An absolutely cracking musical beased in 80's/90's New York, influenced by the opera La Boheme. Defined as a "Rock Opera", the guitar riffs are addictively catchy and the lyrics are inspiring. From tearjearking scenes to laughter, passion and inspiration, RENT is a rollercoaster ride of emotions and you will, guaranteed, want to watch it again. It takes you through stuggles of life without money, AIDS and the fear of tomorrow; hope, life, living for the moment and acting without regret.

There are currently 3 versions of it - Film, USA Broadway and UK West End. If you have any sense, you will only go to see the Broadway version, as the West End producers have totally destroyed the music in some of the songs, especially "Out Tonight", which changes from a driving, fastpop/rock song to a badly composed, sleazy jazz rendition at about half the original speed.

Whilst the film version is good, it misses out some of the songs to shorten it, plays with the order of things, and is obviously not sung throughout as it would scare newbies to musicals.

Overall; bollocks to the West End, jump on a plane and go see it on Broadway. Oh, and buy the DVD to give you a general gist if you've never seen it, before you jump on that plane. You wont regret it.

A play about a bunch of self-obsessed jackasses who whine about not having any money for food, heat, or rent while simultaneously whining about how they're too good to get jobs to support themselves. The supposed 'villain' of the play is the one guy who goes out, gets a job and--get this--has the nerve to SELL the building that they live in just because they haven't paid their rent in a year and they've turned the building into a drug distribution center/whorehouse/flophouse for the homeless, even though he was only letting them stay there at drastically reduced rent out of the goodness of his heart and for the sake of their friendship.

This play is very popular with young, pretentious assholes.

a broadway play. Based on Puccini's La Boheme. Writen by Jonathan Larson who was HIV-positive but sadly died of an aortic aneurysm. Like La Boheme there is 8 people who grow into a family. Some people say it's life changing, a must see. Me? I agree.

In middle school, it was Rocky Horror. In high school, it was RENT. RENT is what passes for counterculture these days. A 19th century musical about tuberculosis stripped of its dignity and painted up with AIDS and cheap whore makeup. Every white suburban kid with a DVD player goes absolutely bonkers for this travesty, and such a reaction probably stems from the darkest, deepest part of the brain known as liberal guilt. Of course they don't want to pay their rent. They're too busy buying smack and singing about how tortured they are by their artistic spirits. Give me a break.

Broadway musical written by the late, great Jonathan Larson — who, for the record, was neither HIV-positive nor gay. Debuted in 1996 and still going strong. Essentially a modern re-write of Giacomo Puccini's beloved opera La Boheme, but with a happier ending and a score influenced heavily by pop, rock, and techno.

The main differences between La Boheme and Rent:

Setting:
Paris in the early 19th century becomes New York in the early 90s

Characters:

Rodolfo the playwright becomes Roger Davis the HIV-positive musician, former heroin junkie, looking to write one hit song before succumbing to the virus he contracted from his dead girlfriend (first played by Adam Pascal)

Marcello the painter becomes Mark Cohen the filmmaker, trying to make it big (first played by Anthony Rapp, once played by Joey Fatone of N'Sync)

Benoit the landlord becomes real estate mogul Benjamin Coffin III, former roomate to Mark and Roger and a symbol of the coming gentrification of the neighborhood and the eventual death or commercialization of Bohemia (first played by Taye Diggs)

Colline the philosopher becomes Tom Collins the HIV-positive anarchist, a computer geek who sabotaged MIT's virtual reality software and teaches part-time at NYU (first played by Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order fame)

Shaunard the violinist becomes Angel Dumot Schunard the street musician, an HIV-positive sometimes-transvestite and lover to Collins (first played by Wilson Jermaine Heredia, and more famously by Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy)

Mimi, the rhematosis-infected, dying courtesan, becomes Mimi Marquez the Latina bondage performer, HIV-positive, nineteen years old and a junkie, Roger's love interest and former girlfriend of Benjamin (first played by Daphne Rubin-Vega)

Musetta becomes hipster homeless advocate and performance artist Maureen Johnson, a lesbian, Mark's former girlfriend who left him for her stage manager (first played by Idina Menzel, who later played the Wicked Witch of the West in Wicked)

Alcindoro, Musetta's wealthy benefactor, becomes Joanne Jefferson, Maureen's new girlfriend and stage manager, whose role is significantly expanded compared to in Boheme to suit her relationship with Maureen and love-triangle with Mark (first played by Fredi Walker, at one point played by Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls)

Tuberculosis and rheumatism, the diseases which plagued crowded urban centers in the 19th century, are replaced by AIDS, the scourge of the artistic community in the 80s and early 90s

The parents

Your Biological parents, or care takers.

Mom and Pop.

Life-changing musical. It's not one of those chorus-line, "let's do the can-can" musicals AT ALL. It will make you embrace life, and the music is pretty cool, too.

The best Broadway musical that exists. It debuted in 1996, and is still running today.