Rent, a 1996 rock opera, is loosely based on Puccini’s La Boheme. Both depict the tragedies of bohemian existence in New York and Paris, poverty, and the devastation of disease. Rent updates the setting and story, but shares similarities in character names, music, and themes.
The 1996 rock opera Rent is loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme from a century earlier. Composer and writer Jonathan Larson wanted to update the setting and story of the classic opera to the present day, to tell the tragedies of bohemian existence in America. While many plot details and themes are changed from the source of inspiration, Rent and La Boheme possess many connecting similarities, which enrich the performances of the modern musical for fans of the original work.
Rent and La Boheme are both set in cities considered havens for artists, New York and Paris. The reality behind the romantic tourist images of both cities is clearly proven false by the two stories. In the early scenes of Rent and La Boheme, the characters are forced to burn manuscript pages to keep warm, unable to afford firewood, or in the modern version, heating bills.
Both Rent and La Boheme depict the devastation of a disease considered a feature of lower-class or artistic existence. In La Boheme one of the main characters, Mimi, is afflicted with tuberculosis, a deadly and highly infectious disease still prevalent throughout the world today. In Rent the plague is AIDS, and it has spread to many of the characters, half of whom are infected with the disease.
Many character names in Rent and La Boheme are similar or identical, and modern characters often share similar, albeit updated, jobs. Musetta, in the original work, is a flamboyant singer. Her modern counterpart, Maureen, is a performance artist who uses song as part of her repertoire. Mimi has the same name in both Rent and La Boheme, but in the original she is a seamstress with tuberculosis, while in the modern version she is a stripper with AIDS.
Musically, Rent and La Boheme share many similarities in style and theme. The famous “Musetta Waltz” from La Boheme is repeated several times in Rent, eventually forming the basis of the song Your Eyes. Both shows often rely on recitative singing, a form of rapid exchange of dialogue in a song, to show people arguing or heated arguments.
One of the closest similarities between the two shows occurs in the beginning when Mimi meets and is attracted to one of the main characters, called Rodolfo in the play and Roger in Rent. The meeting takes place under almost identical circumstances, as Mimi knocks on the door, hoping to receive a match for her burnt candle. Some of the dialogue between the two characters is actually the same as they fumble to find matches and find that they like each other. However, the Rent version follows its considerably darker tone, with Roger recalling seeing Mimi undress and realizing she needed the candle for drug use.
Rent and La Boheme both focus on the plight of artists in the cities that have a reputation for celebrating them. Both shows focus on poverty and the perils of a life lived far from conventional standards, but Rent shows an even bleaker existence in 20th-century New York. Many theater critics consider the Rent experience heightened by familiarity with the original play, although both pieces have become individual masterpieces of their genres.
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