Original Broadway Cast - Rent

Artist:

Original Cast

Description:

Music and lyrics written by Jonathan Larson.
Principal cast: Adam Pascal (Roger Davis); Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen); Jesse L. Martin (Tom Collins); Taye Diggs (Benjamin Coffin III); Fredi Walker (Joanne Jefferson); Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel Schunard); Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi Marquez); Idina Menzel (Maureen Johnson); Kristen Lee Kelly, Byron Utley, Gwen Stewart, Timothy Britten Parker, Gilles Chiasson, Rodney Hicks, Aiko Nakasone.
Additional personnel: Stevie Wonder.
Recorded at Sorcerer Sound and Right Track Recording, New York, New York. Includes a 36-page booklet with a plot synopsis and complete lyrics.
RENT was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
This 43-track set includes in its entirety the unlikely opera about AIDS, drugs, squatters, down-and-out artists and (of course) love that won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama and went on to knock Broadway off its feet at a time when the Broadway musical was widely assumed to be dead. Like the climactic love song that seems to magically rescue one of the main characters from near-death, RENT itself may well be responsible for bringing Broadway back to life.
RENT was written and composed by Jonathan Larson, who died suddenly hours after the final dress rehearsal. Larson`s music is almost seamless in the way it quilts together show-tune tradition with current pop styles, reflecting the story`s blend of a classical plot (it`s loosely based on Puccini`s opera "La Boheme") with a thoroughly modern setting. A tango, in which a man and woman compare notes on a lover they have shared, fits comfortably between an electronic dance tune with rapped vocals ("Today 4 U," sung by the play`s drag-queen hero) and a rocking entreaty to come "Out Tonight." The latter is sung by Daphne Rubin-Vega, whose coquettish pop voice and sensual presence help her stand out from a great ensemble cast.
The play`s unexpectedly optimistic message is spelled out in a breathtaking pop song called "Seasons Of Love," which leads off the second act. As a bonus, Stevie Wonder joins the cast for a reprise that puts a soaring coda of hope on this dark opera.

Track Listing:

DISC 1:

1. Tune up #1
2. Voice Mail #1
3. Tune up #2
4. Rent
5. You Okay Honey?
6. Tune up #3
7. One Song Glory
8. Light My Candle
9. Voice Mail #2
10. Today 4 U
11. You`ll See
12. Tango: Maureen
13. Life Support
14. Out Tonight
15. Another Day
16. Will I?
17. On the Street
18. Santa Fe
19. I`ll Cover You
20. We`re Okay
21. Christmas Bells
22. Over the Moon
23. La Vie Boheme
24. I Should Tell You
25. La Vie Boheme B

DISC 2:

1. Seasons of Love
2. Happy New Year
3. Voice Mail #3
4. Happy New Year B
5. Take Me or Leave Me
6. Seasons of Love B
7. Without You
8. Voice Mail #4
9. Contact
10. I`ll Cover You (Reprise)
11. Halloween
12. Goodbye Love
13. What You Own
14. Voice Mail #5
15. Finale
16. Your Eyes
17. Finale B
18. Seasons of Love - (featuring Stevie Wonder)

Album Information

Release Date:

08/27/1996

Type:

Performer

Genre:

Original Cast

Label:

Dreamworks SKG

Producer:

Arif Mardin

Catalog Number:

50003

Original Release Year:

1996

# of Discs:

2

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Stereo

Runtime:

126 : 40

Guest Artist:

Stevie Wonder

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