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Finally, a somewhat complete encyclopedia biography of...

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...one of America's greatest composer/lyricists, Jonathan Larson. He got his start in theatre compositions with Sacrimoralimmorality (aka Saved) featuring a cross that turned into a swastika and an abortion comedy musical number that generally mocked the Moral Majority, quickly moved on to an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 that became Superbia that started with a parody of "We Are the World" and turned into a commentary on the bottom-line mentality destroying the world currently, got really pissed off and vented his fears and frustrations at turning 30 and still waiting tables through the rock monologue/one-man show tick...tick...BOOM!, showcased his music skills in an En Garde Arts commission with J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, and ended it with Rent, an East Village La Boheme.

It is so sad that we will never hear a more developed score from this young composer. However, it is good to know that his work still flourishes. Rent is a runaway success for ten years now, tick...tick...BOOM! has been produced in some form with a song each from Superbia and Saved, and J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation continues to appear in repertory theatre performance lists across the country.

Thank you, Jonathan Larson. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheFamousNickJackson (talk • contribs) 00:58, 12 June 2004 (UTC)[reply]

WTF is that dig at "angst-ridden teenagers" supposed to mean? Is that NPOV, or even substantiated? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.18.21.243 (talk) 01:43, 11 June 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Typo

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"These musicals seriously tackle issues such as multiculturalism, addiction, sexual orientation and HIV, although he was was heterosexual and HIV negative himself."

This sentence doesn't make sense. I would change it, but as I am not familar with Larson whatsoever, I am not exactly sure what this author was going for. Flyerhell 07:23, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I understand what the writer meant. Maybe it should be rewritten as, "Though Larson was heterosexual and HIV Negative himself, his musicals tackle social issues relating to homosexuality and HIV/AIDS, as well as the subjects of diversity and drug addiction." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.159.143.252 (talk) 11:38, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

-- it is not common for white males to be inclusive, or so says american social stereotypes. he was jewish and apparently unusually tall, therefore a minority, so he doesn't exactly count in said ridiculous arena. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.20.126.50 (talk) 12:49, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


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It's actually not accurate to say his musicals "seriously tackle[d]" issues; they certainly INCLUDED multi-ethnic and gay & lesbian characters, but did not in any way deal with their issues. In fact, one of the chief criticisms of RENT is that all the characters' lives were rendered as equivalent, i.e., the minority and gay characters were never shown to face issues the white and straight characters did not also face. This is pretty much the same thing TV sitcoms do when they add in a gay character. Still, you could argue that mainstream musical theater is so far behind television that even including gay characters is revolutionary. Or, if you take a negative approach, you could also say he "exploited" these characters for their emotional capital without repaying it with truth-telling. It's your call. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.183.211.1 (talk) 22:10, 13 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The History of Rent and Sarah Schulman

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I'm not an expert by any means so I don't feel qualified to edit the main entry but some discussion needs to be inlcuded about Sarah Schulman, the "borrowing" of concepts, plot events and characters from her novel "People in Trouble." See this Slate article for a beginning reference point: http://www.slate.com/id/2131017/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.58.46.123 (talk • contribs) 20:59, 4 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think that information would be better suited on the actual RENT page rather than the Jonathan Larson page. Thylacine222 02:07, 15 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Billy Bishop Goes to War

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Talented as he is, Jonathan Larson did not write "Billy Bishop Goes to War" as the article implies under the heading "Early Works." "Billy Bishop" was written by Canadian playwright John Gray (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000308) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.162.158.16 (talk) 17:14, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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Use of tag Magnum Opus

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Is this really Wikipedia standard? Sure, Rent is his masterpiece but is it perhaps enough to classify both Rent and Tick Tick as notable works rather than one as notable and one as Magnum Opus? --Chrill (talk) 14:17, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Questionable statement in Personal life

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In Section Personal life, the very first sentence is "Larson was heterosexual, although his best friend was gay.", with a citation to article "Rent's Late Jonathan Larson Reveals Power of Straight-Gay Friendship in Esoteric Revival". I would like to draw attention on two questionable aspects here.

First, I don't think the citation quite makes sense here: the article talks about a 2016 posthumous revival of Rent, and discusses the subject of straight-gay male friendship regarding the musical's characters, while the statement relates to Larson's real personal life. The supporting citation is thus little or non related with the statement.

Second, the statement (at least phrased in this way) implies that Larson's best friend being gay should hint at his own sexuality, with connector "although" linking both facts. Therefore, it seems difficult to argue that the sentence contributes to the page, other than by echoing some widespread stereotypes (but stereotypes nonetheless).

I am new to article editing and to Wikipedia guidelines, but maybe we could remove the sentence?

Luciewang1 (talk) 14:18, 13 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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