Q 01/05

Who wrote the music, lyrics and book of Rent?

A) William Finn

B) Jonathan Larson

C) Stephen Sondheim

D) Jason Robert Brown

Answer · why

B) Jonathan Larson

He supported himself for years waiting tables while writing hundreds of songs for the show.

Q 02/05

Rent is loosely based on which 1896 opera?

A) Madama Butterfly

B) Tosca

C) La traviata

D) La bohème

Answer · why

D) La bohème

The opera's tuberculosis became HIV/AIDS, and 1800s Paris became the East Village of around 1990.

Q 03/05

In which Manhattan neighborhood is Rent set?

A) The Upper West Side

B) Harlem

C) The East Village

D) Hell's Kitchen

Answer · why

C) The East Village

The Life Café, where 'La Vie Bohème' takes place, was a real restaurant on 10th Street and Avenue B until 2013.

Q 04/05

Which playwright first conceived a modern La Bohème and worked with Larson on the first songs?

A) Terrence McNally

B) Tony Kushner

C) Craig Lucas

D) Billy Aronson

Answer · why

D) Billy Aronson

In 1991 Larson asked to take the project over as his own; the two agreed he would share proceeds and get credit for 'original concept & additional lyr...

Q 05/05

Where did Larson wait tables to support himself while writing the show?

A) The Empire Diner

B) The Carnegie Deli

C) The Moondance Diner

D) Tom's Restaurant

Answer · why

C) The Moondance Diner

A fellow member of the diner staff was Jesse L. Martin, who would go on to play Tom Collins.