RENT: School Edition
by Jonathon Larson
directed by Eric Jensen
musical direction by Orlando Morales & RJ Tancioco
choreography by Kristin Culp
- JUL 31 - AUG 2
- Ages 12 and older
- Charlotte Martin Theatre
This groundbreaking musical won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony award for Best Musical. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living a Bohemian lifestyle in New York's East Village during the late 1980s, under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic: Mark, a filmmaker; Roger, a songwriter; Benny, their landlord; Tom Collins, a philosophy professor; Maureen, a performance artist; Joanne, a lawyer and Maureen’s lover; Angel, a transvestite street musician; and Mimi, an S&M dancer. The School Edition adaptation retains the plot and characters of the original, while making some changes to soften the language and cutting the song Contact.
It’s Christmas Eve, Mark is working on a film, Roger is mourning the suicide of his girlfriend, and Maureen and Joanne are planning a protest against Benny's plan to evict squatters. Outside of Mark and Roger’s loft, Tom gets mugged, Angel comes to his aid, and they begin to fall in love. While Mark checks out the protest plans, Mimi and Roger make their first connection, but Roger is disturbed to learn that Mimi uses heroin, because using heroin infected Roger with HIV.
On Christmas Day, Tom arrives at the loft with Angel; later, Maureen performs her protest. Afterwards, all head to the Life Café for a celebration of La Vie Boheme. Roger and Mimi each discover that the other is HIV-positive. In the midst of a fight with Maureen, Joanne announces a riot has broken out at the protest site; Benny has called in the cops, but the homeless are standing their ground. The artists rejoice, the riot continues, and Roger and Mimi kiss.
An encounter with Benny a week later alienates Roger from Mimi, who returns to the welcoming arms of her dealer. Time marches forward to autumn, when Angel dies of AIDS. At his memorial, the friends first unite, then quarrel. Joanne and Maureen reunite, but Roger leaves town. As Christmas returns, Mark prepares to screen his film. Maureen and Joanne arrive suddenly, holding Mimi, whom they found near death in the park. Roger, returning, begs her not to die and sings for her the song it has taken him all year to write, Your Eyes. Mimi awakens; a guardian Angel was watching over her.
- Running Time: approx. 2 hrs.