ABSTRACT
Discussion of Rent’s development and impact is inherently centered around its creator Jonathan Larson, a young man whose passion for music was cultivated in his earliest days. Moving the action from 1800s France to 1980s New York made the story even more relatable to Larson – a coming-of-age story about real people, facing real issues, in a real place. Larson’s powerful score can best be described as a visceral fusion of genres rooted in contemporary rock. Since it’s an opera, nearly every word in the show is said or sung to music. Rent opened the floodgates for rock to thrive in the modern musical and its influence has been present in every Broadway season since the late 1990s.
