Jonathan Larson

Entertainment Weekly
1997 Yearbook
By Kipp Cheng

His dying words have been heard around the world. Jonathan Larson's rock-opera blockbuster Rent--completed shortly before his death of an aortic aneurysm on Jan.25, 1996--had the critics rhapsodizing, the crowds lining up, the movie studios clamoring, and the theater world reeling. Inspired by Puccini's La Boheme, Larson, who was 35 when he died, recast the 19th-century tale of tormented outsiders with the 9th-century denizens of Manhattan's East Village--disenfranchised artists grappling with homelessness and AIDS. In doing so, he brought Broadway up-to-date, boldly marrying the modern urban zeitgeist to the hopeful, life-affirming traditions of the American musical.

An emigrant to Manhattan from White Plains, N.Y., Larson waited tables during the seven years it took to bring Rent to life. "He was lousy at sports," jokes his sister, Julie Larson McCollum. "So there was nothing else for him to do...Very early on we were given a sense of social awareness, as well as a love for the theater. I think Jonathan ultimately tried to combine the two."

With advance ticket sales of $6 million and projected earnings into the tens of millions, Rent has proved itself worthy of the hype.

"[Jonathan] was never afraid to say 'I'm going to change the face of musical theater,'" says Rent star Anthony Rapp. "That was something he took as a given."