It is also in my Media

Zahara Zephyr
Analysis Paper
Topic: Rent The Musical

Musicals are show’s that can tell a story whether fictional or non fictional through dance or song.
There are many elements of a musical from Outfits, lyrics, choreography etc, but which element
can stand out to an audience member and how does the element Play a role in the musical . The
musical Rent made by Jonathan Larson follows a group of impoverished young artists in New
York City’s East Village during the early 1990s, struggling with poverty, illness (primarily
HIV/AIDS), and social injustice, while celebrating love, community, and living life to the fullest
despite their hardships. In this musical the element that I choose to write about in this paper is
the music/ rhythm of the song in the musical.

Rent is song number 2# in Act I in the 2005 Broadway musical titled “Rent”. It is performed by
Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse Martin and Taye Diggs. This song ultimately introduces one
of the bigger parts of the plot, describing how a group of friends who share an apartment now
find themselves in a predicament of finding enough money to pay the whole of last year rent.
One of the two main characters are Mark, a filmmaker, and Roger, a rock musician. This musical
has a lot of themes related the LGBTQ and HIV/Aids epidemic that happened during the
1980s-90s in New York City.

The song titled Rent contributes to the Narrative of the musical by establishing the
characters’ immediate struggles and fueling the conflict. It does this by introducing the dilemma
and the emotions and feelings of the characters in the Song article with lyrics in the first prechorus like “How do you document real life When real life’s getting more Like fiction each
day” “And now this deadline “Eviction—or pay” Rent”; The first part of the pre-chorus shows
the emotions of filmmaker character Mark while also starting to introduce the dilemma Of
suddenly getting the deadline of Paying the rent or face homelessness. While in the second prechorus it explores the emotions of Roger the musician with the lyrics of “How do you write a
song When the chords sound wrong Though they once sounded right and rare”. The chorus of
the song firmly accentuates one of the issues that the two character’s of the musical faces with
both characters joining in to sing “How we gonna pay , How we gonna pay , How we gonna pay
Last year’s rent”. I believe that this union of singing further solidifies how the two characters
(roger and mark) are facing the same issue as both are struggling artists.

The song Rent contributes to the emotional impact of the musical by showing the frustration and
defiance of the characters with lyrics like “We’re not gonna pay, We’re not gonna pay, We’re not
gonna pay” and “Last year’s rent ,This year’s rent,Next year’s rent, Rent rent rent rent rent,
We’re not gonna pay rent”. The song selection also shows the solidarity and community as most
of the lyrics in the song are sung with an ensemble, this shows how the characters are in this
dilemma together and that they are not facing it alone.