by Mark Lawry
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
March 25, 1999 |
Now one of the
best-known theaters off-Broadway, the New York Theatre Workshop is also one of the most
innovative. Premieres in
recent years have included Doug Wright's ode to the Marquis de Sade, 'Quills' (seen
locally last year at Stage West) and Paul Rudnick's 'The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,' a
gay retelling of the Bible and the history of the world. The latter shifted to Broadway
early this year.
But what the New York Theatre
Workshop will probably be remembered for most is 'Rent,' a rock opera that it premiered
Feb. 13, 1996.
From there, the story is classic musical success. Rave reviews and packed houses, and
suddenly you're moving to Broadway and busting box-office records for a demographic not
often seen at Broadway's big-time musicals -- Gen X-ers.
Too bad the show's success could not be witnessed by its creator, Johnathan Larson, who
died of an aortic aneurysm weeks before `Rent's' premiere and his 36th birthday.
A modern version of Giacomo Puccini's classic opera 'La Boheme', 'Rent' deserves its
success. Sure, it's musical-fied for the masses, and the score is more pop than rock (the
term "rock musical" is grossly overused; only a handful of musicals -- `The
Rocky Horror Show' and 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' among them -- actually 'rock).' But
that's not to say that it shies away from risk.
More important, 'Rent' is a time capsule, a musical documentary of the 1990s, much like
'Hair' was to the '60s, or better yet, 'La Boheme' to the 1890s. ('Rent' premiered one
century and two weeks after 'Boheme'.) The threat of tuberculosis is replaced by HIV,
bohemian culture in Paris by the same in New York's East Village.
But some things -- love, death, survival -- never change.
Which is why 'La Boheme' remains one of the most popular operas ever and why 'Rent' is
here to stay.
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