To Days of Inspiration: A Celebration of Rent

On Sept. 7, 2008, the online countdown will hit zero and an era will officially come to a close after 5000+ performances. Rent has seen extraordinary success on Broadway, and now is set to tour in 2009. Having grown up with the phenomenon, Spectator writers “leave their conscience at the tone.”

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LET'S CELEBRATE, REMEMBER A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF FRIENDS
It was after seeing Rent with a friend from high school that I first realized I wanted to spend my college years in New York. When I eventually arrived at Columbia several years later, I spent many nights dancing to “La Vie Bohème” at 3 a.m. in the room of a girl who would soon become my first love. And when the whirlwind of my first year finally ended, I found myself listening to “Seasons of Love” one more time as I moved out of my John Jay single. In fact, it’s hard for me to think back on many aspects of that year without the Rent soundtrack playing in the back of my mind.

No matter how cliché or overused parts of it have become, Jonathan Larson’s show will always conjure emotions that remind me of why it was that I wanted to come to Columbia in the first place. It seems only appropriate, then, that the final performance will take place as I begin my senior year. Rent has been a constant reminder that we should cherish the moments we have, and I plan to measure my final year here in the same way I have the three that preceded it: not just in grades or in hangovers, but in love.
—Dan Blank

525,600 MINUTES
It’s been more than 3,915,240 minutes since the curtain went down on Rent on March 27, 2001—leaving a stunned 12-year-old in the audience. I had memorized disc two of the original cast recording with my bunk three years before and I had even seen a performance of some of the songs with members of the cast and the musical director, but when I saw the raw energy and emotion of Rent live onstage, I finally understood. This was what it was all about. Musicals are all about seeing shows that have the power to move you and have songs that alternate between amazing you and getting stuck in your head for days (well, maybe more like years in this case). Rent is all that to me, and on the eve of the end of an era, I can’t help but remember the sheer power of it. And to this day, I probably know every line, every chord, every song. So to me, Rent is the place where my childhood met my teenage years, which met my adulthood, because it’s been a constant presence in my life and on my iPod for the past 10 years. It may be closing but the show must go on—and it will. It will continue to be performed on tour and in movie theaters, and most of all, it will be stuck in my head for at least the next 5,256,000 minutes.
—Dani Dornfeld

OH LOVER, I'LL COVER YOU
Growing up as a musical theater fan today, I often forget the nearly 180 degree turn that the genre has made in the last 30 years. While there are certainly many musicals that retain the classic romantic qualities of older shows like My Fair Lady or The King and I, there has been a drastic turnaround in the type of material considered appropriate for the stage. Finding love at first sight and marrying by the end of act II would now often be considered dated, but what changed? For me, this new need for the depiction of more modern and realistic relationships has come about because of one landmark work that showed the world how much further a musical can reach with its romantic plotlines: Rent. Jonathan Larson’s musical features three prominent couples: two lesbian women, two struggling performers with HIV, and a man with a transgender woman. Through such unconventional portrayals of love and sexuality, Rent reshaped the Broadway world and paved the way for shows that continue to push the envelope, such as Avenue Q and Spring Awakening. I love and appreciate Rent not only for the incredibly catchy music, but for bringing musical theater into the modern era and daring to cover uncharted romantic territory.
—Maddy Kloss

THERE'S ONLY US
Long before I was old enough to actually witness the artistry of Rent, I could sing “Seasons of Love” in its entirety. A story addressing political, societal, and emotional issues far beyond my mental or emotional capacity at the age of 9, Rent still communicated a message anyone can appreciate: love.

In an age when “strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray,” even the most unconventional of families will get you through. And Rent teaches that if you are lucky enough to have anyone to call family, you are the luckiest person in the world. Unlike other musicals I adore for their sheer sit-back-and-relax entertainment value or jaw-dropping choreography, Rent was the first musical to thrust my life into perspective.

Infused with passion, Rent does not epitomize, but rather appreciates New York for its character and, often, its harshness. The musical seems to say that life is by no means a picnic, but it is still worth celebrating. The characters inspire me, and Jonathan Larson’s philosophy moves me. The closing of Rent is not the end of an era as some may say. Rather, Rent lives on as it continues to be a guiding paradigm in an age when shocking, relevant musicals are becoming more and more common. Its legacy will continue to inspire and connect the generations of past and future.
—Ruthie Fierberg

ONE SONG GLORY
It must have been in either fourth or fifth grade that I remember being in the car on the way to the mall with my friend Alexa and her mother. In typical fourth-grade fashion, Alexa and I were sitting in the very back row of the minivan probably discussing the latest Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Devon Sawa movie. Suddenly, mid-discussion, an unfamiliar song began to play on the minivan’s backseat speaker. The Jonathan Taylor Thomas discussion ceased as I began to absorb the shocking lyrics of Jonathan Larson’s Rent. What was this we were listening to and why were they singing about my beloved childhood heroes Dorothy and Toto blowing off Auntie Em? As the song began to fade, I still didn’t know why the singers kept repeating the phrase “la vie bohème” or why they kept referencing more unfamiliar words like sodomy and marijuana. All I knew was that I liked what I heard and I wanted to find out more about this strange but catchy song. And that was when the obsession began. Since then I have memorized every lyric, seen the professional production six times, and read numerous Rent- and Jonathan Larson-related books. Even though it is the end of an era, I cannot deny that my obsession still lives on.
—Anna Weinstein