Jonathan Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American Tony Award-winning composer and playwright who lived in New York City and authored musicals, including Rent and Tick, Tick... BOOM!. These musicals tackle serious issues such as multiculturalism, addiction, homophobia, and the AIDS epidemic. His artistic vision and goal was to fuse Generation X and the MTV Generation with the world of musical theatre in his work. This mission was somewhat accomplished by his magnum opus, Rent, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won four Tony Awards. is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Rent is a American Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. ... Tick, Tick. ... Multiculturalism is the idea that modern societies should embrace and include distinct cultural groups with equal social status. ... An addiction is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity. ... A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church; a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as virulently homophobic. ... Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ... ‹ The template below (Generations) is being considered for deletion. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Fantasticks is the longest-running musical in history Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award® but is formally the Antoinette Perry Award is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. ...

Biography

Jonathan Larson was born in White Plains, New York, in Westchester County to a Jewish family. He was exposed to the performing arts, especially music and theatre from an early age, as he played the trumpet and tuba in his high school band, was involved in his school's choir, and took formal piano lessons. His early musical influences were rock musicians such as Elton John, The Who, and Billy Joel, as well as the classic composers of musical theatre, especially Stephen Sondheim. Larson was also involved in acting in high school, performing in lead roles in various productions at White Plains High School. White Plains (New York) White Plains is a city in south-central Westchester County, New York, about 4 miles (6 km) east of the Hudson River and 2. ... Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE [2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... William Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and composer. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Larson attended Adelphi University in Garden City, New York with a four-year scholarship as an acting Academic major, in addition to performing in numerous plays and musical theatre. During his college years, he began music composition, composing music, first for small student productions called cabarets, and later the score to a musical entitled Libro de Buen Amor, written by the department head, Jacques Burdick. Burdick functioned as Larson's mentor during his college education. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he participated in a summer stock theatre program in Augusta, Michigan, as a piano player, the result of which was the earning of an Equity Card for membership in the Actors' Equity Association. Adelphi University is a private university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York. ... Garden City is the name of several places around the world. ... The Bachelor of Fine Arts, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. ... Augusta is a village in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... An Equity Card is proof of membership in Actors Equity Association, an organization of stage actors. ... The Actors Equity Association (commonly simply Equity) is the trade union of American theatrical performers and stage managers. ...

Larson moved to a loft with no heat on the fifth floor of a building at the corner of Greenwich Street and Spring Street in Lower Manhattan where he lived with various roommates, among them Greg Beals, a journalist for Newsweek magazine and the brother of actress Jennifer Beals. For about ten years Larson worked as a waiter at the Moondance Diner during weekends, and worked on composing and writing musicals during the weekdays. At the diner Larson later met Jesse L. Martin, who was his waiting trainee and later would perform the role of Tom Collins in the original cast of Larson's Rent. Larson and his roommates lived in harsh conditions with little money or property. Greenwich Street is a north-south street in Manhattan, New York City. ... Spring Street can refer to a number of streets around the world: Spring Street, Melbourne (in Australia) Spring Street, Singapore (in Singapore) Category: ... Woolworth Building, looking south along Broadway Lower Manhattan, from the Brooklyn Bridge, 2005 Rigid airship the USS Akron over Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former teen model and American film actress who is best known for her role as Alexandra Alex Owens in the 1983 movie Flashdance and as Bette on the lesbian themed drama series The L Word Beals was born to... Jesse Lamont Martin (born Jesse Lamont Watkins, January 18, 1969) is an American theatre, film, and television actor, best known for his roles as Tom Collins in Rent and as Detective Ed Green in the NBC series Law & Order. ...

Early works

Before composing and writing the musical "Rent", his most popular and well-known work, Jonathan Larson wrote a variety of early theatrical pieces, with varying degrees of success and production.

Among his early creative works is Sacrimoralinority, his first musical which was co-written with David Armstrong, and originally staged at his alma mater Adelphi University sometime in the 1980s. Retitled Saved it played for a one-week run in a 42nd Street (Manhattan) theatre. Adelphi University is a private university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Main article: Transportation in New York City 42nd Street, NYC 42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. ...

Between 1983 and 1990, Larson wrote Superbia, originally intended as a futuristic rock retelling of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, though the Orwell estate denied him permission to adapt the novel itself. Superbia won the Richard Rodgers Production Award and the Richard Rodgers Development Grant. However, despite performances at Playwrights Horizons and a rock concert version produced by Larson's close friend and producer Victoria Leacock at the Village Gate in September 1989, Superbia was not fully produced, leading to disappointment for Larson. This article is about the Orwell novel. ... The VIllage Gate Sign still adorns the corner of Thompson and Bleecker streets, January 2006 The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York. ...

His next work, completed in 1991, was a "rock monologue" entitled 30/90, which was later renamed "Boho Days" and finally titled tick, tick... BOOM!. This piece, written for only Larson with a piano and rock band, was intended to be a response to his feelings of rejection caused by the disappointment of Superbia. The show was performed off-Broadway at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village, as well as at the Second Stage Theater, then on the Upper West Side. Both of these productions were produced by Larson friend, Victoria Leacock. The producer Jeffrey Seller saw a reading of Boho Days and expressed interest in producing Larson's musicals. Tick, Tick. ... The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (IPA pronunciation: ), also called simply the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City named after Greenwich, London. ... The Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River above West 59th Street. ...

While in college, Larson came into contact with his strongest musical theatre influence, Stephen Sondheim, to whom he occasionally submitted his work for review. One tick, tick... BOOM! song called "Sunday" is a homage to Stephen Sondheim, who supported Larson, staying close to the melody and lyrics of Sondheim's own song of the same title but turning it from a manifesto about art into a waiter's lament. Sondheim would often write letters of recommendation for Larson to various producers. Larson later won the Stephen Sondheim Award. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In addition to his three larger theatrical pieces written before Rent, Larson also wrote music for J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, numerous individual numbers, music for Sesame Street, music for the children's book cassettes of An American Tail and Land Before Time, music for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner, and performed in John Gray's musical Billy Bishop Goes to War which starred his close friend actor Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives), a musical called Mowgli, and four songs for the children's video Away We Go! (which he also conceived and directed). For his early works Larson won a grant and award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and the Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation's Commendation Award. Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... Jann S. Wenner (born 7 January 1946 in New York City) is the owner of Wenner Media and the publisher of several magazines, most prominently the pop music biweekly Rolling Stone. ... Billy Bishop Goes to War is a Canadian musical play, written by John MacLachlan Gray and Eric Peterson. ... Roger Bart is Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and SAG Award-winning television, stage and film actor and singer. ... Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series, created by Marc Cherry, that began airing on October 3, 2004 on ABC. It is the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 119 million viewers,[1] and it has won Emmy and Golden Globe awards. ... The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is an organization known as a collecting society that protects copyright, ensuring that music which is broadcast, commercially recorded, or otherwise used for profit, pays a fee to compensate the creators of that music. ...

Rent and Death

Playwright Billy Aronson [1] came up with the idea to write a musical update of La Bohème in 1988. He wanted to create "a musical based on Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème, in which the luscious splendor of Puccini's world would be replaced with the coarseness and noise of modern New York". Billy Aronson is most well known for coming up with the original concept of the rock opera Rent (which was based on Puccinis opera La bohème). ... Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. ... For other uses, see La bohème (disambiguation). ...

In 1989, Larson got together with Aronson to swap ideas. Larson came up with the title and suggested moving the setting from the Upper West Side to Downtown, where Larson himself lived. Larson and his roommates lived in a rundown apartment. For a while, he and his roommates kept an illegal, wood-burning stove. He also dated a dancer for four years who sometimes left him for other men and eventually left him for a woman. Larson wanted to write about his own experience, and in 1991, he asked Billy if he could use the original concept they collaborated on and make Rent his own. They made an agreement that if the show went to Broadway, Aronson would share in the proceeds. Eventually they decided on setting the musical not in SoHo, where Larson lived, but rather in Alphabet City in the East Village. The Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River above West 59th Street. ... The term Downtown Manhattan may have different meanings to different people, especially depending on what part of New York City they live in. ... Cast-iron architecture in Greene Street SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... Alphabet City, formerly considered a slum, is now a trendy part of the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... Looking south from 6th Street down Second Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares through the East Village. ...

Rent started as a staged reading in 1993 at the New York Theatre Workshop, followed by a studio production that played a three-week run a year later. However, the version that is now known worldwide, a result of the years-long collaborative and editing process between Larson and the producers and director, was not publicly performed before Larson's death. Larson died of an aortic dissection, believed to have been caused by Marfan syndrome, in the early morning on January 25, 1996. It is believed that if the aortic dissection had been properly diagnosed and treated, Larson would have lived. Rent is a American Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. ... The New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is a non-profit off-Broadway theater in New York City. ... Aortic dissection is a tear in the wall of the aorta (the largest artery of the body). ... Marfan syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder of the connective tissue characterized by disproportionately long limbs, long thin fingers, a relatively tall stature, and a predisposition to cardiovascular abnormalities, specifically those affecting the heart valves and aorta. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

He had been suffering chest pains and nausea for several days prior, but doctors could not find signs of a heart attack and so misdiagnosed it either as flu or stress. The show premiered off-Broadway that night, on schedule. Larson's parents (who were flying in for the show anyway) gave their blessing to open the show. Due to Larson's death the day before opening night, the cast sang the song "Seasons of Love" as the opening number in memory of him. The cast had agreed beforehand that in light of the tragedy they would just sing through the show that night sitting at three tables lined up on stage. But by the time the show got to its high energy "La Vie Boheme", the cast could no longer contain themselves and did the rest of the show as it was meant to be. angina tonsillaris see tonsillitis. ... For the Beck song, see Nausea (song). ... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... Influenza, commonly known as flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by an RNA virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... La Vie Boheme (French: the Bohemian life) is a song in the musical RENT. The second part of this song (La Vie Boheme B) ends the first act of the show. ...

Rent played through its planned engagement to sold-out crowds and was continuously extended. The decision was finally made to move the show to Broadway, and it opened at the Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996. In addition to the New York Theatre Workshop, Rent was and is produced by Jeffrey Seller, who was introduced to Larson's work when attending an off-Broadway performance of Boho Days, and two of his producer friends who also wished to support the work, Kevin McCollum and Allan S. Gordon. Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... The Nederlander Theatre is a Broadway theatre. ... is the 119th day of the year (120th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

For his work on Rent, Larson was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score; the Drama Desks for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Lyrics; the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in the Off-Broadway category; and three Obie Awards for Outstanding Book, Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Music. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... // 1940s 1949 Kiss Me, Kate - Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. ... The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is the Tony awarded to the librettist(s) of the musical. ... The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. ... Created in 1955, the Drama Desk Award was created to recognize Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows in addition to Broadway shows. ... Begun during the 1949-1950 theater season, the Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway. ...

Legacy

Rent has played continuously on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre for more than ten years, and as of January 7, 2007, the original production has played 4,449 performances, making it the 7th longest running show in Broadway history. In addition, it has toured throughout the United States, in Canada, Australia, China, Mexico, throughout Europe, and in other locations. January 7 is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ...

After his death, Larson's family and friends started the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation to provide monetary grants to artists, especially musical theatre composers and writers, to support their creative work. The Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation is a foundation started by the family and friends of Jonathan Larson, composer of the musical Rent. ...

Jonathan's work was given to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. in December of 2003. The Jonathan Larson Collection is a new addition to its major holdings in the area of musical theater. The collection documents Larson’s surprisingly prolific output, including numerous musicals, revues, cabarets, pop songs, dance and video projects – both produced and unproduced. The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. ...

External links

• Playbill Biography