|
Main Page
- History
- --Definition
- --Hugo
- --Murger
-
- Culture:
- --Geography
- --Food
- --Careers:
- --Housing
- --Budgets
- --Style
- --Women
-
- Philosophies:
- --Revolutions
-
- Arts:
- --Literature:
--Music:
Bibliography
-
|
| The 1996 Broadway rock musical
Rent by Jonathan Larson is a modern expression of the Bohemian
ideal. The musical is based extensively on Puccini's La
Boheme, incorporating musical themes, plot twists, and even
lyrics of the opera. However, Rent also examines modern issues,
such as homosexual relationships, AIDS, and drug addiction. |
 |
 |
Premiering on February
13, 1996, the musical won widespread acclaim, a group of passionate
fans (who call themselves "Rentheads"), and several
important prizes: the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, six
Drama Desk Awards, three Obie Awards, four Tony Awards, and the
Pulitzer Prize. |
| The musical takes place
in New York City's East Village; its characters are young artists
attempting to make a living while staying true to their ideals.
Many of them are HIV-positive; the need to prove their brief
lives were worthwhile and productive consumes them. They try
to live each day at a time, concentrating on the value of their
relationships with one another. |
 |
- More than a century later, Murger's
story of Bohemian life
- continues to resonate.
|
Rent and La Boheme: Similarities |
|
Rent |
La Boheme |
- Main characters are:
- Mark, a filmmaker
- Roger, a composer
- Mimi, a dancer - Roger's love interest
- Collins, a philosopher
- Angel Schunard, a musician - Collins's
love interest
- Maureen, an actress - Mark's former girlfriend
- Joanne, a lawyer - Maureen's new girlfriend
- Benny, the landlord
|
- Main characters are:
- Marcello, an artist
- Rodolfo, a painter
- Mimi, a seamstress - Rodolfo's love interest
- Colline, a philosopher
- Schaunard, a composer
- Musetta, Marcello's former girlfriend
- Alcindoro, Musetta's new boyfriend
- Benoit, the landlord
|
- Mark and Roger warm themselves in the
first scene by burning Mark's screenplays and Roger's music posters.
|
- Rodolfo and Marcello warm themselves in
the first scene by burning Rodolfo's five-act drama.
|
- Mimi enters Mark's and Roger's apartment
during a power outage, looking for a light for her candle. Her
first song ends with the words "They call me Mimi."
|
- Mimi enters Marcello's and Rodolfo's apartment
looking for a light for her candle. Her first aria begins with
the words "They call me Mimi."
|
- Roger is mezmerized by Mimi's "hair
in the moonlight."
|
- Rodolfo sings of Mimi's "sweet visage
bathed in a soft lunar dawn."
|
- Maureen sings:
"Every single day, I walk down the street I hear people
say 'Baby's so sweet.' Ever since puberty, everybody stares at
me Boys, girls, I can't help it, baby."
|
- Musetta sings:
"When I walk alone through the street people stop and stare,
and all seek in me my beauty from head to foot."
|
- Angel is hired to kill an annoying dog
by drumming incessantly.
|
- Schaunard is hired to kill an annoying
parrot by "incessant musical performance" (Groos and
Parker, 14)
|
- Roger says he wants to leave town because
Mimi has renewed her relationship with her previous boyfriend,
but Mark encourages him to admit that he is afraid that she will
soon die and does not want to grow too close to her.
|
- Rodolfo says he wants to stop his relationship
with Mimi because she is flirtatious, but eventually reveals
to Marcello that she is also deathly ill.
|
- After Roger and Mimi's separation, Maureen
finds Mimi "freezing" in a park and brings her to Mark
and Roger's.
|
- After Rodolfo and Mimi's separation,
Musetta meets Mimi, who is "so cold," on the street
and takes her to Marcello and Rodolfo's.
|
- As Mimi lies dying, she says to Roger,
"I should tell you - I love you"
|
- As Mimi dies, she says "I have so
many things I want to tell you ... you are my love and all my
life!"
|
- Mimi nearly dies of AIDS at the end of
the musical.
|
- Mimi dies of tuberculosis at the end of
the opera.
|
|
