Summer 1996. You’ve taken your hard-won seat at Rent. You survived a pre-show lottery before the performance to get a $20 ticket in the first two rows. The other “contestants” were notably younger than the typical Broadway crowd, and had also somehow seem this completely sold-out show dozens of times already. The stage looks pretty bare—no curtain, some scaffolding and platforms. Two actors come out before the house lights go down. As one tunes a guitar, the other holds a camcorder and narrates the proceedings. They are Rodger and Mark, bohemian artists squatting in an apartment on Manhattan’s lower east side. As the fist act proceeds you meet more members of their chosen family—a community connected by a quest for authentically, a rejection restrictive societal norms, and a desire to live each day as if it were their last. The diverse cast of characters, inspired by Puccini’s opera La Boheme, includes drug addicts, a stripper, a drag queen, several queer couples, and many people with AIDS. The sung-through rock score is definitely the loudest music you’ve heard on Broadway, and it’s a perfect vehicle for the angst and energy of these idealists. But there’s a variety of musical styles that reveals vivid personalities, heart, and humor. After the intermission, before the action begins, the cast lines up on at the foot of the stage to sing ”Seasons of Love,” a statement of the onstage community’s philosophy.
The 1980s and the first half of the 1990s yielded many wonderful American musicals, but nothing nearly as popular or long-running as the Megamusicals coming from England. Even as the output of new megamusicals started to fizzle out in the 1990s, the 80s hits still remained the top attractions. But with Rent , America produced its most buzzed about musical since A Chorus Line. Like Hair, it bristled with the energy of a young cast singing the music of their generation. But Rent didn’t just use contemporary musical influences—it found dramatic potential in rock music and used the stylings to develop multi-faceted characters and tell an eventful story. The tragic death of Jonathan Larson on the day of Rent’s first public performance off-Broadway added an all-too-timely weight to the show’s “no day but today” message. Rent became not just a musical, but a lifestyle, especially for younger fans. It actively cultivated a younger, hipper audience, by having a lottery for affordable tickets in the front rows each night. This innovative type of outreach (now standard practice, even if the concept of “affordable” is debatable), combined with the rise of a little ol’ thing called the internet, created a worldwide network of acolytes hanging on every cast replacement and vocal riff.
Recommended Recording: ”Seasons of Love,” Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
Yes, you’ve probably heard it a billion times. It’s honestly hard to remember a time when “Seasons of Love” didn’t exist. It’s like “Amazing Grace” for theater kids—it just works on a primal level. You may roll your eyes when it begins, you may think you’re sick of it, but once the soloists start in on the second verse, you will be on board. It’s an unavoidable fact of human nature. Gwen Stewart and Byron Utley: You will always be famous.
Alternate Performances
Rent has received 21 cast recordings (most of which are from international productions). In his one-man show, Without You, original Mark, Antony Rapp, describes hearing “Seasons…” for the first time. Idina Menzel, also from the original cast, released a holiday album called Christmas: A Season of Love. Donny Osmond recorded a reliably extra solo version of “Seasons…”.
2005 Film: Director Chris Columbus assembled most of the original Broadway Cast (aside from a pregnant Daphne Ruben Vega and the oldest core cast member, Fredi Walker) for the movie. (Their roles were played by Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms.) As the casting may indicate, the movie is largely respectful of the material, though they do replace most of the sung dialgue with spoken text. (The screenplay often just the used the lyrics verbatim, forcing the cast to awkwardly speak them out of rhythm like a bad acting class exercise.) The literalism and Hollywood gloss diminished a lot the material’s renegade spirit, personality, and style. It’s not the movie Rent-heads wanted at the time, but it’s not terrible. And if it’s your first exposure to Rent, you can walk away enjoying the songs and caring about the characters.
2008 Proshot (RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway): We are so fortunate to have this record of the original Broadway production, with its closing cast, which features original “Seasons of Love” soloist Gwen Stewart and the movie’s Tracie Thoms. It’s Rent as it was meant to be seen. If you ever need to cry, watch Michael McElroy’s devastating “I’ll Cover You (Reprise).”
RENT: Live! (2019): The Fox network hoped Rent would bring an older, “edgier” audience to the live TV musical craze of the 2010s . Unfortunately, Brennin Hunt, who played Rodger, broke his foot during a rehearsal the day before the performance. The production had no understudies or contingency plans, and the “live” production that aired consisted mostly of a filmed rehearsal. The finale—featuring a reunion of the original cast singing “Seasons of Love”—did air live.
Is it Covered by The Rat Pack, Audra McDonald, or Glee?
Audra McDonald, Lin Manuel Miranda, Jessie Tyler Ferguson, and Jane Krakowski joined James Corden for a “Carpool Karaoke” segment. When Corden starts to play “Seasons of Love” the rest of the car goes “awwwww” immediately after the first two chords of the introduction.
Glee: “Seasons of Love” appears in season 5 episode 3 (“The Quarterback”) as part of Finn’s memorial. An earlier version was recorded during season 3 (believed to be part of The Graduation Album), but it was not officially released.
In the Wings
There’s a lot of Rent lore to explore while you wait for song 12 to drop next week. One of the more interesting stories associated with the original production is original dramaturg Lynn Thomson’s lawsuit over a share of the royalties. I also recommend checking out the movie tick, tick…BOOM! which explores Jonathan Larson’s artistic struggles before starting work in Rent. Lin-Manuel Miranda directed with Andrew Garfield as Larson.
Seasons of Love is a haunting reflection of the 80/90's world of art. Rent is definitely in my top 10 all time favorite shows.