Problems of airing a not-so-live version of RENT last night, let’s revisit the impact the show had on theater itself. 

Twenty-three years later, it may be easy to overlook the fact RENT was wildly important. A 1997 review states: “it is clear that Rent is a work of true originality, created by a serious young artist who has written passionately about people whose lives he understands. In so doing, he has used contemporary musical idioms (rock, gospel, calypso, rap) within a dramatic context far more effectively than previous Broad- way composers. Larson’s work has come closer than any other since Hair to solving the dilemma of making Broadway music once again.” 

Read it all here: bit.ly/2sOsWjn