The ground-breaking musical 'Rent' opens at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City, marking the beginning of a revolutionary theatrical production that would redefine modern musical theatre.
Jonathan Larson's rock musical "Rent", was loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera "La Bohème", starring Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel.
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It opened at the Nederlander Theatre, New York City; and ran for 5,123 performances, winning 4 Tony Awards, 7 Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village, in the thriving days of the bohemian culture of Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
The musical was first seen in 1993 in a workshop production at New York Theatre Workshop, the off-Broadway theatre which was also where the musical began performances on January 26, 1996. The show's creator, Jonathan Larson, had died suddenly of an aortic dissection the night before. The musical moved to Broadway's larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996.
On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production closed on September 7, 2008, after 12 years, making it one of the longest-running shows on Broadway. The production grossed over $280 million.
The success of the show led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions. In 2005, it was adapted into a motion picture featuring six of the eight principal cast members from the 1996 stage premiere.