It was a groundbreaking show of its time, featuring a group of young bohemian artists dealing with relationships and friendships in New York’s East Village, living in the shadow of AIDS and HIV.

Writer Jonathan Larson died the night before his La Boheme-inspired show’s first off-Broadway performance in 1996, and so did not live to see his show’s success, running on Broadway for 12 years and winning four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. With some show-stopping numbers and starring UK Eurovision entry singer Lucie Jones, director Bruce Guthrie spoke about it ahead of its finale in Tunbridge Wells.

The show means so much to so many people...

I’m very aware of that fact. We have been trying to make sure that we do it justice. We know to respect it. It has cult status with a capital C. I am very passionate about it.

I’d never seen it before as I was never in New York when it was on and few productions have come to the UK...

We decided to treat it as a brand new piece though we haven’t adapted it or changed it. It’s an incredible musical, with wonderful music. It was ground-breaking. We have an incredibly talented group of actors. They bring amazing life and energy to it.

It took Jonathan Larson seven years to write the piece and create it, based on La Boheme...

He was on the cusp of great things. I spoke to his family and his friends asked for advice on it before we started. They were incredibly helpful, warm and supportive. His friend, Victoria, took me on a tour of the different sites featured. Most of the success from it came after he passed away, but it is utterly deserved. The story’s so rich and there are brilliant melodies. You connect with it on a very human level.

It was written at the height of the AIDS epidemic and New York was a very different place to the one we know now...

It was a much darker place, but still full of life and creativity. New York bohemians were real trailblazers. It is written very much for younger people and a younger audience but now with its 20th anniversary there is a generation of people who were young when it first came out and who now look back on it and will connect with it in a different way.

The show has a real sense of hope...

He wanted people to carry it with them and live for today. You never know what might happen as long as we live in the moment. We could all do with a little bit if perspective and embracing the moment and thinking positively about things.

DETAILS

RENT the Musical has its final tour dates at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells from Tuesday, May 23, to Saturday, May 27. Tickets cost from £15. To book visit assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk or call 01892 530613.