A Rare Show That Spoke to Youth

By ROBERT FELDBERG

The exuberant final performance of "Rent" last Sunday ended one of Broadway’s most remarkable, and unlikely, runs.

Beginning at the off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop in the East Village, Jonathan Larson’s rock musical moved to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre, where it opened April 29, 1996. Over 12 years, it gave 5,124 performances, ranking it seventh on the all-time list.

"Rent," based loosely on Puccini’s opera "La Boheme," had an off- stage story that was at least as compelling as the one on stage.

After struggling for many years to create a breakthrough show, Larson died suddenly, at 35, of an aortic aneurysm the day before the musical’s first off-Broadway performance.

Adding to the tragedy was the belief that his life could have been saved had he been diagnosed accurately at a hospital emergency room.

And then there was the dramatic irony that his semi- autobiographical show portrayed young artists struggling with poverty, failure and – for those with AIDS the specter of mortality.

There’s no question that Larson’s death helped push the show into the spotlight, giving it a level of attention it would not otherwise have had. But if that were the only card in its deck, it wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did.

Simply, it ran and ran because it was that rare show that spoke meaningfully to young audiences, from teenagers to people in their 20s and 30s.

It gave the state of being young a feeling of energy and a sense of urgency. Everything, from the creation of art to rent protests to love, was filled with passion, and without the turn-off of irony.

There was also the camaraderie of the artists and their friends, living in their own world, with their own rules, and treating one another with unconditional affection.

Songs poured out of them. It was as if all the musical ideas Larson had ever had were fervently and joyously bursting forth.

Credit for the show’s success also has to go to clever marketing, which began with the decision to put the show into the neglected Nederlander, on one of Broadway’s seediest streets, and then distressing the interior of the theater to summon up the rundown East Village of the period.

There was also the masterstroke of offering $20 tickets each day, via lottery, for the first two rows of the orchestra, leading to an impressive line snaking down 41st Street to Seventh Avenue before every performance.

("Rent" producers Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller have gone on to present a number of other Broadway musicals aimed at youthful audiences, sometimes successfully ("Avenue Q,""In the Heights") and sometimes not so much ("High Fidelity,""[title of show]").

There were no speeches at the last performance of "Rent." Just an actor telling the audience that the evening was dedicated to Larson, as the show’s very first performance had been.

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The new Broadway season will have its annual official kickoff today, with the free Broadway on Broadway concert.

Cast members from just about every Broadway musical, existing and upcoming, will perform numbers from their shows. Drew Lachey, who’s in "Spamalot," will be the host.

The show, which begins at 11:30 a.m., will be on Broadway between 43rd and 47th streets, a stretch that will be closed to traffic for the occasion.

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E-mail: feldberg@northjersey.com

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