Learning aim B- Rent Research

Practitioner

• Was written by Johnothan Larson in 1996, who provided the music and lyrics
• American composer
• Influenced by Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Johnothan died the night before Rent was Premiered
• His vision was some sort of rock musical and to attack taboo subjects and to push boundaries, this is why the show contained Homophobia, Drug use and AIDS.

The show contains mini storylines

• Maureen and Mark, Maureen is bisexual and her new female partner Joana doesn't trust her.
• Angel, who dies of AIDS, is gay and likes to dress up like women. He gets close to Collin. Angel goes to AA meetings depicting he wanted to live.
• Robert and Mimi, who get AIDS through drug use

Musical stylistic features

• Rock genre, see glimpses of opera, Recitative
• Gospel, including belting and runs
• Repetition

The plot

• About bohemians
• Challenge the codes and conventions of society
• Based on La Boheme by Puccihi
• In the opera people were dying of the plague, in Rent people die of HIV and AIDS.