes Roger, an HIV-positive rock musician numb from the suicide of his HIV-positive girlfriend.

The action and settings of "Rent" mirror "La Boheme" throughout.

"The sequencing of events is as closely related as he could make it, because of a different world," Larson said.

"The idea of a modern 'Boheme' was not originally Jonathan's," he said. "He was approached by a playwright who wanted to do a modern-day musical version of 'La Boheme.' So he did a treatment, Jon wrote a few numbers, and they shopped it around."

With no one expressing interest, the project lay fallow until, in 1991, Jonathan Larson revived it on his own.

"As he became aware of the number of people he knew and friends he had who died of AIDS, he wanted to do something to honor them," his father said. "Rent" is the result.

"I think the fact that it continues to enjoy the worldwide success that it is enjoying says more than I can," Larson said. "The weird thing is, it's not just young people that love the show but older people, too, and that's not who he was aiming at."

In fact, "Rent" has been lauded for reinvigorating Broadway theater, although Larson himself shies away from such a claim.

"I care about it because it's part of Jon's legacy, but I leave it to the theater experts to make that kind of a judgment," he said. "To the extent that it helps bring in a newer audience, an audience that wasn't going to the theater, it reinvigorated it - but that kind of process has gone on all along."

The day Jonathan Larson died, his parents got the call in Albuquerque, N.M., about 5 in the morning.

"We were on a plane around 8 a.m.," Larson said.

"That had been supposed to be the day of the first preview performance. They called it off, but the cast decided to do a sing-through for his family and friends.

"The cast initially started doing a sing-through, but by end of the first act they were in character because they couldn't sit still. Beginning in the second act, they acted their way through it.

"When it was over, a voice called out 'Thank you, Jonathan Larson.' "

Larson said the day was mostly a blur. "You kind of go through the motions. But I remember saying, 'I hope the show is a success and becomes a living testimonial to Jonathan.'

"That is what I remember about that night. I don't remember a thing of what I'd just seen.

"Now to an extent that has happened, I've got my wish. And on one hand, it's wonderful. On the other hand, it's a constant needle, because he's not here."

Larson paused for a moment.

"This show has a fine company. I just saw them in California," he said.

"I hope you enjoy it."