RENT

Rent is a rock opera about a group of young artists and activists in New York City’s Lower East Side (known as Alphabet City) during the 1990s. The musical follows their struggles with poverty, illness, and the AIDS epidemic, as they try to find love, friendship, and success.

Mark and Roger struggle to pay rent to their landlord, Benny, who has turned off the heat in an attempt to force them out. Mark’s ex-girlfriend, Maureen, plans a protest with Joanne to block Benny from evicting a homeless encampment. Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Bohème, with the characters of Rodolfo, Musetta, and Marcello adapted to Roger, Maureen, and Mark.