Based on Puccini's 'La Boheme', 'Rent' tells the story of one year in the life of friends living the Bohemian life in modern day East Village, New York City, 1989-1990. Among the group are our narrator, nerdy love-struck filmmaker Mark Cohen; the object of Mark's affection, his former girlfriend, Maureen Johnson; Maureen's Harvard-educated public interest lawyer and lesbian lover Joanne Jefferson; Mark's roommate, HIV-positive musician and former junkie, Roger Davis; Roger's new girlfriend, the HIV-positive drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi Marquez; their former roommate, HIV-positive computer genius Tom Collins; Collins' HIV-positive drag queen street musician/lover Angel; and Benjamin Coffin III, a former member of the group who married for money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for. Shows how much changes or doesn't change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year.

Director Chris Columbus considered casting "American Idol: The Search for a Superstar" (2002) contestant and "Rent" (1996) Broadway replacement cast member Frenchie Davis as Joanne Jefferson, but decided upon Tracie Thoms for the role.

Collins:
[sung] In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried. In bridges he burned, or the way that she died!

Continuity: As Roger and Mimi leave the restaurant, after "La Vie Boheme", Roger is wearing a necklace on the outside of his shirt. When he gets outside to sing "I Should Tell You", the necklace is gone. As the couple re-enters the café, the necklace is visible again.

Written by Jonathan Larson
Performed by Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin,
Adam Pascal, Tracie Thoms, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Anthony Rapp