Analysis Of Rent By Jonathan Larson

Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent is a story of the people, written solely for the purpose of bringing reality to the stage and the world. Larson creates a cast list of people so real they resemble those of his own life, and create such a text that the entire focus is on the characters, not the plot. Through the realistic development of these characters, Larson and his loved ones become a prevalent source and foundation of his goal to expose the reality of America at the end of the millennium. Larson is able to infuse his own biographical elements into the skeleton of the musical, so that even long after his death, his legacy, life, loved ones, and passions live on.

Larson wrote Rent in order to bring the reality of America’s social state to

Hair was a shout of vulgarity and sexual freedom, something that people of the seventies were not exactly ready to accept. Larson was always in the business for the political statement, however in the least political way possible. He just wanted to shock the world and get people to pay attention to what was being ignored. Larson once said in an interview that "in the theater, the old thing about how you can make a killing but you can't make a living is absolutely true. I'm living proof of that" (Lipsky). He theoretically killed the barrier of controversy lying around topics like AIDS and homosexuality by throwing it in the faces of those who would care to listen. Because of his bohemian background, Larson was able to keep away from making Rent just another pity story about topics no one, including the playwright, knew enough about. He could, and did, remain fully confident in the statement the musical was making- that there are more things larger than money that the world needs to be concerned about. Things like social injustice, everything the story pointed towards, everything that the characters went through and stood for

As said by critic David Lipsky, “Rent is where Jonathan's friends feel closest to him. They say it's like getting to spend three more hours with the playwright. When the actors sing, they are somehow reassembling the personality of Jonathan. And then there's the play's message about living each day as if it is your last” (Lipsky). Down to the way Collins robbed the rich only to give back to the poor, and Angel’s love and compassion for everyone he came across, Larson exposed a side of homeless lower class people that no one expected. This side captivated so many audience members because it was such a beautiful and realistic image of humanity that not many people possessed, but so many people wished to see. Because of this beauty and charm the characters obtained, Larson could weave in his social commentary and receive a little less backlash from the audience, because it made sense or accentuated the characters by giving them flaws in an otherwise perfect persona. Through his passion for the topics and real life experience with the lifestyle, Larson inspired so many to live life as there is “no day but today” (Larson). Because of this motto, thousands of people bought into the idea of accepting these kinds of people and finally acknowledging the harsh controversial topics Larson lived through and introduced to the world of not only Broadway, but everyday