RENT was the brainchild of Jonathan Larson (February 4, 1960-January 25, 1996), a part-time waiter living in New York. His friend, Billy Aronson (who is credited with original concept and additional lyrics) was writing a musical about New Yorkers experiencing life with AIDS and asked Jonathan to help him with it. It was to be based on Puccini's La Boheme, an opera about and artist who falls in love with a young tuberculosis-stricken woman. Soon, Jonathan got so involved with it that he asked Billy if he could take RENT as his own. Later, Jonathan quit his job as a waiter at the Moondance Cafe and worked full time on this musical. It went through many, many re-writes and changes but with the help of Lynn M. Thomson, a dramaturg Larson worked with, RENT soon gave form to what it is now. Tragically, on the night of the premiere preview, Jonathan was found dead of an aortic aneurysm in his apartment. It was a week till his thirty-sixth birthday. He would never see RENT win the Pulitzer, the Tonys, the Obies, and the hearts of millions of people who had the honor of letting Jonathan's message penetrate them. "No day but today" is an idea that is contained RENT. To live every moment as your last. It's a pretty darn good one too.
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