RENT - The Musical & History 

Watch: RENT - Filmed on Broadway, 2008

 Notable Moments in RENT’s History

“RENT is about a community celebrating life in the face of death and AIDS at the turn of the century” - Jonathan Larson

Spring of 1989: Jonathan Larson begins collaborating with Bill Aronson and a few songs are composed. The show’s title is conceptualized.

October 4th, 1991 - Jonathan Laron writes Bill Aronson to formalize the end of their collaboration.

September 29, 1992: Larson approaches James Nicola, artistic director of New York Theater Workshop, with a tape and copy of RENT’s script.

June 17, 1993: Larson put together a staged reading at NYTW to lure investors. (Jeffrey Seller: “It made no sense whatsoever. It went on for three hours; two of the people I was with left at intermission. The third said that this couldn’t be saved and that Jonathan should get on with his life.”)

Spring of 1994: Larson received the “Richard Rodgers Development Grant” of $45,000 that paid for a workshop of RENT.

Fall of 1994: A workshop production of RENT was scheduled, but the script needed work.

September 1994: Casting began for the workshop production of RENT

October 17, 1994: Rehearsals for RENT began - two weeks of rehearsal

October 29, 1994 - November 6, 1994: A 10 performance workshop that was sold out.

May 1995: Lynn Thomson, a professor at NYU and a theatre veteran, was hired as a dramaturg.

December 1994 - 1995: Jonathan Larson wrote: “Tango: Maureen”, “You’ll See, Boys,” “Life Support,” “Halloween,” “Happy New Year”, “Your Eyes,” and “What You Own.” He revised others.

October 21, 1995: Jonathan Larson quit the Moondance Diner, where he had worked for 9 1/2 years.

December 1995: Rehearsals for RENT began with the original cast.

December 1995: The song “Take Me or Leave Me” — probably Jonathan Larson’s last song he ever wrote — was put into the show.

January 2, 1996: The cast of RENT performed the first read-through of the script in front of producers and people of NYTW.

January 21, 1996: RENT went into technical rehearsals — adding costumes, lights, sounds, props into the process

January 21, 1996: Jonathan Larson feels like he is having a heart attack and goes to Cabrini Medical Center. He was discharged for possible food poisoning.

January 23, 1996: Larson went back to the hospital for chest pain/flu, but was diagnosed with a “bad flu”

Read exactly what happened in the hospital here

January 24, 1996: Final dress rehearsal to a packed house, and RENT got a standing ovation. Jonathan Larson does an interview for The New York Times in the back of the theatre as the cast leaves rehearsal for the night.

January 25, 1996: In the early morning of January 25th, the day scheduled for RENT’s first preview, Larson was found dead on the kitchen floor from an aortic aneurysm, a congenital condition rare in someone so young.

January 25, 1996: RENT’s first preview was canceled. Instead, the cast decided to perform a sing-through, that eventually turned into a full performance at the end of Act I.

January 26 - March 3, 1996: New York Theatre Workshop presents RENT.

February 3, 1996: The day before Jonathan’s 36th birthday, a memorial service was held at the Minetta Lane Theatre. The entire cast sang, “I’ll Cover You” at the funeral.

February 11, 1996: The New York Times article that Jonathan interviewed on the night of his death ran in the Arts & Leisure section. The story was now about Jonathan’s death as well as La Boheme’s enduring generational appeal.

February 13, 1996: Press Night at RENT. Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote a glowing review. The day of the Times review, the box office closed 40,000 dollars, and sold out the first month of performances. The production extended another month, and those tickets sold out in a week.

February 23, 1996: The producers announced that RENT was moving to Broadway (less than one month after Jonathan’s death).

April 9, 1996: In the middle of a rehearsing for Broadway, the cast found out that Jonathan Larson had won a Pulitzer Prize for drama for RENT.

April 16, 1996: The first preview of RENT on Broadway.

April 29, 1996: RENT opened at the Nederlander Theater on Broadway.

May 6, 1996: RENT was nominated for 10 Tony Awards.

June 2, 1996: RENT won four Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Heredia)

August 27, 1996: The cast recording of RENT was released.

November 23, 2005: The film of RENT was released, with most of the original cast still intact. The film remained in the box office top ten for three weeks, receiving mixed reviews. 

April 24, 2006: 10 years later, the original Broadway cast reunited for a one-night performance of the musical at the Nederlander Theatre. This performance raised over $2,000,000 for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, Friends In Deed and New York Theatre Workshop. 

September 7, 2008: Rent closed after a 12-year run and 5,123 performances, making it the eleventh-longest-running Broadway show. The production grossed over $280 million. This last performance was filmed.

February 3, 2009: Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway was released on DVD & Blu-ray formats.

July 14, 2011: Previews started for the Off-Broadway revival at Stage 1 of New World Stages.

August 11, 2011: RENT opened Off-Broadway. This was the first New York Revival of the show since the original production closed less than three years earlier. The production was directed by Rent's original director Michael Greif. Almost the entire show was different from the original, yet the reinvention did not please the critics, who complained that the new actors did not have a feel for the characters they were playing and that it made the show feel contrived.

September 9, 2012: The off-Broadway production of Rent closed.

January 27, 2019: RENT was performed live on television on Fox.

**Many professional tours went out all around the country of RENT. It has been performed in the West End, internationally, and also has a School Edition, released in 2007.

Watch: ‘48 Hours’ News Cycle about RENT & an interview with Wilson Jemaine Heredia

Deep Dive - Watch: RENT on 1996 Tony Awards & BroadwayCon

“RENT did have an impact on American culture. It affected the everyday lives of people. RENT saved young people from suicide. It helped young people come out of the closet. But the appeal of RENT was for young people. People over 40 just didn’t understand why they didn’t just pay the rent.” - Jeffrey Seller, producer of RENT

Rise Up - Chris Jones, pg. 53