Sunday night, a major chapter in my life was completed with the closing of the off-Broadway version of RENT. In 1996, my friend and suro-brother, Jonathan Larson dropped dead of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm the day before his show, RENT, opened and 10 days before his 36th birthday. His sister, Julie, was my roommate in the 1980s before she fell in love and moved to California. We used to go see Jon in his various college productions with his parents, Al and Nan. I ate my first passover Seder at their house. I spent many hours at Jon’s various gigs as he worked so hard to get someone to listen to his music. They are my family.
RENT is the story of friends loving, living and dying as the AIDS epidemic raged through New York City. I sat next to Julie tonight and cried my eyes out. Memories of all the many lost relationships over the years were flooding through me. I stayed behind to watch the theater lights darken for the last time to say goodbye to Jon. It has been a long journey.
So, in the interest of self care, I am going to bed with the Weekly Weather column partially finished. I will post it on Monday. It is almost done but so am I.
And to keep you company while waiting, here are three of my favorite songs from RENT.
