Rent Play

It was closing night for the new musical "Rent" at the New York Theatre Workshop, a 150-seat East Village theater where the pop opera, loosely based on Puccini's "La Boheme," opened in February. Onstage, friends and creative personnel, including director Michael Greif, mingled with the youthful cast and band in the kind of pizza-and-beer ritual that has been repeated countless times in experimental theater spaces. But this celebration was distinctly different.

That striped scarf is back, along with those peroxide blond boys. "Rent," Jonathan Larson's ground-shaking rock musical, is now very, very live at Pantages Theatre, and this Broadway tour features two original cast members, bespectacled Anthony Rapp as filmmaker Mark and Adam Pascal as HIV-positive songwriter Roger. It's been only a dozen years since this amplified update of Puccini's "La Boheme" knocked Gotham on its ear, showcasing the diverse talents of Taye Diggs, Jesse L.

Drama students at Corona del Mar High School were excited to push the envelope with a spring production of the Bohemian love story "Rent." But the drama teacher at the Newport Beach school says the principal told him to cancel the show because she disapproved of the gay characters in the musical. Fal Asrani, the school's principal, disputes that she pulled the plug on the production, saying that she only asked to review the script, according to district officials.

Drama students at Corona del Mar High School were excited to push the envelope with a spring production of the Bohemian love story "Rent." But the drama teacher at the Newport Beach school says the principal told him to cancel the show because she disapproved of the gay characters in the musical. Fal Asrani, the school's principal, disputes that she pulled the plug on the production, saying that she only asked to review the script, according to district officials.

By this time next week, dramaturges throughout America may have a better idea of where they stand in the theatrical pecking order. That's because a decision is expected next week in Thomson vs. Larson. Dramaturge Lynn M. Thomson sued the estate of the late "Rent" creator Jonathan Larson, contending that she helped create the hit show, now at La Jolla Playhouse as well as on Broadway, and is entitled to 16% of the author's royalties.

They waited with guitars, strumming with their eyes closed and humming accompaniment, or they paced in the parking lot, singing their audition selections under their breath, as if they might forget them when the big moment came. Some just gripped their sheet music, silently, praying this would be it: the Big Break.

The death of "Rent" was prematurely foretold. Producers of the Pulitzer Prize- winning musical, who had announced a June 1 closing, have extended the run through Sept. 7 because of increased ticket sales. "We've been gratified by the strong demand," Jeffrey Seller, one of the show's producers, said Wednesday. Seller said the producers "realized that thousands of fans of the show are students in school. We decided to stay open long enough for them to make their plans to see 'Rent' before it closes in September."

"Rent" is a mega-hit musical about romantic and artistic young down-but-not-outers trying to get their acts together while living as squatters in an inhospitable New York City tenement. The most down and nearly out among them are Roger Davis, an ex-junkie, HIV-positive rock musician who has grown withdrawn after his girlfriend's suicide, and Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive exotic dancer whose smack craving still rules. The wary Roger and the sassy-yet-vulnerable Mimi are drawn to each other.

No stars were going to be made Friday. But they lined up anyway--singers and actors, students and bankers. Carrying sheet music, resumes and the occasional guitar, hundreds of twentysomethings lined up in Burbank for the first of two days of auditions for "Rent," the rock opera that took Broadway by storm last year. Inspired by Puccini's "La Boheme," but set among aspiring artists in the East Village, "Rent" won Tony awards for best musical, book and score.

When "Rent," a musical by an obscure 35-year-old writer and composer, opened at the 100-seat New York Theatre Workshop nearly two years ago, few people could have predicted that it would be proclaimed a landmark and move to Broadway on a wave of positive reviews, multiple prizes and ecstatic press coverage.

The death of "Rent" was prematurely foretold. Producers of the Pulitzer Prize- winning musical, who had announced a June 1 closing, have extended the run through Sept. 7 because of increased ticket sales. "We've been gratified by the strong demand," Jeffrey Seller, one of the show's producers, said Wednesday. Seller said the producers "realized that thousands of fans of the show are students in school. We decided to stay open long enough for them to make their plans to see 'Rent' before it closes in September."

Adam Pascal is about to see his life pass before his eyes --some of it anyway -- and he's in the fortunate position of being able to smile at the prospect. Around him, people are screaming in anticipation, screaming the way some people do when there's a rock star in the vicinity, although there are none around. There's just rock or, to be more precise, a rock musical. The occasion is a recent performance of a touring company of "Rent" at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

At long last, the curtain has come down on the most important chapter so far of Anthony Rapp's life in the theater. Last week, he and the other original members of the cast of "Rent" took their final bow in a special 10th anniversary benefit performance in New York in memory of the hit musical's late writer-director, Jonathan Larson. For Rapp, the evening capped a year of encores that made his character's signature black-and-white striped scarf a familiar sight among the show's exuberant fans.

"Rent" is a mega-hit musical about romantic and artistic young down-but-not-outers trying to get their acts together while living as squatters in an inhospitable New York City tenement. The most down and nearly out among them are Roger Davis, an ex-junkie, HIV-positive rock musician who has grown withdrawn after his girlfriend's suicide, and Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive exotic dancer whose smack craving still rules. The wary Roger and the sassy-yet-vulnerable Mimi are drawn to each other.

The "Rentheads" came and cheered. The "Rent" haters came and vacated. And both camps made their cases known before, during and after Friday evening's performance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. As early as 6:30 a.m. Friday, Carey McCall, 17, of Irvine and her boyfriend, Jason Whyte, 18, trudged to the center to grab a place in line for the limited supply of $20 rush tickets--all the while knowing that the ticket window wouldn't open for another 11 1/2 hours.

There was a moment early on a recent overnight trip with my husband when I feared that our budget-minded, low-expectation getaway was headed in a dangerous direction. We had just checked into our $99 weekend special room at the Hotel Inter-Continental in downtown L.A. There was a king-size bed. There was a remote-controlled TV. And there was a Yankees-Indians playoff game in progess.

Adam Pascal is about to see his life pass before his eyes --some of it anyway -- and he's in the fortunate position of being able to smile at the prospect. Around him, people are screaming in anticipation, screaming the way some people do when there's a rock star in the vicinity, although there are none around. There's just rock or, to be more precise, a rock musical. The occasion is a recent performance of a touring company of "Rent" at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

The "Rentheads" came and cheered. The "Rent" haters came and vacated. And both camps made their cases known before, during and after Friday evening's performance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. As early as 6:30 a.m. Friday, Carey McCall, 17, of Irvine and her boyfriend, Jason Whyte, 18, trudged to the center to grab a place in line for the limited supply of $20 rush tickets--all the while knowing that the ticket window wouldn't open for another 11 1/2 hours.

When "Rent," a musical by an obscure 35-year-old writer and composer, opened at the 100-seat New York Theatre Workshop nearly two years ago, few people could have predicted that it would be proclaimed a landmark and move to Broadway on a wave of positive reviews, multiple prizes and ecstatic press coverage.

They waited with guitars, strumming with their eyes closed and humming accompaniment, or they paced in the parking lot, singing their audition selections under their breath, as if they might forget them when the big moment came. Some just gripped their sheet music, silently, praying this would be it: the Big Break.