Cause everything is Rent!

           This 2005 Tony award winning rock opera tells the story of a group of bohemians (somebody, often a writer or an artist, who does not live according to the conventions of society) and their tough year trying to survive modern day East Village( the lower east side) New York City. The musical is centered on to main characters Rodger (a struggling musician and former drug addict trying to rebuild his numb life) and Mark (a struggling film producer trying to achieve his first big break) both friends and roommates. This film shows his friends deal with love, loss, AIDS, and living in modern America. In the beginning of the musical shows a scene of Mark frustrated he decides to take a leap by filming a documentary of a bohemian’s life on the lower east side of new York for a year. As he begins to sing his roommate Roger gets news about their rent situation. The two meet up at the apartment which is in shambles due to the fact both men are poor. They then begin contemplating how they will pay their rent. They learn that either they pay their rent or their ex roommate Benny now known as Benjamin Coffin the III will evict them throwing them on the cold street. As his first real act of his new status as a landlord, but offers to only waver them if Mark silences his ex girlfriend Maureen against speaking out against Benny. Outside shows their returning ex roommate and friend Tom Collins coming to pay Mark and Rodger a visit when he gets robbed and beaten outside the apartment. Eventually the song grows louder and louder as all their neighbors go outside and yell at the man charging them for their ridiculous rent. All of this sums up in the musical in one song labeled “RENT”.

[MARK]
How do you document real life
When real life is getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines -- bread-lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction -- or pay"
Rent!

[ROGER]
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air

[MARK]
And we're hungry and frozen

[ROGER]
ome life that we've chosen

[TOGETHER]
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent

[MARK]
We light candles

[ROGER]
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue

[MARK]
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet

[BOTH]
And they're turning blue!

[MARK]
You light up a mean blaze
[ROGER grabs one of his own posters.]

[ROGER]
With posters --
[MARK grabs old manuscripts.]

[MARK]
And screenplays

[ROGER AND MARK]
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
The digital delay ---
Didn't blow up (exactly)
There may have been one teeny tiny spark
You're not calling Mark

[COLLINS]
How do you stay on your feet
When on every street
It's 'trick or treat'
(And tonight it's 'trick')
'Welcome back to town'
Oh, I should lie down
Everything's brown
And uh -- oh
I feel sick

[MARK]
[At the window]
Where is he?

[COLLINS]
Getting dizzy
[He collapses.]

[MARK AND ROGER]
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent

[BENNY]
Forces are gathering
Forces are gathering
Can't turn away
Forces are gathering

[COLLINS]
Ughhhhh--
Ughhhhh-- I can't think
Ughhhhh-- I need a drink

[MARK (reading from a script page)]
"The music ignites the night with passionate fire"

[MARK AND HALF OF COMPANY]
How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
Till you're torn apart
Rent!

[ROGER AND OTHER HALF OF COMPANY]
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray

[ALL]
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away

[BENNY]
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand

[ALL]
When they act tough - you call their bluff

[MARK AND ROGER]
We're not gonna pay

[MARK AND ROGER WITH HALF OF COMPANY]
We're not gonna pay

[MARK AND ROGER WITH OTHER HALF OF COMPANY]
We're not gonna pay

[ALL]
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent

[ROGER AND MARK]'Cause everything is rent

Dilemma/Analysis:

            Have you ever had to struggle in life for any particular reason? Whether it is location, finances, illness, or a depressed state of mind? Rent is the exact story of this tale, as Mark documents his friends and neighbors for one whole year living in the dumps of New York. This group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days under the shadow of HIV/AIDS, and the battle of drug addiction and trying to sober . This particular scene takes place in the winter as Mark and Rodger discuss how they are going to manage paying their rent. They begin to light candles and literally pulling off posters from the walls, gathering any articles of paper pretty much anything they can possible burn to give heat to their cold drafty apartment.

[MARK]
How do you document real life
When real life is getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines -- bread-lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction -- or pay"
Rent!


[ROGER]
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air

[MARK]
And we're hungry and frozen

[ROGER]
Some life that we've chosen

[TOGETHER]
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent

[MARK]
We light candles

[ROGER]
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue

[MARK]
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet

[BOTH]
And they're turning blue!
[MARK]
You light up a mean blaze

In life we are all thrown obstacles as we try to live our lives. How many have ever struggled trying to get stuff tighter so you can move on in life. This can easily be related to young adults moving out for the first time, or those moving into the city to achieve their childlike dream. So much can happen over a year’s time. You try to make the best of your circumstance despite all odds.