Musical that opened a new chapter in the Broadway history
RENT is Jonathan Larson’s revolutionary musical that tells the story of a group of eccentric young people living at the turn of 1980s and 1990s who struggle to achieve their dreams and recognition in the heart of New York’s East Village, facing poverty, exclusion, drug addiction and the AIDS epidemic on a daily basis. The performance is a tribute to the contemporary bohemian movement, which places creativity, individuality and independence above material gain and for whom love is the most important measure of life. Although the action of RENT is set in a specific moment in history, the musical resonates with many generations of viewers thanks to its universal themes, social awareness, variety of characters and the emotional depth of the songs.
“This could be the Hair of our generation!”
The musical is based on the 1896 classic opera La Bohème by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, which tells the story of Parisian bohemian life and was inspired by the French writer Henri Murger’s novel Scenes of Bohemian Life. Almost 100 years after its première, the work was brought back by the fearless and passionate Jonathan Larson, an American composer and playwright who wanted to attract the MTV generation, who then listened passionately to rock and its subgenres, particularly grunge, to the theatre. Music, lyrics and arrangements of the Larson’s work are clearly inspired by the rock culture.
Art imitates life
The idea to revive Puccini’s classic opera and set it on the streets of New York came from Billy Aronson, who worked with Jonathan Larson in the early stages of the project. RENT isn’t directly an autobiographical story of Larson himself, although many elements in it were inspired by the experiences, observations and lives of the author himself and the people around him. Larson witnessed the difficulties faced by his friends in New York during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of these experiences are reflected in the plot and characters of RENT. He acquired source material by attending, among other things, meetings of Friends In Deed, a non-profit organisation founded in response to the AIDS crisis. The living conditions of the characters in the musical, on the other hand, are by no means significantly different from those in which Larson lived with his friend Jonathan Burkhart in the 1980s in New York’s SoHo district.
La Vie Bohème
The plot is centred on the fate of the two housemates: Mark and Roger. Mark is an independent film-maker who is making a documentary about his friends in the East Village, showing their daily struggles with financial problems, illness, loss of love and the struggle to survive. He’s also the ex-boyfriend of Maureen Johnson, an eccentric artist and political activist who dumps him for a left-wing lawyer Joanne. Roger is a talented musician and composer who lost the desire to create after the death of his partner April. He meets Mimi Marquez, an erotic dancer who, like him, is struggling with AIDS. Through this relationship, he begins to open up to new experiences and rediscovers the meaning of life and love. Benny Coffin III is Mimi’s ex-boyfriend who, through his marriage to the wealthy daughter of a property developer, became the owner of the townhouse where he once lived with Mark, Roger and Maureen. Mark and Roger’s friend and former roommate, Tom Collins, is a computer genius, teacher and HIV-positive social activist who forges a deep and touching relationship with AIDS-afflicted drummer and drag queen Angel Dumott Schunard.
Mourning and success
Jonathan Larson died unexpectedly the night before the première. The musical made its Off-Broadway début on the New York Theatre Workshop stage on 25 January 1996. The performance was directed by Michael Greif. Favourable reviews, articles in prestigious magazines, the broadcasting of the songs on the radio, and the tragic circumstances of the author’s death, made the musical famous nationwide at an astonishing rate, which resulted in the title being transferred to the Broadway stage at the Nederlander Theatre only a few months after its première. It then won four Tony Awards in 1996, including for Best Musical, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and six Drama Desk Awards. A film adaptation directed by Chris Columbus was made in 2005, starring six of the eight members of the original Broadway cast. The last performance was staged on Broadway on 7 September 2008. Over the course of 12 years, it was staged 5,124 times, which makes it the 10th longest-running Broadway musical. It was adapted for the stage in many countries around the world, including Poland. The last Polish première took place in 2014 in the Rampa Theatre in Warsaw, directed by Jakub Szydłowski.
Première at the Krakow VARIETE Theatre
Première of the musical RENT will take place at the Krakow VARIETE Theatre on 7 December 2024. The performance is directed and staged by Jakub Wocial, laureate of the Jan Kiepura Theatre Award in the category Best Musical Vocalist in 2018; his credits include directing the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar and the musical show with Queen’s greatest hits Rapsodia z Demonem. The performance is co-directed, staged and choreographed by Santiago Bello, a Spanish-born dancer and choreographer, winner of the Jan Kiepura Theatre Award for Best Musical Dancer in 2019, who choreographed such performances as Jesus Christ Superstar, Rapsodia z Demonem, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Broadway Exclusive. The musical ensemble will be led by Marta Zalewska, vocalist, composer, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist, winner of the competition run by the National Centre of Polish Song in Opole in 2016, winner of the Polish Radio Four competition ‘Publish an album with Będzie Głośno’, which enabled her to release a début album, and winner of the ‘Męskie Granie Young’ competition in 2019. The costumes will be prepared by Dorota Sabak-Ciołkosz, set designer, stylist and make-up artist, who was awarded the Jan Kiepura Theatre Award in the category Best Costumes for the musical Cats in 2019. The set design will be designed by Marta Mojnowska, who has been collaborating with many Polish theaters and operas for many years.
Performance with live music.
Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.
Strobe lighting effects will be used during this performance.
RENT was originally produced in New York by New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Allan S. Gordon and New York Theatre Workshop.
Presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International www.mtishows.eu.
