Jonathan Larson

The creator of one of the longest-running Broadway musicals of all time, the rock opera Rent, Jonathan Larson was a composer, lyricist, playwright, and actor with a rousing, emotive songwriting style. Rent, his 1996 adaptation of the book Scènes de la Vie de Bohème and Puccini's opera La Bohème, featured artist characters from multiple marginalized groups as they negotiated life in Manhattan's East Village of the early '90s. On the morning of Rent's first off-Broadway preview in January 1996, Larson died of an undiagnosed heart problem. The show went on to open on Broadway tha...