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It’s been 30 years since Jonathan Larson’s rock opera Rent opened at the Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996, and arguably changed the theatrical landscape of Broadway.
Starring Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Fredi Walker-Browne, Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Jesse L. Martin, the musical went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, among many other accolades.
Larson, however, never got to see the smash success of his musical endeavor. He died of an aortic dissection — a tear in the inner layer of the aorta — on January 25, 1996, after seeing the show’s final dress rehearsal at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Rent’s Broadway opening night, BroadwayWorld shares some facts you may not know about the iconic musical.
Characters and Places Were Inspired by Jonathan Larson’s Former Roommate Jonathan Burkhart and Their Apartment
Though tick, tick… BOOM! is known to be Larson’s autobiographical work, many aspects of Rent were directly inspired by the late composer-lyricist’s life. The character of Mark Cohen was loosely modeled after his friends Jonathan Burkhart, a cinematographer, and Eddie Rosenstein, a documentary filmmaker.
“Our apartment is what you see in Rent,” Burkhart told me in a 2016 interview. “We literally had one extension cord that snaked all the way through the apartment. There was no heat except from the oven, and the shower was in the kitchen, and the floors were all f*cked up. The toilet was in its own room, and the floorboards were so rotten that certain boards you stepped on, like pieces of wood, would come out.”
‘Rent’ Was Actually Not Jonathan Larson’s Idea
You may notice that a man named Billy Aronson is credited with Original Concept and Additional Lyrics on Rent — that’s because it was his idea first.
“In 1988 I had an idea for a musical based on Puccini’s La Boheme, in which the luscious splendor of Puccini’s world would be replaced with the coarseness and noise of modern New York,” Aronson wrote on his website. “In search of a composer who could provide the noise I went to Ira Weitzman, director of musical theater at Playwrights Horizons. Ira recommended two composers, one of whom was Jonathan Larson.”
The two workshopped ideas and even collaborated on the songs “Rent,” “Santa Fe” and “I Should Tell You” before Larson decided to go forth with the project on his own. “I had no problem with that, so we agreed that he could do what he wanted with the show, as long as I’d be given credit — for original concept & additional lyrics — and compensation if the show should ever be produced,” said Aronson.
Roger Bart Sang on Early Demos of ‘Rent’
Larson and actor Roger Bart were good friends during the early days of Rent’s creation. On a 2025 episode of the Call To Stage with Amber Davies podcast, Bart recalled how they worked Sunday brunches nearby.
“He would come visit me, and I would feed him a free plate of penne pasta, [which] cost probably like 20 cents to make, and I’d give him a glass of red wine, and we would listen to songs that he was in the process of writing,” Bart explained. “Back then it was with a Walkman…and we would do recordings.”
It was at Bart’s job at the Paris Commune restaurant that Larson told him the show would be called Rent. “He came in and goes, ‘So I think I got a name for this show. I’m thinking about calling it Rent.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Because that’s all we do. It’s all we do. It’s always about making rent.’”
Jonathan Larson Pitched ‘Rent’ to NYTW After Riding His Bike Past the Theatre
James C. Nicola, the former artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop, explained in a 2016 interview that Larson was riding his bike past the company’s new home on E. 4th Street when he decided to pop in and pitch his project.
“Well, it was fortuitous,” said Nicola, explaining that the company’s production manager encouraged Larson to drop off his materials at their 42nd Street offices. “It was pretty clear from that first listen to the tape that this was exactly what we were looking for — a project about the East Village, about the young folks that were living here at the time and about so much more.”
The Life Support Characters Are Inspired by Real-Life People at Friends In Deed
It’s been widely reported that Larson based Rent’s support group members on the people he encountered at Friends In Deed, a non-profit organization founded by Cynthia O’Neal and Mike Nichols as a response to the AIDS crisis.
As BroadwayWorld reported from the 2016 BroadwayCon Rent panel, O’Neal explained, “One night when Jonathan was [at Friends In Deed], a man raised his hand — a young man who I never saw before — and he said, ‘I don’t really have a problem about dying, but will I lose my dignity?’”
Casting Director Bernard Telsey Did Not Want to Cast ‘Rent’
Casting director Bernard Telsey has said in previous interviews that he tried to “pass” on working on the hit rock opera in its initial stages.
However, as Telsey explained, Nicola needed someone to cast Rent as well as Doug Wright’s play Quills. When Telsey requested to only cast Quills, Nicola shot him down — making him work on both.
Auditions Were Advertised Specifically for Rockers
It’s been said that casting calls were advertised on posters to find exactly what the team was looking for. In Jennifer Ashley Tepper’s The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2, casting director Telsey said, “We did some bizarre open call where we put an ad in the back of the Village Voice, near the rock ‘n’ roll vocal coaches, thinking maybe the right people would see that. Twenty-five people showed up, and they all looked like Alice Cooper, except for one. Adam Pascal.”
Jesse L. Martin Met Jonathan Larson at the Moondance Diner Before He Starred in ‘Rent’
Both Larson and Martin worked at the now-defunct Moondance Diner long before they collaborated on Rent together. In a video interview with Page Six, Martin explained, “The person training me was Jonathan Larson. One of the things I absolutely remember about meeting him was he, at first, asked me what I do — and I’m a young actor trying to make my way in New York City, but here I am waiting tables like the typical story, so I was a little embarrassed to say out loud that I’m an actor.”
Larson, Martin said, “very matter of factly goes, ‘You should be more proud of what you do.’ And I was like, ‘Well, damn OK.’ And then I very matter of factly asked him what he does, and he’s like, ‘I’m a composer,’ and he just walked off with like about eight plates on his arms.”
Jonathan Larson’s Then-Roommate Found Him the Night He Died
Larson’s then-roommate Brian Carmody came home in the wee hours of the morning on January 25, 1996, to find his friend dead on the kitchen floor. “I was roaring at the top of my lungs, ‘Wake up! Wake up, Jon!’” Carmody told People. “I still thought he’d be okay.” When police arrived, Larson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jonathan Laron’s Father Demanded the Show Go on After His Death
Burkhart said in a 2026 interview that after he learned that his friend had died, he spoke with Larson’s parents. Recalling that conversation, he said, “I remember saying to [his father Allan Larson], ‘I was [just] on the phone with Jim Nicola, and I asked him what do we do about the show,’ and Al said very clearly, ‘The show goes on tonight. We have to do this show. Do not let it stop.’”
The Show’s ‘Sing-Through’ Turned Into a Full Production During Its Emotional First Preview
The night of the first preview performance at New York Theatre Workshop was an emotional one. As famously reported and documented, what started as an intimate reading and sing-through held on January 25, 1996, in memory of Larson turned into a full-blown production. The cast began dancing during the Act I finale, “La Vie Bohème,” and completed its second act with a staged performance.
Changes to the Show Had to Be Agreed Upon by All After Jonathan Larson’s Death
NYTW’s then-artistic director Nicola said that director Greif, musical director Tim Weil and dramaturg Lynn Thomson developed a “committee system” for any changes to the material moving forward. “Everything that was going to happen from then on out had to be by consensus of the four people in the room,” Nicola explained. “If we felt a bar of music had to be cut or if this piece of musical phrase had to continue twice more that was originally ended, that it would have to be a decision that we all agreed to — these four.”
‘Take Me or Leave Me’ Was the Last Song Jonathan Larson Wrote for ‘Rent’
Director Greif revealed that “Take Me or Leave Me,” the iconic duet between Maureen and Joanne, was “the last song written for the show,” explaining: “It came in about two weeks before we previewed, like a week before some sort of tech process, and it’s a great song, and it maybe is the best song in the show.”
The Nederlander Had Mice — and Had to Be Renovated — Before ‘Rent’ Moved In
According to Tepper’s The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2, producer Kevin McCollum recalled how there were limited options for a Broadway transfer. “No one played the Nederlander,” he said. “The last real show they’d had there closed after a few weeks four years earlier. But the Nederlander did have a tenant: mice and mold and leaking ceilings.”
The Broadway house underwent a major transformation before the musical moved in. “Not only were we moving Rent to Broadway,” he said, “we were rebuilding this theater together.”
The History of the ‘Rent’ Wall
The wall behind the Nederlander Theatre became as impactful as the production of Rent itself. “About the wall,” director Greif began in Tepper’s book. “When we moved in, we heard that the Nederlander had a tradition of celebrities signing the wall in the back alley. That seemed a little elitist to me, so after a couple of previews in which only celebrities signed the wall, I forged a couple of notes and signatures from some ‘ordinary’ theatergoers. I think one was ‘Mrs. Field,’ a 5th grade teacher from Brooklyn, New York. After that, everyone felt free to contribute to the wall.”
It has since been painted over.
‘Rent’ Started the Broadway Rush and Lottery
It is well documented that the Rent production team wanted to give young theatergoers the chance to experience theatre at an affordable cost. Rent was one of the first Broadway musicals to offer an affordable rush ticket before changing to a lottery policy.
The Cast Honored Jonathan Larson With This Tradition
In Tepper’s book, actor Robin de Jesús — who at one point during the show’s long run was cast in the ensemble and understudied the role of Angel — revealed that cast members would pay tribute to Larson nightly. “We had a tradition where every night before we went to the stage, we’d touch this piece of wood above the call board,” he explained. “It had Jonathan’s name on it and was given to the company by his family. Some people would choose to touch it for good luck before they went onstage, and some wouldn’t.”
“Karmine Alers rubbed it each night, and she had a personal relationship with Jonathan; she had known him before Rent,” de Jesús said. “The piece of wood was a tradition, a little connection with Jonathan.”
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
