0:09

It's the evening of April. Twenty Nine

0:11

Ninety Ninety Six Backstage at the Negro

0:13

Lander Theater in New York City. Twenty

0:15

four year old actor Anthony Rapp strives

0:17

through the warn of dressing rooms of

0:20

production offices that's nestle beneath the theater.

0:22

Backstage crew clear a path for Anthony

0:24

down a narrow hallway, wish him luck

0:26

as he goes. Well as they say,

0:28

and dieter land break a leg. A

0:30

voice crackles through speakers on the wall.

0:33

It's the stage manager calling for places.

0:35

All actors for the first number must

0:37

make their way to. The stage at

0:39

Once Tonight's production is about to begin,

0:42

so Anthony picks up the pace. Tonight

0:44

marks a milestone and Anthony show business

0:46

career. He spent more than a decade

0:48

trying to become a star, but so

0:51

far has only acted in a series

0:53

of smaller roles and television, film and

0:55

theatre. Eighteen months ago though, he was

0:58

cast as Mark Cohen, one of the

1:00

lead roles in Rent and Off Broadway

1:02

musical that was then still in development.

1:04

The show finally premiered several weeks ago

1:07

and after wowing audiences, it's transferred. To

1:09

the larger, need your land or

1:11

theater for it's debut in the

1:13

most famous theatre district in the

1:15

world, Broadway. Anthony heads up a

1:17

narrow flight of stairs to adore

1:19

March stage. He gently pushes through

1:21

into the cool still darkness. Beyond

1:23

you can hear the chatter of

1:25

the waiting audience. A dresser adjusts

1:27

Anthony scarf, making sure that his

1:29

costume is just right address or

1:31

then offers the silent Doms up

1:33

leaves Anthony to find his position

1:35

next to his cast mates for

1:37

the opening number. In

1:39

the darkness, he shares a quick smile

1:42

with the other actors. This is the

1:44

moment they've all been waiting for. The

1:46

audience grows quiet as the lights in

1:48

the theater dim. Anthony takes one month

1:51

final breath and takes his first step

1:53

on stage. The.

1:58

broadway debut of rent will win critical

2:00

acclaim for its story of race, queerness,

2:02

and perseverance in the face of strife.

2:05

It's a triumph for its creator,

2:08

35-year-old Jonathan Larson. But

2:10

Jonathan will not witness his musical success.

2:13

His unexpected death on the eve of

2:15

his show's debut will cast a poignant

2:17

shadow over Rent, even as it becomes

2:19

a modern classic after its first spectacular

2:21

performance on Broadway on April 29th, 1996.

2:29

American History Tellers is sponsored by Audible.

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And this is History Daily. History.

4:09

Is made every day on this podcast. Every

4:12

day we tell the true stories of a

4:14

people and events the shaped our world. Today.

4:17

As April Twenty Nine, Ninety Ninety

4:19

Six Rock Musical Rent debuts on

4:21

Broadway. It's

4:26

a sweltering summer day and Nineteen Eighty

4:28

Nine in Greenwich Village, New York seven

4:31

years before rents first Broadway performance. Twenty.

4:34

Nine year old composer Jonathan Larsen takes a

4:36

sip a cheap lemonade. sons himself in a

4:38

folding chair on the roof of his apartment

4:40

building. Next to Jonathan,

4:42

play right Billie Aronson fans himself with

4:44

a newspaper. There's not much that

4:47

can be done to beat the searing heat for

4:49

their conversation that serves as a distraction. The.

4:51

Pair talk about their shared passion Seer

4:54

Jonathan complaints about the lack of interest

4:56

producers have shown in a futuristic musical

4:58

he's written loosely based on George Orwell's

5:00

Nineteen Eighty Four. With that shows stuck

5:02

in development, Jonathan's itching for a new

5:04

project to sink his teeth into one

5:06

that he hopes will finally make it

5:09

to the stage. Billie. Groans

5:11

and understanding says that he's actually tinkering

5:13

with a new idea himself and adaptation

5:15

of poo Chinese opera la Boh Am.

5:18

The original story follows a group of

5:20

creators living in Paris struggling to find

5:22

meaning in a world that's ambivalent to

5:24

their plight. It's a predicament

5:26

the feels familiar to both billion Jonathan

5:28

as young artists and Billie explains that

5:31

he's considering reimagine the story, with the

5:33

streets of modern New York City replacing

5:35

Paris. The. Local Neighborhood of

5:37

Greenwich Village is an epicenter of counterculture.

5:40

Struggling. Artists wanna be poets

5:42

and cultural outcasts have all card

5:44

community for themselves here. and

5:46

other words it's the perfect modern equivalent

5:49

to puccini paris hearing the pitch jonathan

5:51

is transfixed and immediately wants to turn

5:53

it into a musical which jonathan seals

5:55

could shine a spotlight on the colorful

5:58

lives of people like himself So

6:01

soon, Jonathan and Billy agree on a name

6:03

for the new show, Rent. It's partly a

6:05

reference to the stress of dealing with New

6:07

York's extortionate housing costs, but Jonathan also likes

6:10

the more dramatic meaning of the word, to

6:12

be torn apart. Jonathan

6:14

envisions the people in the play as

6:16

being split between different ideas, feelings, and

6:18

paths. Rent a thunder. Billy

6:21

and Jonathan work out a basic outline of

6:23

the plot, then Billy sets about writing lyrics

6:25

and Jonathan scores them. Slowly,

6:27

a few songs start to form. I

6:30

should tell you, a love song about

6:32

jumping into the unknown against one's better

6:34

judgment, and Santa Fe, a pop song

6:36

fantasizing about leaving the difficult New York

6:38

life behind for something simpler. But

6:41

though Jonathan and Billy are close friends,

6:43

they find collaborating a struggle. Each

6:46

of them has their own idea for why that is. Jonathan

6:48

claims that when they demo new songs, the

6:50

response to Billy's lyrics isn't as positive as

6:53

the reaction to Jonathan's score. But

6:55

Billy simply says it's a matter of creative differences.

6:58

He prefers a more acerbic and witty tone,

7:00

while Jonathan wants to approach the themes in

7:02

the play in a more sincere and passionate

7:04

way. Regardless of the

7:06

reasons, the duo eventually agree to amicably

7:08

separate, and Billy gives full creative control

7:10

of the project to Jonathan. As

7:13

a show of gratitude, Jonathan promises to credit

7:15

Billy for the original idea of the show,

7:17

if it ever debuts. So

7:20

now, on his own, Jonathan continues working on

7:22

Rent, weaving in more of his own struggles

7:24

as a creative. But as he

7:26

writes, he has to deal with numerous tragedies in

7:28

his personal life. Deaths

7:31

from HIV and AIDS are common in this part

7:33

of New York. AIDS was

7:35

first identified in the United States only seven

7:37

years ago. But since then,

7:39

it has spread across the country, and

7:41

hitting neighborhoods like Jonathan's especially hard. People

7:44

suffering from the disease must cope not only with

7:46

a frightening illness, but with a society that has

7:49

turned its back on them. Many

7:51

Americans seem indifferent to the growing death toll, and

7:53

view the AIDS epidemic as a problem that doesn't

7:55

affect them. Jonathan is sickened

7:58

by that attitude. of

8:00

working out his new musical, three of

8:02

Jonathan's friends die due to complications with

8:04

HIV and AIDS. And after

8:07

these deaths, the approach that Jonathan

8:09

is taking with rent feels increasingly

8:11

self-centered and shallow. He decides

8:13

that the story should not focus on his

8:15

own struggles as a composer and playwright, and

8:17

instead it should focus on the lives of

8:20

people like his recently deceased friends. So

8:22

between funerals, Jonathan rewrites the story.

8:26

Slowly but surely over the course of the

8:28

next year, Jonathan will fine-tune rent into a

8:30

full script with a catalog of songs. All

8:32

he will need to do then is find

8:34

someone to take a chance on him, and

8:36

somewhere to give rent a home. It's

8:50

the fall of 1992 in East Village,

8:52

New York, two years after Jonathan Larson

8:54

and Billy Aronson came up with a

8:56

concept for rent. Jonathan cycles

8:58

down the street, glancing around at the

9:01

goings-on in the neighborhood. It's a peaceful

9:03

day, with young people lounging outside cafes

9:05

and apartment buildings smoking cigarettes. But

9:08

soon Jonathan spots a small hive of activity

9:10

in the otherwise quiet streets. Builders

9:13

are hard at work outside the New York Theatre

9:15

Workshop, a small venue in the very neighborhood in

9:17

which rent is set. Suddenly

9:19

Jonathan realizes that the perfect home

9:21

for his musical is right under his nose. Walking

9:25

inside, he spots a friend who works in the

9:27

theater. Jonathan tells him about

9:29

the new show he's been working on and how the

9:31

New York Theatre Workshop would be the ideal place for

9:33

it to premiere. All it takes

9:35

is a single read-through of the script for

9:37

the theatre's artistic director to agree, and Jonathan's

9:39

vision has taken a step closer to the

9:41

stage. With

9:44

a venue secure, Jonathan's next challenge is to

9:47

find a cast. Over the

9:49

following weeks he selects a group of talented

9:51

young actors, many of whom live in the

9:53

same East Village streets that rent portrays. As

9:56

rehearsals begin, Jonathan continues to tinker

9:58

with the script, though, adding re-writing and

10:00

removing songs as he goes. But

10:03

this constant change slows down production.

10:06

Still with each passing day, the musical inches

10:08

closer and closer to its final form. But

10:11

in the midst of this exciting chapter of

10:13

his life, Jonathan's health declines. The

10:15

first warning sign occurs when he collapses

10:18

in the middle of rehearsal. After

10:20

he recovers, Jonathan laughs off the episode. He

10:22

thinks it's ironic that he fated while the

10:24

cast was singing the phrase, Dying in America,

10:27

from his song, What You Own. But

10:29

despite playing down his collapse, Jonathan

10:32

undergoes medical tests. They

10:34

offer no definitive diagnosis. Determined

10:36

to see his play through to the end,

10:39

Jonathan returns to rehearsals. But it

10:41

doesn't take long for his ailments to get in the way

10:43

again. In January 1996, only a few

10:46

days before opening night, Jonathan complains

10:48

of chest pains. But a

10:51

further raft of tests in the emergency

10:53

room still prove inconclusive. Then

10:55

on January 24, Jonathan returns to

10:57

the set to watch the final dress rehearsal.

11:00

He's clearly tired, but nothing could keep him

11:02

away from the theater at such a crucial

11:04

stage. The rehearsal goes well, and

11:06

the cast and crew leave the venue excited

11:08

for the next day's performance. After

11:11

seven years of planning, Rent is finally

11:13

ready to hit the stage. But

11:16

Jonathan does not live to see it. Upon

11:18

returning home from the dress rehearsal,

11:21

Jonathan collapses. His roommate finds

11:23

him dead in the kitchen a few hours later.

11:26

Subsequent investigations will reveal that

11:28

Jonathan suffered an aortic dissection,

11:30

possibly the result of an

11:32

undiagnosed genetic disorder. One

11:34

by one, the cast and crew of Rent

11:36

hear the terrible news. Shocked and

11:39

grieving, they meet at the New York Theater Workshop

11:41

to decide what to do. Rent

11:43

is set to premiere that evening, and Jonathan's

11:45

parents have flown to New York for the

11:47

performance. So after discussing it

11:49

among themselves, the cast decides to continue

11:51

with the premiere and dedicate it to

11:53

Jonathan's memory. In front of

11:56

an emotional audience of friends and family, the cast

11:58

of Rent performs the show as a a

12:00

table read without costumes or set

12:02

decoration. At least, that's how it

12:04

starts. But as they go through

12:06

the script, the actors find they can't help

12:08

but stand up and move around, bringing Jonathan's

12:11

writing to life. By act

12:13

two, the table read is scrapped. The cast

12:15

returns to the stage after the interval in

12:17

full costume, performing the show as it was

12:19

intended. At the end

12:22

of the premiere, the audience erupts into cheers.

12:24

Tears stream down many people's faces. Jonathan's

12:27

absence is most keenly felt during the curtain

12:29

call, when the show's creator would usually take

12:31

the applause at a premiere. But

12:33

a single audience member breaks the tension,

12:35

crying out, thank you, Jonathan Larson, as

12:38

the applause fades. After

12:40

the success of this emotional first performance,

12:42

Rant will become a runaway hit at

12:44

the New York Theatre Workshop and quickly

12:46

prove itself worthy of a larger stage.

12:49

And once it opens at the Needleander

12:51

Theatre on Broadway, three months later, Rant

12:53

will reach even greater heights. It

12:55

will become a worldwide sensation, making overnight

12:58

stars out of its cast. And it

13:00

will ensure that the memory of the

13:02

show's founder, Jonathan Larson, will remain very

13:04

much alive. It's

13:19

June 2nd, 1996, at the

13:21

Majestic Theatre in New York, six months

13:23

after Jonathan Larson's death. To

13:25

loud applause, British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber

13:28

walks on stage holding an envelope and

13:30

takes his place in front of a

13:32

podium. This is the

13:34

Tony Awards, a ceremony recognizing the

13:36

best of Broadway theater. Andrew

13:38

is here to present the evening's most

13:41

coveted prize, Best Musical. He

13:43

pauses, opens the envelope, looks out

13:45

at the audience, and then announces the name

13:47

of the winner, Rant. The

13:50

room explodes in cheers. Four

13:52

producers jump out of their seats and hug each

13:54

other before rushing to the stage. Taking

13:57

turns, they thank the show's director, the

13:59

company, the audience. And finally,

14:01

the man more responsible than anyone

14:03

else for the musical success, the

14:05

much-missed writer and composer Jonathan Larson.

14:09

Rent had ten nominations at this ceremony,

14:11

and the award for Best Musical is

14:13

its fourth win. But although

14:15

there are no more trophies to be handed out

14:17

at this year's Tony's, Rent has more honors to

14:19

come. Over the course of

14:21

the next few months, it wins the

14:23

Pulitzer Prize for Drama, six different Theater

14:26

Desk awards, and two Theater World awards.

14:28

The accolades ensure that Rent sells out

14:31

night after night for years. In

14:33

2006, ten years after Rent's

14:35

debut, the original Broadway cast reunites

14:38

for a benefit performance. Together,

14:40

they help raise over two million dollars

14:42

for good causes close to Jonathan Larson's

14:45

art, the local performing arts industry, and

14:47

HIV and AIDS charities. The

14:50

final performance of Rent on Broadway comes in

14:52

2008. By then, the

14:54

show has been performed through more than 5,000 audiences

14:56

and grossed over 280 million dollars. But

15:00

the musical's legacy extends far beyond the money

15:02

it made or the crowds it entertained. Rent

15:05

shone a spotlight on an often discriminated

15:07

against community, and through the unforgettable words

15:09

and music of Jonathan Larson, it has

15:11

changed hearts and minds from the moment

15:14

it debuted on Broadway, April 29, 1996.

15:24

Next on History Daily, April 30, 1963. A

15:28

boycott protesting a bus company's hiring

15:30

policies draws national attention to racial

15:32

discrimination in the United Kingdom. From

15:41

Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily,

15:44

hosted, edited, and executive produced by me,

15:46

Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by

15:48

Mohammad Shazi. Sound design

15:50

by Gabriel Gould. Music by

15:53

Lindsey Graham. This episode is written

15:55

and researched by Jack O'Brien. edited by Scott

15:57

Reeves, Edited by William

15:59

Simpson. Managing producer Emily

16:01

Berg. Executive producers are

16:03

William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes

16:05

for Noiser. Wondery

16:10

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