Editing Rent (musical) (section)

==Concept and genesis==
In 1988, playwright [[Billy Aronson]] wanted to create "a musical based on [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]]'s ''[[La Bohème]]'', in which the luscious splendor of Puccini's world would be replaced with the coarseness and noise of modern New York."<ref name="Aronson">{{cite web|url=http://www.billyaronson.com/musicals.php#rent|title=Musicals|access-date=November 7, 2016|archive-date=October 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028202525/http://www.billyaronson.com/musicals.php#rent|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1989, Jonathan Larson, a 29-year-old composer, began collaborating with Aronson on this project, and the two composed together "Santa Fe", "Rent", and "I Should Tell You". Larson suggested setting the play "in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]]. He suggested making "Rent" the title; Aronson agreed. In 1991, he asked Aronson if he could use Aronson's original concept and make ''Rent'' his own. Larson had ambitious expectations for ''Rent''; his ultimate dream was to write a rock opera "to bring musical theater to the [[MTV Generation|MTV generation]]".<ref name="Odyssey">{{cite news| last=Tommasini| first=Anthony| title=The Seven-Year Odyssey That Led to ''Rent''| work=The New York Times| date=March 17, 1996| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E1D91639F934A25750C0A960958260| pages=Section 2 Page 7| no-pp=true| access-date=February 12, 2017| archive-date=May 16, 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516035048/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E1D91639F934A25750C0A960958260| url-status=live}}</ref> Aronson and Larson made an agreement that if the show went to Broadway, Aronson would share in the proceeds and be given credit for "original concept & additional lyrics".<ref name="Odyssey"/>

Jonathan Larson focused on composing ''Rent'' in the early 1990s, waiting tables at the [[Moondance Diner]] to support himself. Over the course of years, Larson wrote hundreds of songs and made many drastic changes to the show, which in its final incarnation contained 42 songs. In the fall of 1992, Larson approached James Nicola, artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop, with a tape and copy of ''Rent''{{'}}s script. 

In the 1992 script, the homeless characters were named Rudy, Dogman, Mrs. Chance, and later, were joined by politician-turned-homeless Otam Desnofla. They were also given significantly more material. Some of their characteristics remained in the final version of the show, such as the former Mrs. Chance becoming the "Seasons of Love" soloist.

The 1992 version of ''Rent'' also featured songs that were dropped before subsequent revisions, including:

* "Splatter", an earlier version of RENT that featured significantly more graphic lyrics
* "Dance #1", an unproduced dance number for Mimi (intended to be one of three, but the other two were never written) that would have provided information on Mimi's past through nightmarish imagery and sounds.
* "You Were Right", a song sung by Mark and Maureen
* "Love the Pain", a song performed by Mrs. Chance at Angel's funeral, which was ultimately replaced by "I'll Cover You (Reprise)"
* "U.S. of Ease", performed by the homeless characters, which was ultimately replaced by "Real Estate" before being dropped
* "Valentine's Day", performed by Mimi in between "Seasons of Love A & B"

When ''Rent'' had its first staged reading at [[New York Theatre Workshop]] in March 1993, it became evident that, despite its very promising material and moving musical numbers, many structural problems needed to be addressed, including its cumbersome length and overly complex plot.<ref name="Odyssey" />

As of 1994, the New York Theatre Workshop version of ''Rent'' featured songs that never made it into the final version, such as:

* "You're a Fool"
* "Do a Little Business", the predecessor of "You'll See", featuring Benny, Mark, Roger, Collins and Angel
* "Female to Female A & B", featuring Maureen and Joanne
* "He's a Fool"
* "He Says"
* "Right Brain", later rewritten as "One Song Glory", featuring Roger
* "You'll Get Over It", the predecessor of "Tango: Maureen", featuring Mark and Maureen
* "Real Estate", a number wherein Benny tries to convince Mark to become a real estate agent and drop his filmmaking
* "Open Road", the predecessor of "What You Own", with a backing track similar to this in "Your Eyes"

This workshop version of ''Rent'' starred [[Anthony Rapp]] as Mark and [[Daphne Rubin-Vega]] as Mimi. Larson continued to work on ''Rent'', gradually reworking its flaws and staging more workshop productions.<ref name="Memoir">{{cite book|author=Rapp, Anthony|title=Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent|url=https://archive.org/details/withoutyoumemoir00rapp|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-7432-6976-4}}</ref>

On January 24, 1996, after the musical's final dress rehearsal before its off-Broadway opening, Larson had his first (and only) newspaper interview; music critic [[Anthony Tommasini]] of ''[[The New York Times]]''{{snd}}who had been attracted by the coincidence that the show was debuting exactly 100 years after Puccini's opera{{snd}}requested the interview. Larson would not live to see ''Rent''{{'}}s success; he died from an undiagnosed [[aortic dissection]] (believed to have resulted from [[Marfan syndrome]]) early the next morning, January 25, 1996. Friends and family gathered at the New York Theatre Workshop, and the first preview of ''Rent'' became a sing-through of the musical in Larson's memory.<ref name="Odyssey"/><ref name="RentEW">{{cite magazine |title=Rent star tells story of show's first preview, after Jonathan Larson died |date=April 11, 2017 |url=http://ew.com/theater/2017/04/11/rent-jonathan-larson-wilson-jermaine-heredia/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212022125/https://ew.com/theater/2017/04/11/rent-jonathan-larson-wilson-jermaine-heredia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The show premiered as planned and quickly gained popularity fueled by enthusiastic reviews and the recent death of its composer. It proved extremely successful during its off-Broadway run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theatre Workshop.<ref name="Rent: Glory"/>  Due to such overwhelming popularity and a need for a larger theater, ''Rent'' moved to Broadway's then-under-renovation Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street and opened on April 29, 1996.<ref name="Rent: Glory"/>