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(More customer reviews)I saw both the show on stage and the highly stylized film version and having now experienced this performance, filmed live on Broadway at the end of the show's run, I now truly realize just how short the film version comes to really capturing the essence of what Jonathan Larson created. This high octane, musically innovative and striking show is also a beautiful and heartfelt exploration of youth, both lost and reclaimed; a very poignant portrait of the search for love and compassion, of hope and beauty in a world that everyday recedes deeper into the empty comforts of materialism and social acceptability. An updated version of Puccini's masterpiece La Boheme, Rent is obviously not as shy about not only examining the wounds of its characters but of exhibiting them; its blatant honesty and unapologetic credo of life are a million miles away from the subtle, innocent and elegant sentiments of late 19th century Parisian artists, starving in their garrets while courting muses. Rent is the "black sheep" of the Boheme lineage. It's a piece of theatre that bristles with tenacity in the face of hardship and rejection: No one here is willing to take anything lying down. It's really little wonder it was as critically acclaimed as it was and won the many prestigious awards that it did and reason for that is that it manages to be what few musicals have ever managed to be: Authentic, relevant but, ultimately, profoundly human; a rebellious celebration of life even in the face of addiction, illness and death . Add to that mixture some really first rate music, stellar performances and stage direction (an ingenious arc that fluidly shifts its characters around Manhattan yet all within the confines of a stage that's, for the most part, barren) and you've got one heck of a winning recipe. Rent is the musical for people who think they don't like musicals. It's as far removed from traditional American musical theatre as it possibly can be. It is the heir apparent to the socially relevant, politically conscience and in your face musical experience that was ushered in 40 years ago by the groundbreaking rock musical "Hair." But, of course, the most tragic element about Rent was the premature death of its creator, Jonathan Larson, who, sadly and ironically, died the day before opening night, a few days shy of his 36th birthday. But what a legacy he left us all.
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Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic. RENT is Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical, one of the longest running shows on Broadway.
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