The play "Rent" produced by Jonathan Larson, was first written in 1996. This modern day story is loosely based off of Puccini's opera, La Boheme. This play created a twist on the original characters, for example, Rodolfo is changed to Roger and rather than being a poet, he becomes a rock musician. However, one of the main focuses of the play is AIDS. This is another twist on the opera, originally it was tuberculosis that took Mimi's life in the end. While the AIDS does kill her, she comes back to life, where in the original opera, she dies. .
Firstly, in order create a perfect setting or scenery for a production, you would need a scenic designer. The scenic designer helps serve both the directors interpretation of the work and the playwright. The designer, Yoshi Tanokura, truly created a replica of the dingy streets by placing scaffoldings and a graffiti background. Upon entering the theater, the first thing that was noted was the thick fog in the room, showing the audience that the setting will be dull, giving the stage that city look. In addition to the design of the play, the lighting has also plays a huge role. The light design, by Jesse Riley, is also an important factor in the play because it evokes the appropriate mood and blends the visual elements on stage into a unified whole. For example, in one scene when Roger and Mimi were having a romantic duet, the light focused only on those two in the room, creating the mood of romance. Roger and Mark sitting in their home with dimmed lights showed that they can barely afford anything. .
Along with the stage and light design that helped to create the perfect atmosphere, is the costumes designed by Amanda Walker. The costume design in this production showed the physical and emotional support to the actors through the clothing that he or she wore. The costumes were simple yet they reflected the time period in which the play was set.
RENT One of the best musicals on Broadway is RENT. The book, music and lyrics were written by Jonathan Larson. For the past three years, this play has been performed all over the world, and loved by audiences everywhere. ... He stumbles past a drum-playing drag queen with a big heart named Angel, who, like he is, is HIV positive. ... One of my favorite things in all plays, are costumes. ...