Rent Musical Analysis
RENT Analysis
Rent is a rock musical that focuses on the lives of several different young artists and the relationships that bond between them. The title Rent is very fitting for this musical because the majority of the characters are impoverished and are trying to survive in the world, while making a life for themselves. The story mostly revolves around the characters Mark and Roger, as they battle loss, love and life. While Roger tries to run away from all that he is faced with, Mark tries to capture it all through film. Besides Mark and Roger, the cast includes Maureen Johnson, a bisexual woman focus on protesting, Joanne, Maureen’s lesbian lover, Mimi, Roger’s girlfriend who is HIV positive and an S&M dancer, Tom Collins, a gay, HIV positive computer genius, Angel, Tom’s HIV positive drag queen lover, and Benjamin, a former member of the group who gained wealth through marriage and is the group’s landlord who stands against everything the group is for. This musical portrays the reality of life through love in which couples continue to get together and breakup, drug abuse in which Mimi almost dies, and tragedy in which the severity of the AIDS/HIV is shown through Angel’s death.
Big queer themes that are exemplified in this musical are cross gender roles, homosexual relationships, Bi relationships, identity crisis, and the biggest of all AIDS/HIV. RENT is a very interesting musical because in a society when AIDS/HIV were strongly scrutinized and gay individuals were being hated on, it is these “negative” factors that brings the group together. Even though at the time, AIDS seemed to be a disease only attributed to homosexual individuals, RENT breaks against those boundaries. In the musical, homosexual individuals have AIDS, but so do heterosexual characters, such a Mimi and Roger, who attained AIDS through needles. Regardless of the AIDS epidemic and the negative implications it had on homosexual relationships, the musical is able to take the viewers from the
Rent is a rock musical that focuses on the lives of several different young artists and the relationships that bond between them. The title Rent is very fitting for this musical because the majority of the characters are impoverished and are trying to survive in the world, while making a life for themselves. The story mostly revolves around the characters Mark and Roger, as they battle loss, love and life. While Roger tries to run away from all that he is faced with, Mark tries to capture it all through film. Besides Mark and Roger, the cast includes Maureen Johnson, a bisexual woman focus on protesting, Joanne, Maureen’s lesbian lover, Mimi, Roger’s girlfriend who is HIV positive and an S&M dancer, Tom Collins, a gay, HIV positive computer genius, Angel, Tom’s HIV positive drag queen lover, and Benjamin, a former member of the group who gained wealth through marriage and is the group’s landlord who stands against everything the group is for. This musical portrays the reality of life through love in which couples continue to get together and breakup, drug abuse in which Mimi almost dies, and tragedy in which the severity of the AIDS/HIV is shown through Angel’s death.
Big queer themes that are exemplified in this musical are cross gender roles, homosexual relationships, Bi relationships, identity crisis, and the biggest of all AIDS/HIV. RENT is a very interesting musical because in a society when AIDS/HIV were strongly scrutinized and gay individuals were being hated on, it is these “negative” factors that brings the group together. Even though at the time, AIDS seemed to be a disease only attributed to homosexual individuals, RENT breaks against those boundaries. In the musical, homosexual individuals have AIDS, but so do heterosexual characters, such a Mimi and Roger, who attained AIDS through needles. Regardless of the AIDS epidemic and the negative implications it had on homosexual relationships, the musical is able to take the viewers from the