'Stay true to yourself and to your dreams and know they can come true.'-JL The musical numbers - especially those in the restaurant - are some of the best in the last twenty five years of Broadway. But a historically relevant play nonetheless.Ĥ.5 stars. Nor is an AIDS diagnosis a death sentence any longer. The play has lost a little bit of its currency in recent years since Manhattan is heavily gentrified and certainly not so gritty anymore. Jesse Martin and Rosario Dawson also put in very strong supporting performances. Wilson Heredia delivered an award winning performance as Angel. Not sure why she isn’t more recognized for her voice. I also enjoyed Fredi Walker’s singing in her role as Joanne.

I’m not normally an Idina Menzel fan but I felt she did a solid job in her role as the impulsive Maureen. In fact I think the play might have benefited with a little more drama. It is a compelling play without being over the top. The story is largely about how these young adults deal with the AIDS and drug epidemic sweeping NYC in the late 1980’s. Last night I saw this play (the film version) for the first time. Here is the exclusive and absolutely complete companion to Rent, told in the voices of the extraordinary talent behind its the actors, the director, the producers, and the librettist and composer himself, Jonathan Larson, whose sudden death, on the eve of the first performance, has made Rent's life-affirming message all the more poignant. Now, for the first time, Rent comes to life on the page - through vivid color photographs, the full libretto, and an utterly compelling behind-the-scenes oral history of the show's creation. Sweeping all major theater awards, including the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama, as well as four 1996 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score for a Musical, Rent captures the heart and spirit of a generation, refleting it onstage through the emotion of its stirring words and music, and the energy of its young cast. Rent has single-handedly reinvigorated Broadway and taken America by storm.

In these pages, Rent offers what most theater books can' a chance to step behind the curtain and feel the electricity of a stage phenomenon as it unfolds.

Rent by Jonathan Larson