Rent: Musical Analysis
The musical production Rent is Jonathan Larson’s adaptation of Puccini’s ‘La Boehme’, and was set in New York in the early 1980s (Encyclopedia of World Biography, n.d.). The musical has a variety of characters: straight, gay, lesbian, cross-dressing, and bisexual. Many of the cast’s characters have HIV/AIDS. Larson personally identified with the musical, as he too had several friends that had HIV/AIDS who had then later passed away from the disease (Encyclopedia of World Biography, n.d.). HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that has torn apart many people’s lives. Rent was able to demonstrate how the disease brought people together. The production is based on a young group of bohemians in New York City, their relationships with HIV/AIDS and how the city
…show more content…
Larson attempted to break social barriers, by transforming our understanding of those who are affected by HIV/AIDS not as victims but as humans with purpose. Larson was able to highlight the community organizing of those with HIV/AIDS which was the main group pushing for better research, medication access, and prevention education: “In one of the great historical ironies of the era, these artists took HIV the very virus that was killing them, as the blueprint and battle plan for a similarly clandestine, camouflaged attack” (Katz, n.d.). Larson also showed the medical side of the epidemic with characters using zidovudine (AZT), the first anti-retroviral drug available (UNAIDS, 2011). In Larson’s message he was able to reach a diverse audience made up of youth, liberals, Broadway fans, as well as those who identify as outsiders from societal norms. The musical received critical acclaim winning the Pulitzer prize, and 4 tony awards (Olveczky, 1999). However Rent was limited to audiences that could both afford and who had an interest in seeing a musical; the ideas were not freely distributed like a subway poster, free pamphlet, or radio broadcast. Additionally, Rent is not as representative of the HIV crisis now as it leaves out middle/higher class individuals, rural individuals, as well as the opiate epidemic (UNAIDS, 2016). Ultimately Rent asked audiences to take a step toward rejecting the portrayal of dominant media and reconstructing a societal acceptance of
Larson attempted to break social barriers, by transforming our understanding of those who are affected by HIV/AIDS not as victims but as humans with purpose. Larson was able to highlight the community organizing of those with HIV/AIDS which was the main group pushing for better research, medication access, and prevention education: “In one of the great historical ironies of the era, these artists took HIV the very virus that was killing them, as the blueprint and battle plan for a similarly clandestine, camouflaged attack” (Katz, n.d.). Larson also showed the medical side of the epidemic with characters using zidovudine (AZT), the first anti-retroviral drug available (UNAIDS, 2011). In Larson’s message he was able to reach a diverse audience made up of youth, liberals, Broadway fans, as well as those who identify as outsiders from societal norms. The musical received critical acclaim winning the Pulitzer prize, and 4 tony awards (Olveczky, 1999). However Rent was limited to audiences that could both afford and who had an interest in seeing a musical; the ideas were not freely distributed like a subway poster, free pamphlet, or radio broadcast. Additionally, Rent is not as representative of the HIV crisis now as it leaves out middle/higher class individuals, rural individuals, as well as the opiate epidemic (UNAIDS, 2016). Ultimately Rent asked audiences to take a step toward rejecting the portrayal of dominant media and reconstructing a societal acceptance of