Rent, By Jonathan Larson

It was a surprisingly radical idea in 1996 to stage a full-scale Broadway musical that infused show tunes with rock and R&B, and at the same time dealt head-on with AIDS, drug addiction, and homelessness. It’s safe to say that the risk paid off. Jonathan Larson’s high-spirited, gritty look at life among New York’s young bohemians was an instant blockbuster, capturing the Pulitzer and Tony awards and turning the world of musical theater on its ear. And yet Rent’s roots go back to the stage’s best traditions—it is, after all, a radical remake of Puccini’s La Boheme. The touring production has traveled worldwide, and makes its fifth return engagement in St. Paul this summer. The shocking timing of Larson’s fatal aneurysm, days before the show’s original premiere, so perfectly echoed the show’s theme of savoring life in the midst of death that it’s become an inextricable part of the show’s myth, in a way it’s hard not to see as a little ghoulish. But if Rent is an epitaph, one could certainly do worse. Ordway Theatre, (651) 224-4222, ordway.org