Student Blog: 'Thank You Jonathan Larson' - How Rent Changed My Life

With the recent release of Tick, Tick, Boom, I've really started to reflect on the impact that Jonathan Larson has had on me as a theatre maker. I can honestly say that I don't think that I would be doing theatre at all if I hadn't been exposed to Rent.

I don't necessarily remember my first encounter with Rent as a whole, but I do know that one of the first songs I was exposed to from the musical was "Take Me or Leave Me." At this point in my life, I did not know anything about the plot of the musical or about the sexuality of Maureen and Johana, but I was impressed by how comfortable they were with themselves and each other. I had never seen a performance where women were so unafraid of showing off themselves. The song is a bop, but I was really impressed by the vulnerability that the two actresses brought to the scene.

Eventually, I watched the full movie and then the live television version, but I did not fully appreciate the musical as a whole until I started doing research about it for an audition. In this research, I started to connect and identify more with Mimi and Rogers's story. I think these two characters have a lot of walls up, and as someone with anxiety, that's something I really can relate to. I really relate to Roger because I appreciate how determined he is to find his legacy. I think especially now, a lot of young people are very focused on the impact they are going to leave on other people. With Mimi, she is a much more optimistic character than Roger is. She still has a lot of the same fears and anxiety that Roger does, but she fights it with hope. I think about the lyric, "Forget regret or life is yours to miss." This is something I really try to do for myself in my own life.

The summer after my senior year of high school, I actually had the opportunity to be in a production of Rent. I was just in the chorus of the show, but at the time, I was not going to go to college for theatre. I had my heart set on politics and history. Being in this show really reminded me of the family atmosphere being a part of a show can have. It made me remember one of the many reasons I love theatre.

Another thing Rent did for me was allow me to discover my interest for theatre history and dramaturgy. When I was in the show, the actor who was playing Collins recommended the album "Without You (A Musical Memoir)" to the whole cast. This album was a combination of songs and monologues by Anthony Rapp, telling the story of the creation of Rent. Because of this album, I became obsessed with researching the history of the musical.

This was expanded upon when I did a final project about Rent my second semester of college. One of the options for this project was to create a dramaturgical project. In this project, despite the sheer amount of work it was, I absolutely fell in love with dramaturgy, to the point that that's what I want to do after I graduate.

There is a famous story about after the first performance of Rent. Someone shouted in the audience, "Thank You Jonathan Larson." That's my sentiment exactly. Thank you Jonathan Larson for creating such a deeply flawed, but beautiful musical that encourages my curiosity to learn more. Thank you Jonathan Larson for making me remember why I love theatre.