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In celebration of its release, Apollo Publishers will host a launch event for Making Rent: The Story Behind the Music that Changed Broadway, written by Rent’s original musical director, Tim Weil. The event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store’s Rare Book Room (828 Broadway on 12th Street) on Monday, February 2nd at 7:00PM. The discussion will be led by Rent director and five-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif.
Making Rent: The Story Behind the Music that Changed Broadway is now available for purchase wherever books are sold and through Apollo Publishers.
Thirty years after Rent, Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking rock opera, opened on Broadway, you would be hard-pressed to find a musical theater fan who doesn’t know at least some of the show’s iconic tunes by heart. “Take Me or Leave Me,” “Light My Candle,” “La Vie Boheme,” and the ubiquitous “Seasons of Love” revolutionized the kind of music heard on the Broadway stage. Much of the impact comes from the show’s musical style, a singular blend of grunge rock, power pop, gospel, and R & B that was brought to life by the show’s onstage band, headed by the legendary musical director, Tim Weil.
From his first day as audition accompanist through his elevation to musical director, Weil was a critical collaborator with Larson in developing Rent’s unique sound. And when, on the eve of the company’s first public performance, Larson died unexpectedly, Weil was there to finesse a still-unfinished show into the musical Larson had long dreamed of.
Making Rent reveals how the music that has shaped generations of new American musicals grew out of Weil and Larson’s intimate partnership and how, for the six years he worked on Rent’s Broadway run, Weil endeavored to preserve Larson’s musical vision. Previously untold stories about some of the show’s most iconic moments, accompanied by behind-the-scenes photos, capture the energy, ingenuity, and passion of Rent‘s company and creators while providing a unique level of insight into just how collaborative and innovative a process making Rent was and why it has had such a lasting impact on musical theater and fans the world over.
