Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Introduction xvii
1 "One Song to Leave Behind": Jonathan Larson, Creator of Rent 1
2 "That Doesn't Remind Us of 'Musetta's Waltz'": The Opera That Inspired a Musical 20
3 "The Beauty of a Studio": From Conception to Workshop 42
4 "Our Benefactors on This Christmas Eve": The Producers and the Creative Team 59
5 "Who I Was Meant to Be": The Cast of Characters 67
6 "To Days of Inspiration": The Original Off-Broadway Production 83
7 "Being an Us for Once": The Original Cast 100
8 "How Did We Get Here?": A Synopsis of the Story of Rent 119
9 "Wanna Hit the Street?": Rent Makes It to Broadway 142
10 "Making Something Out of Nothing": The Designers and What They Brought to Rent 159
11 "Who's Pleading Out of Town?": Rent on Tour 171
12 "Another Time-Another Place": Rent Crosses the Pond 187
13 "Adventure, Tedium, No Family, Boring Locations": Rent and Its Journey to Film 196
14 "But He's Got Great Footage": The Movie 213
15 "Seasons of Love": The Long Broadway Run and the Closing Performance 227
16 "Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham, and Gage": Rent Cultural Literacy 242
17 "Don't Look Back or You May Drown": The Return of Rent to Off-Broadway 282
18 "It'd Be Another Play": tick, tick … BOOM! 292
19 "I Escape and Ape Content": Spoofs and Imitations 300
20 "For Someone Who Longs for a Community of His Own": The Larson Legacy 305
21 "Anywhere You Could Possibly Go After New York": Rent in a Town Near You 310
Appendix 1 Rent Timeline 351
Appendix 2 Cast List (with All Replacements) for Original Broadway Production, 1996-2008 353
Appendix 3 Opening Cast Lists for Touring and International Productions, 1996-1998 355
Appendix 4 Opening Cast Lists for Tours and Revivals, 2001-2016 357
Bibliography 359
Index 367
