A STUDY GUIDE

Jeffrey Seller Kevin McCollum Allan S. Gordon

and New York Theatre Workshop

present

Book, Music and Lyrics by

JONATHAN LARSON
Director

MICHAEL GREIF
Study Guide by
Peter Royston

Study Guide Art Direction and Design by

Sally Cato
 1

Find Glory uth like a blazing fire

that rings true Tr
In a song

OUT
AB

With RENT, his fresh and ground-breaking new musical, Jonathan Larson wanted to find a true song for his
generation, to attract young people back to the experience of live theatre. In the pulse of its rock score, RENT
sings of our time, of facing an uncertain future with courage, humor, loyalty and love.

The story of passionate young artists struggling to survive with their ideals intact, RENT is Giacomo Puccini’s
classic 1896 opera, La Boheme, yanked into the ‘90s, kicking and screaming for joy. RENT reaches into the
past while putting the questions facing us today on the musical stage: How do I connect? Where is my com-
munity? What is a family? How do I deal with homelessness and poverty? Cynicism and indifference? How do I
keep my ideals? How do I measure my life?

“The rock lyric is a literary form...a powerful and versatile new word style to match the new music, expressive
of any feeling from despair to ecstasy, of any social comment...” (Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., The Best Plays of 1969-
1970) With RENT, Jonathan Larson follows the path set by shows of that era such as Hair and Jesus Christ
Superstar, both of which used rock music to tell the stories of that generation, while continuing the legacy of
early classics like Show Boat and Oklahoma!. In RENT, the characters sing, “How do you leave the past
behind, when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?”, but Larson had no intention of leaving the past
behind. RENT is startlingly up-to-the-minute while respecting traditional forms; Larson was influenced by Kurt
Cobain and De La Soul as well as by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. This study guide explores
RENT as a literary form as well as a musical one, a work worthy of serious study as well as being a
roaring good time.

The idea of community runs through RENT, not only connecting the different threads of the story, but connect-
ing the narrative on stage with the backstage tale of RENT’s creation. RENT offers a vision of the members of a
community finding themselves stronger together than apart.

The lyricist Oscar Hammerstein said “the most important word in theatre is collaboration.” To see a
production about a community of young people finding common strength, created by a community of theatrical
artists, can be a valuable and moving educational tool. And it can’t hurt that RENT tells its story with clever,
intelligent lyrics and a fiery rock beat! Too many young people have abandoned live theatre in favor of film,
television and music videos. Jonathan Larson wanted to make the American musical attractive to young peo-
ple again, “to bring musical theatre to the MTV generation.”

In his review of RENT in Variety, Jeremy Gerard said that the show “more clearly and more defiantly than any
other in recent memory, points the American musical toward the future.” More than anything, Larson wanted
young people to be part of that future.
2

LA VIE BOHEME
To days of inspiration, playing hooky, “Bohemian: a person (as a writer or
making Something out of nothing, an artist) living an unconvent-
the need to express - ional life, usually in a colony with
to Communicate, others...”
To going against the grain,
going insane, going mad Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary, 10th Edition

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Explore the world of the bohemians: artists who purposely cut themselves off from society.
• Introducing Giacomo Puccini and Henry Murger, whose work influenced the creation of RENT.
• Who are the bohemians today?

The name was originally given to the gypsies of the 15th century - wandering adventurers who were thought to
have come from the middle European kingdom of Bohemia, but truly had no permanent home. By the early
19th century, struggling artists would adopt their name as a badge of honor. Like the gypsies, they would cre-
ate their own homes, their own communities, their own
families.

Over the centuries, Bohemia has had many capitals:

Paris’ Latin Quarter, New York’s Greenwich Village,
Harlem or the East Village, San Francisco’s Haight
Ashbury, or simply “on the road.” But, true to its origins,
Bohemia is never in one place for long. It lives in the
hearts and heads of people who dare to cherish
their own invention and audacity over the conventions
of society.

PUCCINI and LA BOHEME

How do you leave the past behind,
When it keeps finding ways
to get into your heart,
It reaches way down deep
and tears you inside out‘,
Til you’re torn apart
He was baptized Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele
Secondo Maria Puccini. Born on December 22, 1858
into a family of musicians and composers, young Puccini
was expected to take his father’s place as head organist
at St. Martino, the cathedral of Lucca, Italy.
 3

At 17, he began writing his own pieces for the organ. He surprised and sometimes annoyed churchgoers by
incorporating pieces of popular operas and folk songs into the traditional music - as if bits of Bob Dylan or
Stephen Sondheim were mixed into the most religious hymns. Thus began his life-long passion for mixing high
and low culture, the romantic with the realistic, the sacred with the profane. He said, “The only music I can
compose is of little things.”

He drifted away from the quiet life of an organist, finding himself attracted to opera, where emotions were so
strong they had to be sung. In 1883, after three years at Milan University, he was encouraged to enter his
first full opera, Le Villi (1884), in a competition sponsored by a large music publishing company. Although it did
not win, it gained him notice as a young composer with promising talent. He continued to compose, being
drawn more and more to the potential theatricality of opera.

It was his third opera, Manon Lescaut (1893), which gained him critical acclaim - he was hailed as a young
genius. Encouraged to experiment, he began to work on an opera based on a French novel by Henry Murger
(1822-1861) called Scenes de la vie de boheme. Murger’s novel, a raw and gritty description of the lives of
young artists, had been the literary sensation of Paris. Murger was essentially writing about his own life, just
as Jonathan Larson did with RENT. His bohemians live for their work, thinking only of the here and now.

Murger understood the attractions and dangers of the artistic community. He described Bohemia as “the pref-
ace to the hospital, the morgue or the Academy.” (The Academy was the pantheon of artists and intellectuals).
In other words, the poor life was a kind of crucible in which artists could be fire tested and either destroy
themselves or become famous. How does Larson show this process in RENT?

Puccini strove to mix the realism of Murger’s novel with his own lyric and emotional music. Throughout the
opera, now called La Boheme, comedy mixes easily with tragedy. The songs have a conversational tone.
Puccini was trying to achieve the rhythms of real life, balancing the romantic with the modern.
He was entering a new
century, writing an opera
about real people, poor
people, not kings and
queens.

Puccini’s La Boheme had

its world premiere at the
Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy,
on February 1, 1896. One
hundred years later, almost
to the month, RENT, a
“rock opera” about strug-
gling young artists, began
its run at the New York
Theatre Workshop.
1
 1

Geraldine Ferrar as Mimi

in a 1931 production of
La Boheme

Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi

in the original Broadway
production of RENT

Opposite page :
Giacomo Puccini (on the
left) and La Boheme’s
lyricists Luigi Illica
and Giuseppe Giacosa
6

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

FREDI WALKER
• What is opera? How is it different from musical theatre?
• How does Larson intertwine Puccini’s music throughout the music of RENT?
Larson said, “I analyzed the libretto, broke it down beat by beat. Who would
these characters be in my world? That’s what I kept asking.” If you can, study a
libretto of La Boheme while listening to the score. How does Larson mirror Puccini? How do they differ? More
important - why do you think they differ?
• Puccini was known as the leading composer of the style known as verismo. This style was standard for the Italian
operas of the late 19th century. In verismo, the plot is contemporary, the characters are often poor, the action is often
violent and harsh. Some examples of the verismo style are Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (1890), and Pagliacci
by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1892). Study more about this style, and relate it to RENT - how does RENT use the verismo style?

ZEL
IDINA MEN

ESOURCES:

Texts:
r Englander. Walker and Company, NY, 1983.
Opera - What’s All the Screaming About? by Roge
Peter Gammond. Arco Publishing, NY, 1980.
An Illustrated Guide to Composers of Opera by
rev.ed. 1988.
Opera as Drama by Joseph Kerman. California,
er, 1972
The Magic of Opera by Merrill J. Knapp. Harp
anyone wishing to
opera magazine and an essential resource for
OPERA NEWS is the world’s largest circulation wher e today ’s leading music
issue takes you behind the scenes,
learn more about this glorious art form. Every a and its rising youn g stars. As a
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(212) 769-7070; or e-mail: circulation@operanew
ators ” price .
that you want the special “students and educ
 7

Original sheet music from La Boheme (including a self-portrait doodle by Puccini)

8

FINDING A FAMILY:
THE ARTIST AND SOCIETY

To being an us - for once

Instead of a them
La Vie Boheme

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Why are we attracted to stories of young, struggling artists?
• Compare the artists in RENT to those in classic texts, which may be in your curriculum.
• Students can ask and answer the question: what is an artist? Emphasis is given to personal
opinion and thought over dictionary definitions.
ANTHONY RAPP AND JESSE L. MARTIN

In his biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the

American writer Henry James describes the
importance of community to art: “the best
things come as a general thing, from the
talents that are members of a group; every
man works better when he has companions
working in the same line, and yielding the
stimulus of suggestion, comparison and
emulation.”

Throughout history, artists have come together

to share ideas, but the 19th and 20th centuries
saw new types of artists, who lived their lives
as if they were creating works of art, and
placed themselves purposely on the outskirts of
society, outside of the “mainstream.” They
renamed themselves, remade themselves, say-
ing to the world, as Maureen sings in RENT,
“Take me for what I am.”

In RENT, Mark sings, “Is anyone in the main-

stream?” The bohemians that Puccini and
Larson portray consciously thrive on the out-
skirts of the norm. Are such rebels necessary?
Are they more effective outside or within the “mainstream”? Many artists throughout history, such as
Shakespeare and Leonardo Da Vinci, have worked within the mainstream, usually for a patron who subsidized
their work. But the artists in La Boheme and in RENT place themselves intentionally on the fringes of society.
Think about it: as RENT opens, Mark and Roger are broke, but they have families to fall back on. Roger sings,
“Some life we’ve chosen”; they’ve chosen to live the way they do. Why?
 9

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

• Compare the young artists in RENT to the struggling artists in these novels and poems:
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses by James Joyce
- Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
- Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- The Dharma Bums and On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg
• Why are we attracted to stories of artists - their lives and their struggles?
• How has the role of the artist changed throughout the 20th century? How have events in the 20th century
changed the nature of art and the artist? Use your studies, (or check out The Timetables of American
History, Laurence Urdang, Editor, Touchstone Press, NY, 1981). Create a time-line and let the events of
history and politics stand side by side with events of the arts.

• The new and exciting work that modern artists present has gained the term “avant-garde.” The term comes
from a French military term meaning “vanguard,” or the regiments that lead the rest of the army. Why do think
this term has come to mean new and modern art? Why a military term? How does this term relate to Mark’s
statement in RENT, “The opposite of war isn’t peace... it’s creation!”

• Make your own version of the song “La Vie Boheme.” Make a list of people who inspire you, or events that
have been important in your life. Don’t think about it too much - just list the first people you think of who are
important to you. Afterwards, pool your list with other students. With your class or group, write a collective
poem, song or rap using your inspirations - an anthem about your generation.

• What is an artist? Don’t worry about the dictionary definition: what is an artist to you? What is the
responsibility of the artist to society? What is the responsibility of society to the artist?
WILSON JERMAINE HEREDIA AND JESSE L. MARTIN

on,
A little rebheelnl,i
now and t
is a good thing. n
- Thomas Jefferso
10

AND COMMUNITY
ALIENATION

How do you connect

in an age
Where strangers,
landlords,lovers,

WILSON JERMAINE HEREDIA

Your own blood cells
betray?

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Students will be encouraged to ask: what is a
ANTHONY RAPP

community? What is a family? Again, standard

definitions will be put aside in favor of
personal exploration and discussion.
• Students will explore the importance of
community and alienation throughout RENT.
• Discuss how communities will change in the
future with the Internet and the
World Wide Web.

t i o n s,
i c na n
m o c r at ratio
n g de w gene e.” 5)
“Amoeach ne w peopql ille (1
83

a ne xis de Toc uev

is - Al
e
-

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

• You’ve read about “community” throughout this guide, but what is community? Getting the dictionary defini-
tion is easy (“a unified body of individuals,” “a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living
together within a larger society” - Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate), but your definition is more important. Is it
a place where you feel welcome? Where your ideas and judgments are valued? How is your definition differ-
ent from the dictionary meaning? How can you relate these definitions to the different communities in RENT?
 U
I SHOULD TELL YO
U
I SHOULD TELL YO 11

• Write an editorial about alienation. Remember,

it’s not enough simply to describe the prob-
lem - offer solid solutions to the problems of
indifference and alienation.

• Consider that the words “community” and

“communication” have the same root: the
Latin word communis, meaning “common.”
Think about what the characters in RENT
have in “common.” What is the relationship
between community and communication?
ADAM PASCAL AND DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA

• Alienation is, in essence, the opposite of communication. In RENT, Roger spends half a year in his apart-
ment after learning he is HIV positive - separating himself from the world. Even when Mimi coaxes him out,
they hesitate to truly communicate. Find instances in RENT when true communication happens between
characters. What is the result? Find instances when alienation occurs between characters. What is the result?
• What are the different communities in RENT (i.e. the artists, the homeless, the drug addicts, the police, etc.)?
How do the different communities relate to each other? How does Larson reveal and describe the different
communities with distinct musical styles?
• Who are the members of your family? Sounds like a strange question, but beyond your relatives, you proba-
bly have friends, teachers, even people you respect but may not even know, whom you consider “family.”
With this in mind, redefine what “family” means to you, and create your own personal family tree.

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THAT NIGHT • CONNECTION - IN AN ISOLATING AGE

FOR ONCE THE SHADOWS GAVE WAY TO LIGHT • FOR ONCE I DIDN’T DISENGAGE.
• How is your class like a community?
Your school? How can you make them
more like a community?
• Today new kinds of communities are
forming on-line, through the Internet and
World Wide Web. As we enter the 21st
century, how do you think the Internet
will change how people relate to one
another? You can discuss how you felt
about RENT on the musical newsgroup,
or check out facts and figures on the offi-
cial RENT web site (www.siteforrent.com).
But don’t forget! A computer is only a tool
and it can’t take the place of real com-
munity. In RENT, Tom Collins preaches
“actual reality” - dealing with the joys and
sorrows of real life vs. virtual reality. As
y’s
the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said,
co untr a
“Through our scientific genius, we ur ng
me in o revea li ing
have made this world a neighborhood;
v e a ti gns o f so me th . ”
now through our moral and spiritual i i r
i vi sh ow s s ti te fo t o tell 96
s
development, we must make it a broth- o d
erhood.”
“A t s e , RENT p ed appe o early mes , 3 /2/
r p to Ti
cu ltu ge, u nta . It’s New Yo rk
lar er h,
bett k R ic k
-Fr an
JONATHAN LARSON
and THE CREATION OF RENT

ong
One s y
Glor g
on
One s I go
e
Befor song
One behind
ave
to le

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Explore the life and death of Jonathan Larson, the creator of RENT.
• See the creation of a theatrical work such as RENT as the work of a tightly knit community.
 Jonathan, age four, with
his parents Al and Nan.

Jonathan on his bicycle,

age five.

Jonathan performing
in “SUBURBIA” at the
Village Gate, 1989.
14

JANUARY 25, 1996: James Nicola, Artistic Director

of The New York Theatre Workshop looked out at the
150 seat auditorium that made up his East Village the-
atre. “I don’t want to welcome you here tonight. I
don’t want to be here at all under these conditions,”
he said to the packed house. What had been planned as
the first public performance of a new musical called
RENT had become part private performance, part
mourning ritual. The show’s young composer, Jonathan
Larson, had died suddenly of a heart aneurysm. The
stunned company of RENT, along with Larson’s family
and friends, had come to celebrate the life of a man
many believed had been ready to set the aging
institution, American Musical Theatre, joyfully on fire.

I’ve got these melodies

in my head
Jonathan Larson, who writes so truthfully of New York’s
East Village life in RENT, grew up in a typical American
suburb: White Plains, New York, about an hour north of
New York City. Like Mark and Roger in RENT, Larson
left the security of the suburbs for the exhilarating
energy of the city.

He had studied theatre. He won a full drama scholarship to

Adelphi University in Long Island, NY, but his father
remembered the moment when his son realized that music
would be his life: “He took one music theory course in high
school and that was it. He told his teacher, ‘I’ve got these
melodies in my head and I have to get them out.”

With those melodies still buzzing through his head, he

moved to NY’s East Village, ready to make a life as a
songwriter by hook or by crook.

Larson lived in a 4th floor walk-up in the SoHo (short for

“south of Houston St”) section of Manhattan. The bath-
room was in the kitchen and, just like Mark and Roger in
RENT, he had to lower the key down to visitors on the
street.

From here on in
I shoot without a script
Larson wrote songs whenever and wherever he could. In
1990 he presented an autobiographical rock monologue
called Tick...Tick...BOOM! about a young man, played by
Larson himself, torn between writing commercial jingles
Stage Managers prompt pages from RENT or serious musicals.
 15

Jonathan Larson was gaining a reputation as

a songwriter who used modern music and
modern language to tell modern stories. In
the audience of Tick...Tick...BOOM! in 1990
was Jeffrey Seller, who would later produce
RENT: “I was 25 years old, and I was blown
away by the emotional impact of this
piece, and by the fact that I was watching
musical theatre about real people.”

The only thing to do

Is jump over the moon
RENT began life in a conversation between
Larson and his friend, Billy Aronson. An
opera buff, Aronson proposed a modern
American version of Puccini’s La Boheme.
The idea excited Larson - here was a canvas
big enough for his ambitious dreams. In
1968, the musical Hair had put the counter-
culture on the musical stage with a brash
rock score. With this new project, Larson
envisioned a Hair for the ‘90s. Too many
young people had abandoned live theatre for
film and music videos. He wanted “to bring
musical theatre to the MTV generation.”

Larson began to work through the beginnings

of RENT with Aronson, but their visions for the
show soon diverged. Aronson saw the project
as an ironic satire of the New York elite. But
several of Larson’s friends had died of AIDS
and Larson wanted this new show to honor
not only their deaths, but their courage in
living life to the fullest, ‘til the end.

To riding your bike,

midday past the three
piece suits
In 1992, Larson was riding his bike through
the East Village when he rode by the New
York Theatre Workshop on East 4th street.
“He saw the construction, stuck his head in
the theatre and knew immediately that this
was the perfect spot for RENT,” James
Nicola later said.

Larson sent Nicola a script and a tape of

several songs. Nicola had “an immediately-
positive response. I felt that this was an
amazingly talented pop song writer.” He Stage Managers prompt pages from RENT
 16

offered Larson the most valuable gift you can put before an artist: “a place to work.” Larson worked with Nicola
and company for two years, fine tuning the show.

With a home for his work and a family of artists offering support, Larson poured his passion into RENT.
The New York Theatre Workshop allowed Larson to encounter a community of nurturing artists (the mission of
the New York Theatre Workshop is to “nurture individual artists and develop their work”). RENT itself became
more about a community than single individuals. Nicola later said, “RENT would not have emerged without the
seeds in this soil. The sense of a community of artists as a healing force is our theme. And it became the play’s
theme.”

“Originally, we felt the whole piece was too 19th century for a 20th century story. Like La Boheme, it centered
on Roger and Mimi, surrounded by subplots. We thought it would be more interesting, and democratic, to see
the struggle of a community. Mimi and Roger are still the main lovers, but we brought the other love stories
up front. The challenge was to make a community of people the protagonist of the play.”

“What do you want?”

In 1994, Jeffrey Seller, who had stayed in contact with Larson since Tick...Tick...BOOM!, came to see an initial
reading of RENT with another young producer, Kevin McCollum. It was a rough work-through of the piece, with

Find
Glory
in a song that rings true
truth like a blazing fire
an eternal flame

Find
one song
a song about love
Glory
From the soul of a young man
A young man
ADAM PASCAL AND DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA

DAPHNE RUBIN VEGA

AND ADAM PASCAL

few costumes, little lighting and scraps of a set. Still, they could feel the power of the show. Their response
was “through the roof.” Later they brought in another partner, Allan Gordon, who was also wildly enthusiastic
about the show.
 17

McCollum remembers: “At the end of Act I, I went over to Jonathan and asked, ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘A
full production.” And when I said, ‘Okay,’ he thought I was joking. ‘Shouldn’t you see the second act?’ he asked.’”

“All the ingredients were there at the first workshop,” says Seller, “the viscerally moving characters, the emo-
tion, the music, God knows...we immediately said we would like to help realize a full production of RENT.”

Rehearsals began for the full production of RENT, scheduled to open in late January, 1996 at the New York
Theatre Workshop. Larson was in the thick of rehearsals, casting, constantly reworking the show.

Stage Managers prompt pages from RENT

JONATHAN LARSON

Twice during dress rehearsal week, always a fran-

tic, stressful time, Larson had complained of chest
pains. He was taken to local hospitals, diagnosed
with food poisoning or the flu, and sent home. On
January 25, 1996, he left rehearsal after an inter-
view with The New York Times, running a fever and
still experiencing chest pains.

Late that night, his roommate came home and

found his body on the kitchen floor. Jonathan
Larson was gone.

“I sit every night in that theatre and think about

what was to come that’s now denied to us,” says
James Nicola, “Thirty years of great theatre have
been lost.”
18

HEATRE: AN AMERICAN SOUND

MUSICAL T
“RENT should appeal to anyone who likes
old-fashioned musical story-telling.
It’s a rock opera, but structurally .
it’s a traditional work.”
-Kevin McCollum

ANTHONY RAPP AND

ADAM PASCAL

WILSON JERMAINE HEREDIA

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION AND JESSE L. MARTIN

• Investigate musical theatre as a uniquely American art form.

• Study the golden age of songwriting, when songwriters created an
American sound.
• Explore how Jonathan Larson continues this tradition with RENT.
• Investigate how Larson uses music in RENT to create characters,
mood, conflicts, and move the story.

Jonathan Larson loved rock and roll’s infectious beat and its potent emotion, but recognized that musical
theatre needed songs that told stories, and moved characters through those stories.

Listen to your favorite song, whether by Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Sheryl Crow or Smashing Pumpkins. How
does it make you feel? Does it tell a story, or just express a feeling? Do the lyrics create a character? Does the
character change through the song?

With RENT, Larson combined the rhythms of popular music with the traditional story-telling forms of musical
theatre.

RENT is the latest in a tradition of musical theatre and songwriting that began more than a century ago.
Here is a very brief overview of the work that influenced RENT and resources for further research and
discovery. The musical theatre, like jazz, is a uniquely American art form that has influenced artists
throughout the world. In your research, explore how musical theatre has changed as the culture has
changed, culminating in RENT.
 19

TIN PAN ALLEY (THE LANGUAGE OF THE STREET)

The early part of this century was a golden age of song-writing. Tin Pan Alley song-writers ( so nick-named
because the sound of dozens of pianos all playing at once heard through the open windows on West 28th
street, Music Publishers Row, sounded like crashing tin pans) such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Oscar
Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers, George M. Cohan, George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter wrote songs
that were witty, sharp, elegant, and used the language of the streets, moving away from old-fashioned
European standards and finding what Gerald Mast, author of Can’t Help Singin’: The American Musical On
Stage and Screen, called, “a more informal, colloquial, American sound.”

In her review of RENT, Margo Jefferson of The New York Times said, “Once upon a time, American musicals
were fresh and daring, eager to take the culture’s temperature and catch its tempo.” For these Tin Pan Alley
song writers, the world around them was inspiration.

At the turn of the century, with radio, film and television still only dreams of the future, Tin Pan Alley sold its
songs through sheet music. In order to entice the public to buy a particular song, music publishers had it sung
in bars, taverns, street corners - and in theatres. In the emerging Broadway theatre, Tin Pan Alley found a per-
fect audience. The songs were urbane and witty, but remained unintegrated. That is, they could easily stand
alone outside the musicals. These shows were really created to showcase the songs.

ESOURCES:

The Poets of Tin Pan Alley:

A History of America’s Great
Lyricists by Philip Furia.
Oxford Press, NY, 1990.

Can’t Help Singin’:

The American Musical on
Stage and Screen by Gerald
Mast. Overlook Press,
Woodstock, NY, 1987.

125 Years of Musical Theatre

by Hollis Alpert. Arcade
Publishing, NY, 1991.

American Musical Theatre: A

Chronicle by Gerald Bordman. ANTHONY RAPP AND ADAM PASCAL
Oxford University Press, NY,
1978.
20

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

• Listen to these songs from Tin Pan Alley composers. Keep in mind that these songs were often used in
several Broadway shows regardless of the story. A show’s story wasn’t as important as the wit and beauty
(and profit value) of the songs.

Irving Berlin - “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (1946)

Rodgers & Hart - “Manhattan” (1920) IRVING BERLIN

Cole Porter - “Let’s Misbehave” (1927)

“Night And Day” (1932)
“You’re the Top” (1934)
“It’s De-Lovely” (1936)

George and Ira Gershwin - “Someone To Watch Over Me” (1926) RODGERS & HART
“I Got Rhythm” (1930)

• Compare these songs to songs in RENT in terms of how the lyricists use language, rhyme, how they refer to
events of the day.

• The lyricist Yip Harburg (who wrote such classics as “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “Brother, Can You
Spare A Dime?”) once said, “Words make you think thoughts. Music makes you feel a feeling. But a
song makes you feel a thought.” What does he mean? Listen to the songs in RENT. How do they make
you feel a thought?

MUSIC AND LYRICS

Musical theatre changed in 1927, when Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern wrote a musical called Show
Boat, based on Edna Ferber’s 1926 novel about life in America after the Civil War. It was the first musical to
present rousing song and dance numbers while exploring serious subjects like race relations, alcoholism and
child abandonment. Most important, the
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN
songs were integrated into the story; they
moved the story along and helped to define
the characters. In his book “Broadway
Musicals” (Abradale Press, NY, 1984), Martin
Gottfried states that Hammerstein’s lyrics
allowed the audience to “keep the story in
mind while enjoying the musical numbers.”

In 1943, Hammerstein worked with composer

Richard Rodgers on Oklahoma!. Everything in
the show, every song, every line, every dance,
was used to advance the story. And, since the
show was a great hit, with songs like “Oh,
What A Beautiful Morning” and “People Will
Say We’re In Love,” the sound of musical
theatre changed.
 DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION
• Listen to recordings (or, if you’re lucky, see a production!) of one of these Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals:
Oklahoma! (1943)
Carousel (1945)
South Pacific (1949)
The King and I (1951)
The Sound of Music (1959)

• How are the songs integrated into the story? Compare these shows to RENT - how does Larson integrate the
songs into the story? How do the songs move the story of the musical along - how do they help create the
characters?

• How does Jonathan Larson use the different meanings of the word “rent” in RENT?

• Chicken or the egg question: What is more important, the music or the lyrics?

“What drew Jonathan and me together in a philosophical place was the belief
in how tragic it was that pop music and theatre music had gotten a divorce.
I felt he was the first composer I had run into to do something about it.”
- James Nicola

“Once upon a time, musical theatre was the contemporary music. Somewhere along
the way, the Broadway sound became an art form unto itself, as opposed to
something applicable to the world around it.”
- George Wolfe, Producer, New York Shakespeare Festival (in USA Today 3/29/96)
 • Study the recent history of musical theatre. Why have the past 30 years seen the rise and success of musi-
cals that deal with timely problems and issues? Listen to recordings of these musicals. How do they deal with
contemporary issues?

West Side Story (1957) Jesus Christ Superstar (1971)

Cabaret (1966) The Wiz (1975)
Hair (1968) A Chorus Line (1975)
Company (1970) Runaways (1978)
Follies (1971) Working (1978)
Godspell (1971) Merrily We Roll Along (1981)
Assassins (1990)

• Choose a rock or rap song that you like. Would it work in a musical? Does it tell a story or simply set a mood or a
feeling? Take 10 of your favorite songs, by the same or different artists. Try to string them together into a story.

• In RENT, how does Jonathan Larson use and mix these different musical genres:
rock
soul
gospel
R&B
rap
reggae
punk rock
torch song
tango
ballad
call and response

• How does Jonathan Larson use changing meter, rhythm patterns and beats to create char-
acters and move the story?

• Why are composers attracted to classic works as the inspiration for modern musicals?

• List classic novels, poems or movies that you think would make good musicals.
Describe your reasons for picking these works. How would you translate your
classics onto the musical stage? What would the music sound like? What
would the set and costumes look like? How would you create the atmosphere
of the original work? Would you change the time period of the piece, as Larson
has done with RENT?

• Write a personal music philosophy statement: what kinds of music do you

like, and why?

“I think RENT talks to a culture

that can no longer sing and needs
to learn that music, and following
one’s voice, regardless of the
WILSON
odds, heals the soul.”
WILSON JERMAINE HEREDIA
AND
AND IDINA
IDINA MENZEL
MENZEL - Producer Kevin McCollum
 23

ESOURCES

MUSICAL THEATRE WEBSITES:

-Theatre Direct International -

http://www.theatredirect.com

-Playbill.com - http://www.playbill.com

-RENT website
http://www.siteforrent.com

TEXTS:

-RENT by Jonathan Larson, William

Morrow, NY, 1997

LEFT TO RIGHT:
ADAM PASCAL
ANTHONY RAPP
DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA
24

NO DAY BUT TODAY:

LIVING WITH DEATH
There’s
There’s only
only us
us
There’s
There’s only
only this
this
Forget
Forget regret
regret
Or
Or life
life is
is yours
yours toto miss
miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today

JESSE L. MARTIN AND ADAM PASCAL

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Explore how Jonathan Larson used the AIDS crisis as an inspiration for RENT, just as Murger
and Puccini had used tuberculosis in the 19th century.
• Using the toast in the song “La Vie Boheme,” “To living with, not dying from disease,” dis-
cuss the courage and support needed to live with disease.
• Explore the need, in life and literature, for grief and ritual mourning.

“With this work, I celebrate my friends and the many others who continue to
fulfill their dreams and live their lives in the shadow of AIDS. In these
dangerous times, where it seems the world is ripping apart at the seams,
we can all learn how to survive from those who stare death squarely in the
face every day, and we should reach out to each other and bond as a community,
rather than hide from terrors at the end of the millennium.”
-Jonathan Larson

How do you continue to live in the shadow of death? When he wrote Scenes de la vie de boheme, Henry
Murger was reacting to the death of many of his friends from tuberculosis, just as Jonathan Larson later
wanted to record the lives of his friends living with AIDS in RENT. But Larson explores in depth what Murger
and Puccini only touch on: the great courage of those “living with, not dying from, disease.”

FRIENDS IN DEED
When Larson’s childhood friend, Matthew O’Grady, learned that he was HIV positive, he went with Larson to a
support group called Friends In Deed. “Jonathan came with me to the meeting and held my hand,” O’Grady
remembers, “He went through this with me.”
 25

Although Larson had no way of knowing that his own life would be cut short, watching his friends deal with
illness gave him a new outlook on life. A friend, Edward Rothstein says: “Somehow, Jonathan found the nerve
to keep working in the diner, to be true to his art, to realize that life was to be lived a day at a time. How could
he kvetch about his struggles when friends were dying?”

Friends In Deed was founded by the director Mike Nichols and Cynthia O’Neal to provide emotional, spiritual
and psychological support to anyone affected by a life-threatening illness, primarily HIV/AIDS and cancer. The
former director of development, Robert McNamara says, “The premise that guides Friends is that no one
should be ill without strong, loving, emotional and spiritual support. It is through this support that people
find the psychological well-being that improves and often extends life.”

Every week, a large group (called

the Big Group) meets, where
people can express their fears, ht my candle?”
ou lig
their pride and gather strength “Would y
from the community. McNamara:
“By seeing our work first-hand,
Jonathan was able to capture the
essence of what Friends is all
about. That’s why the song ‘No
Day But Today,’ feels like an
anthem.”

One of the guiding principles at

Friends In Deed is, ...“when I
am in good shape, and you’re
having a difficult time, I’ll
support you. When the reverse is
true, you’ll support me. One of
the most healing things we can
DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA AND ADAM PASCAL
do for ourselves is service.”
Consider this in regards to RENT. How do the different characters support each other?

Consider that communication is a form of healing.

JESSE L. MARTIN, ANTHONY RAPP AND TAYE DIGGS If you’re in the New York area and wish to attend a Big Group
meeting, Friends In Deed welcomes visitors. Call or write to
them for more information at:

FRIENDS IN DEED, INC.

594 Broadway, Suite 706
New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212-925-2009
Fax: 212-925-2688
web-site: http://www.stepstones.com/friends

If you live outside the New York area, visit a local support
group for AIDS or cancer patients. How is their
community like the “Life Support” group that Larson created in RENT? How do you create a life when death
can come at anytime? Just as an artist makes “something out of nothing,”as Mark sings, someone with a
serious disease must create a new kind of life. In RENT, this is done with a support group, surrounded by
supportive friends, singing, “there’s only us.”
26

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

• After Larson’s death, the company gathered at the New York Theatre Workshop for a private performance.
Discuss funeral rituals from different societies, and how people come together after a friend has died. How
does ritual comfort the living? How do the characters in RENT remember the dead? How do communities
come together to mourn the dead? How does the sense of community in RENT help the
characters to cope with the fear and inevitability of death?

Five hundred twenty five thousand

Six hundred minutes

How can you measure the life

Of a woman or a man?
• Discuss the need for grief and ritual mourning. How do the characters in RENT create rituals to deal with their
grief, and remember those who died?

• Write a year-long journal, describing your life and the important moments. Can you answer Larson’s “How
do you measure a year in the life?”

• The Latin phrase carpe diem means, “Seize the Day.” Apply this phrase to the characters in RENT and to
Jonathan Larson.

• Compare the attitudes towards life and death in RENT to those seen in these novels and poems:

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Death, Be Not Proud by John Gunther
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Night by Elie Wiesel
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray
“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
“The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost
“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
Every Shakespeare tragedy and most of his comedies! how you
v e, but
s sort of
i ’
ars you lere. That
e h
ow many you spend show.” son
t’s not hhe time y t of the onath
an La
r
“I t oin -J
fulfi
ll the p
HIV AND AIDS

Find
One song
Before the virus takes hold
Glory
Like a sunset

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• Students are given a brief overview of AIDS and the history
of the AIDS crisis.
• Explore how AIDS affects the characters in RENT.

Many characters in RENT are infected with the HIV virus or have AIDS,
so here’s a brief background on the disease and its effects. At the
1996 Republican National Convention, a little girl infected with AIDS
spoke to the assembly and said, “I am the future and I have AIDS.”
Although scientists are more hopeful than ever, AIDS is not going away.

Most scientists believe that AIDS is caused by infection with a virus

called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). HIV attacks the main front
of the body’s defense, or immune, system. AIDS kills by breaking down
the body’s defenses, leaving the body vulnerable to common ailments,
such as pneumonia, which a functioning immune system would normal-
ly be able to fend off.

DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA AND ADAM PASCAL

ADAM PASCAL AND DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA
People can live for a decade or longer with HIV before symptoms
develop. AIDS is the last stage of HIV, when characteristic infections appear and the immune system begins to
decline.

Infection by HIV cannot be caused by casual contact, but through a specific set of behaviors:

• Unprotected heterosexual or homosexual intercourse

• Sharing contaminated needles or other injection equipment
• Mothers can transmit the virus to their unborn infants
• A transfusion of contaminated blood or transplant of tissue
28

Although those infected with HIV and AIDS were included in the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990,
making discrimination against them illegal, fear has contributed to hate crimes against the infected. Retired
Admiral James D. Watkins, Chairman of the Presidential AIDS Commission has said that discrimination was
“the most significant obstacle to progress” against the disease.

Consider that communication can be a powerful weapon against the effects of AIDS.

Although initial medicines and treatments looked promising, by 1987 there was only one drug licensed to treat
HIV: zidovudine, or AZT. AZT works by destroying the chemicals HIV needs to begin its deadly cycle. AZT is
not a cure for AIDS, but can stop it from growing. Although AZT has helped many with HIV and AIDS to
improve their quality of life and increase their survival, it has many drawbacks. It must be taken on a rigorous
time schedule (this is why Mimi and Roger carry beepers to remind them when to take their AZT). In some
cases, the HIV virus may become resistant to the effects of AZT.

Today, scientists are more hopeful than ever that a treatment, if not a cure, for AIDS can be found. There
is much hope in new drugs, which neutralize chemicals HIV needs to thrive toward the end of its cycle.
Scientists have great hope in new therapies which involve combinations of these drugs, which attack the virus
and at the same time, do not allow the virus to become resistant to one drug.

Although hope is high about new treatments, this disease is far from cured. As Jon Cohen writes in “AIDS Isn’t
Over,” (“Slate” online magazine, 11/22/96) “HIV has a long history of laughing last.”

All studies have shown that support, such as that given by Friends In Deed, in the form of regular care giving,
and emotional support, go a long way in fighting the effects of HIV and AIDS. In the end, community, and com-
munication, may be among the most effective treatments for dealing with the continuing threat of AIDS.

To people living with,

living with,
living with,
Not dying from disease

ESOURCES:

zabeth Forsyth,
co nd Ed ition) by Ma rgaret O. Hyde and Eli
Know About AIDS (Se
90.
Walker and Co., NY, 19
d Elizabeth Forsyth,
It Me an To Yo u? By Margaret O. Hyde an
AIDS: What Does
90.
Walker and Co., NY 19
ess, NY, 1987.
Playe d On by Ra nd y Shilts, St. Martin’s Pr
And the Band
 29

AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM

LIVING
When you’re living in America
At the end of the Millennium
You’re not alone

OOM IN: GOALS OF THIS SECTION

• As young people living at the end of the Millennium, students
will be encouraged to think about the progress and problems
that have arisen in the 20th century and contemplate the
future they will be a part of.

A millennium is a period of a thousand years.Many believe that the

next millennium will be a time of rebirth and unity, while others
believe we are moving toward an era of chaos. In his book
“Century’s End” (Doubleday, NY, 1990), Hillel Schwartz says that the
end of each century brings up “the best and the worst...the most
desperate and the most exultant.”

ANTHONY RAPP

DEAS FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

• What are your feelings as we enter the next century, the next millennium? Are you optimistic or pessimistic?
Why?

DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA AND ADAM PASCAL

• First, think about what ideas, artistic
movements, inventions, or philosophies have
most influenced the 20th century. Then, create a
“time-line” for the next century.

• What events, inventions, artistic achievements

do you think will occur in the next hundred
years? Speak to your grandparents or older
members of your community about how they felt
when this century was still new. How do their
feelings compare with yours?

• Write a story, skit or poem about the characters in

RENT. What do you think happens to them after
the events in the show?
30

TH JONATHAN LARSON
AN INTERVIEW WI
BY JOHN ISTEL
Do you see your music as part of the
American Musical tradition?

My whole thing is that American popular

music used to come from theatre and Tin
Pan Alley, and there’s no reason why con-
temporary theatre can’t reflect real con-
temporary music, and why music that’s
recorded or that’s made into a video can-
not be from a show. Popular music being
part of theatre ended with Jesus Christ
Superstar and Hair and rock musicals in
the late 1960s. A number of things hap-
pened. One was that there had been
singers in the ‘40s, ‘50s, even early ‘60s,
who would sing anybody’s material -
Frank Sinatra, what have you. Then,
beginning with the Beatles, you had song-
writers and bands who were only singing
their own material. So you didn’t have that
venue for theatre music to be popular.

What do you think about Randy Newman’s

latest musical project (Faust) and other pop
stars working in the theatre?

New York Magazine ran this article (about

what was killing Broadway). The last part
had a 12-step program - 12 ways to reno-
vate Broadway. Number 12 was bringing
new music to Broadway. They were get-
ting all excited about Randy Newman, and
Prince is evidently thinking about it, and
Paul Simon is working on a new musical.
That’s exciting if they’re successful and if
they bring younger people to the theatre
who wouldn’t normally go. But it’s almost
going backward to have a musical that is
songwriter-generated because of the
traps they can fall into.

They’re used to a number of things: not

collaborating, not making changes and
writing in their own voice. There’s so
much that Rodgers and Hammerstein and
Sondheim have taught us about how to
advance plot and character and theme in a song. Often, you get contemporary pop writers who know
how to write a verse and a chorus, but they don’t necessarily know how to write an inner monologue
where a character goes through a change by the end of the song so the plot and story continues.
 31

What’s Jonathan Larson’s style?

I’m a rock-and-roller at heart and I’m influenced by contemporary music. There is a Jonathan Larson
style, but I can’t totally describe it.

Who were your favorite composers?

Well, I loved Pete Townshend growing up, and I loved the old Police and Prince - or whatever his name
is - he’s brilliant. I love Kurt Cobain and Liz Phair. Beatles. And in the theatre - Leonard Bernstein,
Sondheim. I absolutely love them.

On the Genesis of RENT -

Ira Weitzman put me in touch with Billy Aronson who had an idea - years ago - to do a modern-day La
Boheme. Billy’s done stuff at Ensemble Studio Theatre and with Showtime and TV, and he’s a sort of
Woody Allen type and he wanted to do a modern-day La Boheme, set it on the Upper West Side, and
make it about Yuppies and funny. I said, “That doesn’t interest me, but if you want to set it in Tompkins
Square park and do it seriously, I like that idea a lot.” He had never spent any time in the East Village,
but he wrote a libretto. He wanted to write the book and lyrics, and I was to set a few of the songs to
music and see what everyone’s response was. I also came up with the title of RENT. So I wrote “Rent,”
“Santa Fe” and “I Should Tell You.”

I found different types of contemporary music for each character, so the hero (Roger) in RENT sings in a
Kurt Cobain-esque style and the street transvestite sings like De La Soul. And there’s a Tom Waits-
esque character. The American musical has always been taking contemporary music and using it to tell
a story. So I’m just trying to do that.

We made a demo tape and everyone loved the concepts, loved the music - but when they read the
accompanying libretto, they weren’t too strong on it. So we just put it on hold. I loved the concept, but I
didn’t have a burning reason to go back to it. And then I did.

Two years later a number of my friends, men and women, were finding out they were HIV-positive. I was
devastated, and needed to do something. I decided to ask Billy if he could let me continue by myself,
and he was very cool about it.

I am the kind of person that when I write my own work, I have something I need to say. It surprises me
that in musicals, even plays today, sometimes I don’t see what the impetus was, other than thinking it
was a good smart idea, or it could make them some money or something.

What’s it like making a living as a composer in the theatre these days?

Well, the old thing about how you can make a killing but you can’t make a living is absolutely true. I’m
proof of that. Now, I have the ability to compete trying to write jingles, trying to do other kinds of music
that makes money, and I haven’t put myself out there. My feeling is that it’s not what I want to do, and I
would be competing with guys who want to. So I’m just working on musicals - it’s like this huge wall, and
I’m chipping away at it with a screwdriver. I just keep making a little more headway. I’ve had a lot of very
generous grants, but they all go to the play. I get a little stipend, but I can’t live off the commissions.

I work two days a week waiting tables at the Moondance in SoHo. I’ve been there for eight-and-a-half
years but I don’t mind it. In fact, I love the customers - the regulars are fantastic. The management and
the owner totally support me. I can take a couple of months off when I need to do a show, come back,
and I’ve actually gotten work there twice. There was a little piece on me in New York Magazine a few
years ago, and one of the regular customers who I’d known for years, Bob Golden, brought it up and
said, “I saw that you were in New York Magazine, and that you wrote for Sesame Street.” I said, “Yeah, it
was mostly freelance.” He said, “Have you ever considered making a children’s video yourself? You can
make a lot of money.” I said, “I’d love to but I don’t have the capital to put up.” He said, “Well, I do.”
32

And the next week, I brought in a five-page budget and concept, and handed it to him with his eggs, and
he totally went for it. It’s a half-hour video called Away We Go. It stars a puppet called Newt the Newt.
(Unfortunately, we came up with that name before it took on other connotations.) It’s for very young kids
- Sesame Street age. The great thing about that - besides that someone was trusting me and putting up
the money - was that I had something tangible that no one could take away from me. Theatre is so
ethereal. You have programs, and you have maybe a recording of the show, but that’s it. It’s such a
weird medium.

- Originally printed in American Theatre Magazine, July/August, 1996

The Author of the RENT Study Guide

Peter Royston is the Educational Sales Manager for Theatre Direct International, a theatrical ticket sales and
marketing agency working with the Broadway, Off-Broadway and London theatre communities. He is the
author of study guides for The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, Rent, Picasso at the Lapin Agile,
Magic On Broadway, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Les Misérables (co-author), Miss Saigon (co-author), the tour-
ing productions of A Chorus Line, and Jam On The Groove. He is the editor and primary writer for Theatre
Direct International Magazine and is writer and webmaster for the Theatre Direct Web Site (http://www.the-
atredirect.com). He is co-author of the Les Misérables Web Site (http://www.lesmis.com). His interview with
director Baayork Lee appears in the Chorus Line souvenir brochure. He is a member of the Education
Committee at the League of American Theatres and Producers. Before working with TDI, he was an assistant
to Alan Wasser, General Manager for the Broadway and Touring productions of Les Misérables, The Phantom
of the Opera and Miss Saigon. Mr. Royston is the former Artistic Director of The Royston Theatre Company, a
New York based troupe of actors, musicians and artists. With the RTC, he directed critically acclaimed produc-
tions of Twelfth Night, Saint Joan, Murder in the Cathedral, Don Carlos, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice
and Coriolanus. He and his wife, Ann, are very proud of their beautiful children, William, Timothy and Claire.

CITATIONS

Pg. 6, Larson: NY Times 2/11/96; pg.8, Hawthorne: cited in “The Beat Reader,” edit. Ann Charters; pg. 14,
Allan Larson: LIVE! Magazine 9/96; pg. 15, Seller: Wall Street Journal 5/23/96; pg. 15, Nicola: Theater Week
4/29/96; pg. 16, Nicola: Theater Week 4/29/96; pg. 17, McCollum: Theater Week 4/29/96; pg. 17, Seller:
Theatre Direct International, Summer 1996; pg. 17, Nicola: Time Magazine 3/4/96; pg. 19, Jefferson: NY Times
2/25/96; pg. 21, Nicola: NY Times 3/17/96; pg. 21, Wolfe: USA Today 3/29/96; pg. 22, McCollum: Theater
Week 4/29/96; pg. 24, O’Grady: NY Times 3/17/96; pg. 25, McNamara: letter to the author; pg. 26, Larson: NY
Times 2/11/96; pgs. 27/28, HIV/AIDS data: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

PHOTO CREDITS - All production photos: Joan Marcus; Poster photos, pgs. 6,10, 24: Amy Guip; historic
photos, pgs. 6, 7, 8: Opera News; historic photos, pg. 20: Rodgers & Hammerstein.

RENT title treatment and logo: Drew Hodges, Spot Design.

RENT poster Artwork: Amy Guip.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Henry Walter, Bruce Amick, Randi Grossman, Laura Matalon, Bert Fink/Rodgers &
Hammerstein, John Istel, Friends In Deed, Al and Nan Larson, Julie Larson McCollum, Drew Hodges, Lynn
Thomson.

Libretto copyright © 1996 by Finster & Lucy Music Ltd. Co.