Rent: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical (5 page)

Spoken lines are set in upper- and lowercase. The libretto is published as performed on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre, April 29, 1996. Variations may occur during a performance.

RENT

Act One

(The audience enters the theatre to discover the curtainless set. The one set piece onstage, at stage left, is a huge tower that represents (a) a totem pole/Christmas tree that stands in an abandoned lot, (b) a wood stove with a snaky chimney that is at the center of MARK and ROGER's loft apartment, and (c) the steeple of a church in ACT TWO. There is a wooden platform loft area at stage right with a railing around it, under which sits the band of five musicians. It has a staircase on the upstage side. Downstage is a black, waist-high rail fence.)

(Onstage, once the house is open, CREW and BAND MEMBERS move about informally in preparation for the play.)

(ROGER enters from upstage left with an electric guitar and crosses to a guitar amp sitting on a chair at center stage. He casually plugs his guitar into the amp and sets levels, then crosses downstage and sits on the table.)

(After a few beats, the COMPANY, led by MARK, enters from all directions and fills the stage. MARK sets up a small tripod and a 16mm movie camera downstage center, aimed upstage. He addresses the audience.)

MARK

We begin on Christmas Eve, with me, Mark, and my roommate, Roger. We live in an industrial loft on the corner of 11th Street and Avenue B, the top floor of what was once a music publishing factory. Old rock 'n' roll posters hang on the walls. They have Roger's picture advertising gigs at CBGB's and the Pyramid Club. We have an illegal wood-burning stove; its exhaust pipe crawls up to a skylight. All of our electrical appliances are plugged into one thick extension cord, which snakes its way out a window. Outside, a small tent city has sprung up in the lot next to our building. Inside, we are freezing because we have no heat.

(HE turns the camera to ROGER.)

Smile!

1. Tune Up #1

MARK