The musical Rent is a rock music based production that’s music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. This intriguing musical was partially based upon Giacomo Puccini’s opera La boheme. Rent tells the story of a young group of impoverished young artists and musicians that were struggling to survive while creating their art in New York City. They spent a good portion of their time in the Lower East Side of New York during the heyday of the Bohemian Alphabet City. All of this occurring under the looming shadow of the AIDS.

This soon to be worldwide sensation first started out in a limited three week run at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994. Jonathan Larson, the creator of the musical passed away suddenly before its official off Broadway debut. Rent was an incredible hit and won a Pulitzer Prize. The musical then found a larger home on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre in late April of 1996.

As soon as Rent hit the big white way it gained critical acclaim while also winning a Tony award for Best Musical this extremely popular musical was held largely responsible for making musical theater more popular for younger generations. The Broadway show ran for 12 years and became the 8th longest running show in Broadway history. It grossed almost $300 million.

The overwhelming success of this show leads to numerous national tours and numerous overseas productions. In the year 2005 it was transformed into a major motion picture starring many of the original Broadway cast.