John Larson's death

He died of an aortic aneurysm a couple of weeks before the show opened at the NYTW.

No, it was not AIDS...nor was he gay (not implying that AIDS is a gay disease....I hate it when people think that...but there is a common misconception that Mr. Larson himself was a homosexual)

if you go to siteforrent.com there is a good deal about it

in the words of my RENT 'Bible' (does anyone else own the big black book?)

That evening Jonathan ate dinner at a local diner. then he returned to rehersals.he sat next to Michael as they started singing some songs from the 2nd act. He stood up to go to the back of the house, and on his way he was struck with a very sharp pain in his chest and his breathing became difficult. So he staggered the last couple of steps in to the lobby, he said "'you better call 911; i think i'm having a heart attack" He went back inside and laid himself on the ground. he told me in the ER 'they were doing 'what you own' and theres a key change from living in america to dying in america, it sounded good, like the show's coming together, the sounds finally mixed properly. But i cant believe i'm lying here feeling like i'm dying, and i'm hearing 'dying in america'

larson was taken to Cabrini Medical center

After running some tests they diagnosed the condition as food poisoning, pumped his stomache, and sent him home. on jan 23 he called in sick saying he thought he had the flu. that night he had chest pain again and went to St. Vincets Hospital. he was diagnosed with the flu.

the nest day was the final dress rehersal, despite the chest pain, larson got dressed and went to the theatre, the rehersal got a standing ovation. That was his last moment with us and with rent.

Nicola, Greif, larson and others were suppoed to meet after the rehersal but an interview lasted longer than expected, so they agreed to talk the next morning and sent jon home in a cab

Jon came home to an empty appartment and a note from brian carmody congratulating him on the show and inviting him out for a drink

what we guess happened is this: jonathan must have gotten hom about 12 and put on some water for tea, there in the kitchen his aorta opened up, as it had been weakening for days. He probably felt another shapr pain. As blood was pouring into his chest he probably fell unconcious w/in the 1st 15 seconds, then dies within 5 minutes



yea that was way more than you wanted or needed to know, but as ive said before, i'm out of work and have no life right now so you can chose to read this or not

I knew what happened but hearing that made me really sad

Poor Jonathan. RIP.

---

RIP to Mr. Larson

---

o just realized i misspelled a ton of stuff in my other post. please dont go all anal on me but i am too tired to fix it, seeing as i am operating on less than an hour's worth of sleep. if you dont like my spelling, dont read my posts

~amanda

I do to. It is sitting right by me, I love all the details it gives on the writing process and the pictures. A very good use of forty bucks.

NoDayButToday - thanks so much for your post regarding the death of Jon Larson! I'm most ahsmaed to say that I just got into the music from Rent (I was in some sort of college BD cultural vortex when the show opened!)and I'm loving this soundtrack. I'm definetly going to see the show in the next few weeks, and I'm really grateful to Larson for composing this amazing music/take on the beauty of being human.

---

this whole cast recording / soundtrack thing is gonna start a war....

---this whole cast recording / soundtrack thing is gonna start a war.... ---

yea i agree... whats next? are people gonna paint over the signs at music stores that say 'SOUNDTRACKS'???

---NoDayButToday - thanks so much for your post regarding the death of Jon Larson! I'm most ahsmaed to say that I just got into the music from Rent (I was in some sort of college BD cultural vortex when the show opened!)and I'm loving this soundtrack. I'm definetly going to see the show in the next few weeks, and I'm really grateful to Larson for composing this amazing music/take on the beauty of being human. ---

eh dont be ashamed... the point is you seem to like it now.. do you have the 2 CD set or the highlights??? if you have the highlights, sell it and get the 2 cds... you will get soo much more out of it- christmas bells , halloween, your eyes, you'll see, happy new year, all the voice mails etc are just a few of what is dropped in the highlights. the i hope you enjoy rent when you see it.. i know you will there are just some songs that mrean so much more when you see them live- for me 'la vie boheme' was just some weird random song before i saw it but now its one of my favorites



o yea just a question to those who have the book:
on the page of the libretto where it says 'YOUR OWN BLOOD CELLS BETRAY' in huge letters on the right page, in the picture next to it it looks like pascal is wearing nail polish (on his thumb at least) any comments on that? just wondering if there was some sort of explanation or if i was seeing things

woah thats so weird.. not that he wears nail pollish, but that i, being the RENThead i am, have never noticed that before...

i learn something new every day i guess

Speaking of costume differences, I noticed something about Mimi's. In the LVB pic on the far right on the last page of act one, Mimi has these wierd blue glovish things on her hands that I have never seen in a performance. They are on her in a few other pictures, I believe, but not in most. Why are they only in the book but not the show?


woah thats weird... i like them though... they do the pants some justice in making them sort of match...

not that it matters if they match or not...

this is random, but ive always wanted to get a costume like the ensemble member that wears the fuzzy hot pink bra looking thing
that thing is without a doubt one of my my favorite costumes in rent with agel coming in a close 2nd place with any of the drag outfits