These musicals seriously tackle issues such as multiculturalism, addiction, sexual orientation and HIV. Rent was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won four Tony Awards. The scores of his shows reveal that he was an apt composer and lyricist.
One tick, tick...BOOM! song called "Sunday" is an homage to Stephen Sondheim, who supported Larson. It stays close to the melody and lyrics of Sondheim's own song of the same title but turning it from a manifesto about art into a waiter's lament.
Among the many awards he received during and after his lifetime were: the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (for Rent), the Richard Rodgers Production Award, the Richard Rodgers Development Grant, the Stephen Sondheim Award, the Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation's Commendation Award, the Tonys for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score of a Musical for Rent, the Drama Desks for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Book, and Best Lyrics (also for Rent), the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical (again for Rent), the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in the Off-Broadway category (another for Rent), and three Obie Awards for Outstanding Book, Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Music (yet again for Rent).
Among his many creative works are Rent, tick, tick...BOOM!, Sacrimoralimmorality (1981)with David Armstrong (retitled Saved for the one-week run on 42nd Street), Superbia, the music for J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, numerous individual numbers, music for Sesame Street, music for the children's book cassettes of An American Tail and Land Before Time, music for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner, and four songs for the children's video Away We Go! (which he also conceived and directed).
Larson died unexpectedly of an undiagnosed aortic dissection (aortic aneurysm), believed to have been caused by Marfan syndrome, on January 25th, 1996. It was ten days before his 36th birthday, and the night before Rent's first preview off-Broadway.
After his death, Larson's family and friends started the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation.
In 2005, a film version of his most popular production Rent was released, directed by Christopher Columbus.
In September of 2008, Rent closed after 12 successful years on broadway. One of the final shows and the finale were filmed for a limited engagement film, "Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway." The DVD and Blu-Ray disc were released was in February 2009.
Currently original cast members Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, and Gwen Stewart are performing on the farewell broadway tour of the show.
Halloween
Jonathan Larson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pan left, close on the steeple of the church
How did I get here, how the hell?
Christmas! Christmas Eve, last year
How could a night so frozen
Be so scalding hot?
How can a morning this mild
Why are entire years strewn
On the cutting room floor of memory?
When single frames from one magic night
Forever flicker in close-up on the 3-D IMAX of my mind
That's poetic, that's pathetic
Why did Mimi knock on Roger's door
And Collins choose that phone booth
Back where Angel set up his drums?
Why did Maureen's equipment break down?
Why am I the witness
And when I capture it on film
Will it mean that it's the end?
And I'm alone
The song "Halloween" by Jonathan Larson is a compelling exploration of memory, loss, and the way that certain moments can stay with us forever while others slip away. The central theme of the song is the idea that some experiences are so profound and transformative that they take on a transcendent quality, seeming almost to exist outside of time and space. The opening lines, "How did we get here, how the hell? Pan left, close on the steeple of the church," set an intriguingly disorienting tone, suggesting that the singer is struggling to make sense of where he is and how he got there. As the song progresses, we learn that the singer is reflecting on a specific moment from the previous year: "Christmas! Christmas Eve, last year." This moment seems to have left a deep impression on him, as he asks, "Why are entire years strewn / On the cutting room floor of memory? / When single frames from one magic night / Forever flicker in close-up on the 3-D IMAX of my mind." The power of memory, and the way that it can elevate seemingly mundane moments into something extraordinary, is a central theme of "Halloween."
The song also touches on the interlocking relationships between the various characters in Larson's musical "Rent." The lyrics reference Mimi knocking on Roger's door and Collins choosing a phone booth where Angel had set up his drums, as well as Maureen's equipment breaking down. These details serve to reinforce the sense of connection between the characters, suggesting that their lives are deeply intertwined even as they struggle with their own individual challenges. The song ends on a note of loneliness and uncertainty, as the singer wonders whether capturing the moment on film will somehow make it more real or whether it will simply mark the end of something he cannot fully understand.
Line by Line Meaning
How did we get here, how the hell?
Pan left, close on the steeple of the church.
How did I get here, how the hell?
Christmas! Christmas Eve, last year.
How could a night so frozen
Be so scalding hot?
How can love that feels so cold on the outside burn inside with such intensity?
How can a morning this mild
Be so raw?
How can something that feels gentle and safe be tainted with so much pain?
Why are entire years strewn
On the cutting room floor of memory?
Why do we forget so much of our past, leaving years worth of experiences behind?
When single frames from one magic night
Forever flicker in close-up on the 3-D IMAX of my mind
Why do some moments stick with us so strongly that they feel more real than reality itself?
That's poetic, that's pathetic
Why did Mimi knock on Roger's door
And Collins choose that phone booth
Back where Angel set up his drums?
Why did Maureen's equipment break down?
Why do seemingly insignificant events hold so much meaning and lead us down certain paths, affecting our lives in unexpected ways?
Why am I the witness
And when I capture it on film
Will it mean that it's the end?
And I'm alone
Why do I feel like I'm the only one who remembers these moments, and if I document them, will they lose their power and leave me feeling isolated and alone?
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Joathan D. Larson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind