This is the first ‘review’ I’ve written on my site, and it’s not really a traditional review. It’s not about something new, and in fact, I’m writing it purely because I want to write about something I love that has been giving me hope and joy in these troubled times. Well, for the last few years, but especially now.
That thing is the musical Rent.
Contrary to the belief of almost everyone who knows me, no, Hamilton is not my favourite musical. It’s Rent. It was a big thing back in the 90s, but I don’t think enough people these days know much about it. I want to fix that and encourage you, the person reading this, to see it, listen to it, and fall in love with it as I did.
So what is Rent?
Rent is a musical set in New York in the early 1990s. It was written by Jonathan Larson and is, effectively, a contemporary adaptation of Puccini’s opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of bohemian artists in New York’s East Village, as they try to find their place in the world, fall in love, and pay the rent. The backdrop to all this is a pandemic somewhat different to the one we face in 2020, but one that still lives with us – AIDS.
Sounds kind of depressing…
Yes and no. Although there are moments of deep sadness, I find the story very uplifting, and the core message of the play is a positive one – that we should live in the moment, move on from the past, and not worry about what the future may hold.
What’s the story?
There is a main cast of eight characters. Mark and Roger are flatmates. Mark is an aloof filmmaker who wants to make a film about his experiences. Roger is a musician suffering from HIV, and severely depressed over his ex-girlfriend’s suicide. Both are living in an apartment owned by Benny, a former friend who married into a rich family and bought their building. We also meet anarchist computer genius Tom, who’s just come back to town after being fired from the university he was lecturing at. Tom is attacked and robbed near the apartment, before being found and treated by Angel, a drag queen who Tom instantly falls in love with. There are also three female cast members. The most important is Mimi – a junkie who lives in the same apartment building as Mark and Roger, and who makes a connection with Roger. There’s also Maureen – Mark’s flirtatious and exuberant ex-girlfriend who left him a month ago to enter a lesbian relationship with Joanne, the final main character. Joanne is the only character somewhat ‘outside’ of the bohemian lifestyle, and works as a lawyer.
The story begins when Benny shows up at the apartment on Christmas Eve demanding rent money from Mark and Roger, but with a deal that would see their debt ignored if they do him ‘one small favour’…
Who wrote it?
Rent was written by Jonathan Larson, and Larson’s personal story is part of the reason that the play was such a huge smash hit. Larson wrote Rent over the course of several years whilst working a job as a waiter in a restaurant, living in a shitty apartment, and struggling to make ends meet. Much of the story and many of the characters of Rent were based on his experiences during this time – including his former girlfriend leaving him for a lesbian. He eventually found a producer to turn his vision into a reality, actors were cast, and he was excited to see his show performed for the first time. However, on the morning of the first public performance of Rent, Larson died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of just 35. The company decided to continue with the performance that night as a tribute to him, earning rave reviews and a rapid shift onto Broadway and the West End.
What are the themes of Rent?
Fundamentally, Rent is about living in the moment, as we never know what lies ahead of us. But it also explores a number of other themes. Several of the characters have HIV/AIDS, and their battle against the disease is the core of the story. Roger and Mimi are also both drug addicts, and their struggle with addiction weaves through the plot. The problem of homelessness and the injustice the homeless face is the setting for much of Act I. Given that many of the characters are LGBT+, the play also deals with issues related to that community, like homophobia.
What’s the music like?
The musical style is broadly ‘rock’, but I think that’s a bit of a misnomer. There’s really a great variety of different genres that stir together like milk, sugar and tea. For instance, the opening song – also called Rent – is a pretty heavy rock number, with a hard guitar riff underpinning it. Today 4 U is a techno song that introduces Angel’s drag character. Seasons of Love is a piano ballad. There’s something for everyone, really. I’m going to share five with you that are particular favourites of mine lyrically and musically, though.
The first four all follow each other in a sequence. They are Life Support, Out Tonight, Another Day and Will I? The four numbers segue into each other and have a common thread running through them, which happens to be the musical’s motto – “No Day But Today”. I could write an entire blog post on just these four songs, but I’d rather you just take 10 minutes of your day to listen to them and hopefully you’ll get more of an understanding of what makes Rent special. I’ve playlisted all four back-to-back below. If you don’t have much time or just want to ‘dip your toe’ into Rent, I’d recommend at least watching Another Day by clicking here.
The final song I want to recommend is Take Me or Leave Me. I genuinely think it’s one of the best songs ever written. The ‘plot’ of the song is an argument between Maureen and Joanne. Again, just watch it – I hope you’ll love it as much as I do. There aren’t enough lesbian love songs.
What else is good about it?
Apart from everything, I think one of the more overlooked aspects of the play is its staging, at least in the Broadway production. The characters rarely leave the stage, even when they’re not ‘in action’, and watch the performances along with the audience. The set itself stays the same throughout the play, with only some chairs, tables and other props being moved around as the scene calls for it, and is used in a very versatile way. It looks quite run-down and ramshackle, subtly depicting the poverty in which the main characters find themselves without being overbearing.
One thing I also like about the staging is that the band are visible throughout, rather than being hidden away. It’s a small touch, but one that works well.
A final addition I greatly enjoy is the occasional breaking of the fourth wall, with characters directing lines towards the audience to express their feelings. It only happens a couple of times, but they’re among my favourite lyrics.
Speaking of favourite lyrics…what are some?
From the opening track, Rent, a couple of questions that sum up the play’s themes quite well – “How do you document real life when real life’s getting more like fiction each day?” and “How do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?”
From Life Support and Another Day, the refrain that I always think of when I think of Rent – “There’s only us, there’s only this. Forget regrets, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way, no day but today.”
Another from Another Day because it is an incredible song – “There is no future, there is no past. I live each moment as my last.”
And one more, from What You Own – “I don’t own emotion – I rent.”
Is there anything not so good?
There’s only one song I regularly skip over: The Tango: Maureen. The lyrics are interesting and it begins the character development between Mark and Joanne, but I just don’t really like it all that much.
In terms of plotting, that song is a bit of a weakness too. One of the subplots of the first act is that Mark is called by Maureen to fix her broken sound equipment. He leaves the apartment to go and do it, then is back in the apartment for no reason a couple of songs later, only to leave again and help Joanne fix the equipment in The Tango: Maureen. It’s a tiny inconsistency but it bugs me.
OK, so how can I see Rent?
Unfortunately, there is no professional production being staged at the time of writing (regardless of COVID-19), although there will be a limited run in Manchester later in 2020 that I hope to see. I’ve never actually seen the play live, and it’s one of my ambitions to do so. However, there are a number of other ways to see it. The songs I’ve linked to in this post are all taken from the 2008 Broadway cast performing on the show’s final night of residence. It’s available to stream and download from Google Play or Amazon for an incredibly reasonable price, and it’s also available even cheaper on DVD. The majority of the songs from this production can also be found on YouTube, so you could look at the track listing and search for them there, although you won’t necessarily get the full experience that way. There’s also a movie version available, which is only a couple of pounds/dollars to rent (ha!), but I think the staged production is much better. You can also find various cast recordings of Rent on Spotify, although unfortunately my favourite – the Original Broadway Cast recording – isn’t available on there any more, although you can still buy it from Amazon.
Summing up…
So, yes, I love Rent. I can see why it was so popular at the time. It has themes that are everlasting, a classic story and great music. I think that it says a lot about the world in 2020 as well. It’s easy to compare the struggles of its characters with the situations we find ourselves in today. ‘No Day But Today’ should be the world’s model going forwards; and I hope that COVID-19 will make people feel more grateful of what they’ve got and appreciate it more while they have the chance.
Anyway, watch Rent. You probably haven’t got much better to do anyway 😉
One final note! For any EFL teachers out there, I created a lesson for C1 students based on a song from Rent, Without You, which you can download by clicking here!
Shane Rynhart 