La Bohème vs. RENT

7/27/2019 La Bohème vs. RENT

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Baum, Van

MH-248-HP1

Mirchandani

La Bohème and RENT

Introduction

The stage of musical theater and opera are so vastly different, many people have a

huge love for one or the other usually not both. But that’s beside the point, how does

the world receive something that plays into both sides of the spectrum. When a

story is adapted for both the opera stage and for the musical theater stage, what is

the reception? Yes both productions are vastly different and the styles follow suit,

but the characters, most of the plot, and some elements in the music are the same.

RENT is a rock musical written by the late musical theater composer Jonathan

Larson the blatantly takes most of the elements from Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème.

While Larson musical is drastically different in the element of music the plot and the

characters are directly taken from the libretto that Puccini used. Even though the

music is different there are elements of Puccini’s music in Larson’s music. Yes both

of these shows have been performed many times, but how are viewed currently?

How does the Broadway community view RENT? How does the opera community

view La Bohème? These two shows are more alike then different and the both

present and convey the same theme in almost the same way which is evident by the

reception they receive in their respective communities.

RENT



RENT was met with many opposing views. Many people in the opera community do

not like the show at all, which is to be expected. They view it as a tacky and

distasteful spin on Puccini’s perfection of a show. The Broadway community

continues to have mixed views on productions. It is safe to say that most of the

Generation X musical theater lovers have not heard of and did not know that RENT

was based off an opera. The musical seemed to be geared towards this generation

and is well received by them. “You can positively hear the Generation Xers in the

audience as they ‘relate’” (Gardner). Gardner argues that the show is just a cheap

ploy and doesn’t live up to the hype that is presented for it. RENT did win the

Pulitzer Prize and won many awards including the Tony for Best musical. “Pretty

much the same old showbiz fare, though with almost formulaic inversions. Instead

of boy meets girl, you now have girl meets girl and boy meets drag queen. The

Audience is almost explicitly invited to say, ‘Look at that! Lesbians. Say!’” (Gardner).

Gardner represents a lot of the older generation of theatergoer’s views. The view

being that the show is too gaudy and tries to hard. Many would argue against

Gardner’s claim their first piece of evidence being the Tony award and the second

piece of evidence being the shows successful 12 year run and recent revival. Since

the shows opening RENT has developed an enormous fan base, accrued $280

million, been translated and performed in over ten other countries and has been

filmed live on Broadway and adapted into a major motion picture. RENT is still

transforming lives and continues to push the envelope as well as be viewed in many

different ways by theatergoers.

La Bohème



La Bohème is notably one of Puccini’s more famous works and most performed

works. Bohème was written about 100 years before RENT so the styles are very

different but the story and message it conveys is the same. This time sticking to

tradition, Bohème, is a story of love and loss with a not so happy ending. While our

protagonist Rodolfo does eventually get his Mimi back she unfortunately dies

leaving the opera a dramatic one, which is its intent. It portrays love and loss in such

a way the intent behind Puccini’s work is very clear, to love is a gift that should not

taken advantage of. The story is executed beautifully by Puccini’s lush writing and

the text is set with such knowledge of the music that they work in tandem as

opposed to seeming disconnected. Since La Bohème premier in 1896 it has been

performed too many times to count! It has been performed in concert and on all of

the famous opera stages like the MET and La Scala. Puccini’s writing is

transcendental and is still studied today by scholars and considered a beautiful

piece of writing.

La Bohème and RENT

Puccini probably never imagined his work would be turned into a rock musical but

Larson had other ideas. No longer set in Paris the story has been transformed from

its classical view to a grungy setting in New York City. The characters and the story

have both been modified slightly to give the story and updated and to give the story

a fresh new outlook. When writing RENT Larson went back to Puccini’s work, RENT

is supposed to be an homage to Puccini instead of a bashing of his work. To truly pay

homage to Puccini Larson even used some of the elements from the La Bohème

score to influence his own. For example, using a constantly rising and falling melody



and stepwise melody to symbolize a love theme. In Larson’s adaptation however

Mimi has a near death experience but does not die. We find that this event in RENT

is one of the biggest contrasts, in terms of plot, to Puccini’s. In the opening of La

Bohème Puccini uses a lament to predict Mimi’s death while Larson does the exact

opposite in the beginning of RENT. “The rise in pitch opposed Puccini’s lament and

anticipates Mimi’s return” (Nisbet). Also explicitly in RENT mentioned is Musetta’s

aria Quando me'n vo, also known as Musetta’s Waltz. In RENT our hero Rodger plays

portions of Musetta’s Waltz and it is also the center of his song Your Eyes.

Conclusion

Coming into this topic I was a completely biased listener. Being one of the

Generation Xers you may want to say that I fell into the trap of RENT and I could

find myself relating to it, therefore I called it one of my favorite musicals. That was

one of the main reasons I picked this topic I didn’t know much of La Bohème which

was very naïve on my part. I am now leaving with a greater understanding for RENT

and have developed a love and appreciation for the masterpiece that is La Bohème. I

chose to view them both separately as great pieces of art that can help transform

and move people when used and communicated in the correct way. If I were to give

any recommendation it would be to see and learn about both of these shows. You

can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve come from, and

sometimes the things that are produced in the future just make the original even

more special.



Bibliography

Gardner, James. "Rent." National Review 48.(1996): 56-57. OmniFile Full Text Mega

(H.W. Wilson). Web. 27 Apr. 2013

Glitz, Michael. "Rent Gets Real." Advocate (Los Angeles, Calif.) (2005): 48-56.

OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 27 Apr. 2013.

Nisbet, Ian. "Transposition In Jonathan Larson's Rent." Studies In Musical Theatre

5.3 (2011): 225-244. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 27 Apr. 2013.

Puccini. La Bohème. Perf. The Berliner Philharmoniker, Mirella Freni, Luciano

Pavarotti 1994. CD

Puccini’s La Bohème Dir. Baz Luhrmann Perf. The Australian Opera and Ballet

Orchestra. MMII Image Entertainment, 1993. DVD

Documents

La Bohème vs. RENT