The Tony Award-winning musical Rent is still receiving accolades 14 years after it opened on Broadway. As if the show didn’t already garner enough glittering statuettes, Rent is now the most nominated show for the 2009-2010 Theatre Arts Guild Awards in Omaha, Neb. The popular rock musical snagged 20 nominations including the nod for Best Musical.

Rent is up against several other popular productions for Best Musical, including Reefer Madness, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Quilters. Stay tuned to see how Rent fares this time around. The production is currently being featured in Los Angeles; get your Rent tickets online today.

Rent has long been a fixture in the theater industry, almost immediately gaining attention after its off-Broadway premiere in January 1996. Several months later it headed to the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, where it would remain for 12 years.

The rock musical features music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson and is somewhat based on Puccini’s well-known opera La Boheme. The heartfelt show concerns a group of young artists and musicians all trying to thrive in New York City’s Lower East Side. Struggling to combat financial difficulties, complex relationships and the threat of HIV/AIDS, these friends tell a story of both heartache and love by way of an impressive musical score. Perhaps the most recognized tune from the production is the tear-jerking hit “Seasons of Love.”

Rent’s plot involves a main cast of characters with intertwining storylines. Those include Mark Cohen, an independent filmmaker; Roger Davis, a songwriter who is HIV positive; Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist; Joanne Jefferson, a lawyer and Maureen’s current love interest; Tom Collins, a gay philosophy professor with AIDS; Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay drag queen who has AIDS; Mimi Marquez, an exotic dancer who has HIV; and Benjamin Coffin II, the local landlord. There are many strong parallels between Rent and La Boheme, something that Larson strived for when he was first working on the script.

Over the years an assortment of actors have stepped into the personalities in Rent, but the first performers in the show on Broadway included Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Adam Pascal, Jermaine Heredia and Jesse L. Martin. In its first year on the stage in the Big Apple the show was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, eventually taking home four including Best Musical. Brand Viagra Since then it has gone onto appear on stages around the country in national tours as well as in cities across the globe.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Rent is its ability to attract the younger generation. This modern-day La Boheme deals with sadness, love, friendship and loss and is still regarded by many as one of the most innovative plays to come from Broadway. There has been a film made based on the production, but there is nothing quite like seeing the story unfold live on stage. See Rent in Los Angeles or wherever it is playing next; just make sure to bring along a box of Kleenex.

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