Overview

Thirty years after Rent, Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking rock opera, opened on Broadway, you would be hard-pressed to find a musical theater fan who doesn't know at least some of the show's iconic tunes by heart. ""Take Me or Leave Me,"" ""Light My Candle,"" ""La Vie Boheme,"" and the ubiquitous ""Seasons of Love"" revolutionized the kind of music heard on the Broadway stage. Much of the impact comes from the show's musical style, a singular blend of grunge rock, power pop, gospel, and R & B that was brought to life by the show's onstage band, headed by the legendary musical director Tim Weil. From his first day as audition accompanist through his elevation to musical director, Weil was a critical collaborator with Larson in developing Rent's unique sound. And when, on the eve of the company's first public performance, Larson died unexpectedly, Weil was there to finesse a still-unfinished show into the musical Larson had long dreamed of. Making Rent reveals how the music that has shaped generations of new American musicals grew out of Weil and Larson's intimate partnership and how, for the six years he worked Rent's Broadway run, Weil endeavored to preserve Larson's musical vision. Previously untold stories about some of the show's most iconic moments, accompanied by behind-the-scenes photos, capture the energy, ingenuity, and passion of Rent's company and creators while providing a unique level of insight into just how collaborative and innovative a process making Rent was and why it has had such a lasting impact on musical theater and fans the world over.

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9781954641488

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for Tim Weil ""Tim Weil made profound contributions to Rent. Jonathan trusted his musical instincts, and loved Tim's vocal and instrumental arrangements. I loved his dramaturgical instincts, and the way he inspired singers and get them to continually improve as they performed Jonathan's great score. Tim was brilliant at helping Jonathan to shape his songs to showcase our singers most effectively, and he was brilliant at shaping those songs to most fully serve every dramatic moment, I am enormously grateful to him."" --Michael Greif, Tony Award-nominated director of Rent, Next to Normal, Dear Evan Hansen, and Hell's Kitchen ""One of the great highlights of my career was working with Tim Weil: one of the true shining stars in this business, a great team player, and the holder of so much precious history of musical theater."" --Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-winning composer of Kimberly Akimbo, Fun Home, Shrek the Musical, and Thoroughly Modern Millie ""Rent could never have become what it was without the tireless efforts and creativity of our musical director, Tim Weil."" --Adam Pascal, Tony Award-nominated actor, Rent, Aida, and Something Rotten! ""Tim Weil was THE PULSE of each performance! We always had a powerful pulse, and that was definitely because of Tim."" --Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony Award-nominated actor, Rent and Anna in the Tropics ""I've known Tim for over twenty-five years and the things I love most about him are his incredible musical talents, his incredible wife Randy, and his fantastic nose. Also, the fact that I've always known him to lead with kindness. A stone cold mensch."" --Jesse L. Martin, actor, Rent and Law & Order

Advance Praise for Making Rent ""Tim has truly given any fan of Rent, and any fan or student of contemporary musical theater generally, an invaluable record of a new musical's developmental process. And he's given us a detailed and beautifully frank account of the musical director's role in preparing and maintaining a Broadway show. Like Tim's invaluable contribution to Rent's success, this book is an extraordinary achievement."" --Michael Greif, Tony Award-nominated director of Rent and Hell's Kitchen ""I loved this book. Tim takes us down a path that is reserved for the very few, not only to the front row, backstage, the rehearsal room, or behind the piano--this is an unflinching look at all of it, the joys and the loss of creating a history-making show."" --Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-winning composer of Fun Home and Kimberly Akimbo ""Tim writes with a laser-sharp memory--the specific details, but also the more ineffable experience, the moods, the feelings, the conflicts, the fears of those who were a part of Rent."" --Jim Nicola, former artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop ""Making Rent is essential to anybody who cares about new musicals."" --Jeffrey Seller, Tony Award-winning producer of Rent and Hamilton, author of Theater Kid Praise for Tim Weil ""Rent could never have become what it was without the tireless efforts and creativity of our musical director, Tim Weil."" --Adam Pascal, Tony Award-nominated actor, Rent, Aida, and Something Rotten! ""Tim Weil was THE PULSE of each performance! We always had a powerful pulse, and that was definitely because of Tim."" --Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony Award-nominated actor, Rent and Anna in the Tropics

Author Information

Tim Weil is a music director, composer, arranger, and orchestrator who has worked on more than one hundred productions in New York City and around the world, including Rent, Shrek the Musical, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, and Sally Marr . . . and Her Escorts. His work in film includes Camp and The Marc Pease Experience and he composed songs for the children's television shows Sheep in the Big City and Bear in the Big Blue House. Tim lives with his wife, the actress Randy Graff, in New Jersey. Neil Patrick Harris is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor, director, and producer who has appeared on Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Assassins, and Proof. He starred as Mark Cohen in the 1997 National Tour of Rent and directed Rent at the Hollywood Bowl in 2010. He lives in New York City. Jennifer Ashley Tepper is a musical theater historian and the author of Women Writing Musicals and The Untold Stories of Broadway. She conceived The Jonathan Larson Project, an off-Broadway musical showcasing previously unheard works by the late composer, and was the historian consultant on the Jonathan Larson biopic tick, tick. BOOM! She lives in New York City.

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