"Rent" creator Jonathan Larson said his show was about "a community celebrating life in the face of death and AIDS at the turn of the century."
The characters were fashioned after people he knew and the subject matter fell close to home.
How true is the story? Any starving artist could testify that art often imitates life, but two artists close to the subject know firsthand.
Jeremy Kushnier and Shaun Earl share roles in the touring production that opens Tuesday for eight shows at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. Each has his own perspective on the Bohemian lifestyle the late Larson brought to life, now that neither has to struggle to pay the rent.
Kushnier, a native of Winnipeg, Canada, has been on the road with the company for three months. He originated the role of Ren in Broadway's "Footloose" and has covered the roles of both Mark and Roger in the Toronto run of "Rent."
In Des Moines, Kushnier will play Roger, a former drug addict and HIV-infected songwriter/musician. The role is not a complete stretch from real life, though he said he's been fortunate in his long career not to have struggled like his character in "Rent." Still, he said, he can easily comprehend the difficult lifestyle of an artist.
"There are points in your life when you are always struggling," he admitted. "There's a bit of that in all of us in the show. Sometimes, you really take for granted that you're working. You're doing a show about how these people are struggling for their art and struggling just to make ends meet, and you're getting a nice paycheck every week, and then you remember your buddies back home that aren't doing as well, so it kind of puts everything back in perspective for you - in the show and in your life."
Shaun Earl, who plays Angel, an HIV-positive transvestite, agrees. He has toured with Reba McEntire, starred in the television show "Fame," and performed the role of Angel in "Rent" on Broadway, but said the struggle is all part of being an artist. "I've been fortunate to have had a wonderful career," he said. "It's been a walk-by-faith-not-by-sight journey. Once I step off one thing, another wonderful thing comes along."
Larson died of an aortic aneurism Jan. 25,1996, just hours after the final dress rehearsal of the soon-to-be blockbuster. He was 35. If he had survived long enough to see the success of his own opus, would he still be living the Bohemian lifestyle? Both Earl and Kushnier say no.
"I never got the chance to meet Jonathan, but from everything I heard he would have really liked to have been successful," Kushnier said.
"It's very ironic," Earl said. "His untimely death, and the show, dealing with life and 'no day but today.' For him to have left such a wonderful gift, it makes you wonder what we are here for, and live for that and appreciate it."