Jonathan Larson: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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| birth_name = Jonathan David Larson

| birth_date = {{birth date|1960|2|4}}

| birth_place = [[WhiteMount PlainsVernon, New York]], U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1996|1|25|1960|2|4}}

| death_place = [[New York City]], U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist | Composer|lyricist|playwright}}

| education = [[Adelphi University]] ([[Bachelor of Fine Arts|BFA]])

| notableworks = {{ubl|''[[Rent (musical)|Rent]]'' (1996)|''[[Tick, Tick... Boom!]]'' (2001)|''[[Superbia (musical)|Superbia]]'' (not officially published)}}

| period years_active = 1982–1996

}}

'''Jonathan David Larson''' (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American composer, lyricist and playwright, most famous for writing the musicals ''[[Rent (musical)|Rent]]'' and ''[[Tick, Tick... Boom!]]'', which explored the social issues of [[multiculturalism]], [[substance use disorder]], and [[homophobia]]. HeLarson receivedhad threeworked posthumouson [[Tonyboth Awards]]musicals andthroughout athe posthumouslate [[Pulitzer1980s Prizeand forinto Drama]]the for ''[[Rent (musical)|Rent]]''1990s.

After several years of workshopping, ''Rent'' began an Off-Broadway run in early 1996, though Larson died from an [[aortic dissection]] the day before its first preview performance. The show went onto enjoy critical and commercial success, and transferred to Broadway that April. Larson posthumously received three [[Tony Award]]s and the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]. ''Rent'' was also adapted into [[Rent (film)|a 2005 film]]. ''Tick, Tick... Boom!'' received an Off-Broadway production in 2001, and was also adapted into [[Tick, Tick... Boom! (film)|a film]], which was released in 2021.

==Early years==

Jonathan David Larson was born on February 4, 1960, in [[Mt.Mount Vernon, New York]], to Nanette ({{née}} Notarius)and Allan Larson of [[White Plains, New York]].<ref name = JUCM>{{Cite webcite news| url = https://www.lohudjucm.com/obituariesstory-jonathan-one-week-january/wjn129447 |title title=Nanette T.The LarsonStory Obituaryof (1927-2018)Jonathan— One Week in January|date = June 15, 2009|work = Journal of Urgent Care Medicine|publisher = [[TheUrgent JournalCare NewsAssociation]] |accessdate date=February 11October 2, 20192024}}</ref><ref andname Allan= Larson<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://deadline.com/2022/01/allan-larson-dead-father-playwright-jonathan-larson-1234903471/ | title=Allan Larson Dies: Father Of Playwright Jonathan Larson And Caretaker Of Legacy | first=Greg | last=Evans | work=[[Deadline Hollywood]] | date=January 1, 2022 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401005251/https://deadline.com/2022/01/allan-larson-dead-father-playwright-jonathan-larson-1234903471/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite ofweb | url=https://www.lohud.com/obituaries/wjn129447 | title=Nanette T. Larson Obituary (1927-2018) | work=[[WhiteThe Plains,Journal New YorkNews]], on| date=February 411, 1960.2019}}</ref><ref name=pbs>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/jonathan-larson/ | title=Jonathan Larson | publisher=[[PBS]] | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=April 20, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420183727/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/jonathan-larson/ | url-status=live }}</ref> His family was Jewish.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/stephen-sondheims-last-message/ | title=Stephen Sondheim's last message | first=BRIGIT | last=GRANT | work=[[Jewish News]] | date=December 9, 2021 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=January 18, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118004005/https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/stephen-sondheims-last-message/ | url-status=live }}</ref> His grandfather, Bernard Isaac Lazarson, who was born in Russia, changed the family surname from Lazarson.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-news-alana-haim-sean-penn-and-andrew-garfield | title=Jews in News: Alana Haim, Sean Penn and Andrew Garfield | work=Tampa JCCS and Federation | date=November 25, 2021 | access-date=December 1, 2021 | archive-date=December 1, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201215214/https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-news-alana-haim-sean-penn-and-andrew-garfield | url-status=live }}</ref> At an early age, Larson played the [[trumpet]] and [[tuba]], sang in his school's choir, and took piano lessons. His early musical influences and his favorite rock musicians included [[Elton John]], [[The Doors]], [[The Who]], and [[Billy Joel]], as well as the classic composers of musical theatre, especially [[Stephen Sondheim]]. He also loved [[Pete Townshend]], [[The Police]], [[Prince (musician)|Prince]], [[Liz Phair]], and [[The Beatles]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.americantheatre.org/1996/07/01/jonathan-larson-talks-about-his-writing-process-and-rent/ | title=Jonathan Larson Talks About His Writing Process and Making 'Rent' | first=JOHN | last=ISTEL | work=[[Theatre Communications Group]] | date=July 1996 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=March 8, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308032555/https://www.americantheatre.org/1996/07/01/jonathan-larson-talks-about-his-writing-process-and-rent/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Larson attended [[White Plains High School]], where he was also involved in acting, performing in lead roles in various productions, graduating in 1978.<ref name="melg"/> He had a sister, Julie.

Larson attended [[Adelphi University]] in [[Garden City, New York]], with a four-year scholarship as an acting major, in addition to performing in numerous plays and musical theatre, graduating in 1982 with a [[Bachelor of Fine Arts]] degree. Larson stopped acting to focus on compositions. During his college years, he began music composition, composing music first for small student productions, called cabarets, and later the score to a musical entitled ''[[The Book of Good Love]]'' (''Libro de Buen Amor''), written by the department head, Jacques Burdick, who was also Larson's college mentor.

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===''Tick, Tick... Boom!''===

{{main|Tick, Tick... Boom!}}

His next work, completed in 1991, was an autobiographical "rock monologue" entitled ''30/90'', which was later renamed ''Boho Days'' and finally titled ''[[Tick, Tick... Boom!]]'' This piece, written for only Larson with a piano and rock band, drew on his feelings of rejection caused by the disappointment of ''Superbia''. The show was performed off-Broadway at the Village Gate in [[Greenwich Village]], then at the [[Second Stage Theater]] on the [[Upper West Side]]. Both of these productions were produced by Victoria Leacock. The producer [[Jeffrey Seller]] saw a reading of ''Boho Days'' and expressed interest in producing Larson's musicals. After Larson's death, the work was reworked into a stage musical by playwright [[David Auburn]] and arranger and musical director [[Stephen Oremus]]. The stage version premiered off-Broadway in 2001 and starred [[Raúl Esparza]] as Larson, a performance for which he earned an [[Obie Award]]. It has since been produced on a [[West End theatre]]. A [[Tick, Tick... Boom! (film)|film adaptation of ''tick, tick... BOOM!'']], directed by [[Lin-Manuel Miranda]] and starring [[Andrew Garfield]] (in an [[94th Academy Awards#Winners and nominees|Academy Award nominated]] performance) as Larson, with a rewritten script by [[Steven Levenson]] was released on [[Netflix]] on November 12, 2021.

In 1992, Larson collaborated with fellow composer/lyricists [[Rusty Magee]], Bob Golden, Paul Scott Goodman, and Jeremy Roberts on ''Sacred Cows,'' which was devised and pitched to television networks as a weekly anthology with each episode taking a different Biblical or mythological story and giving it a '90s celebrity twist. The project was shelved due to scheduling conflicts among the five composers but resurfaced over 20 years later in a six-page ''[[Playbill]]'' article. The demo for ''Sacred Cows'' was released on iTunes.<ref>{{cite news | title=How the Feverish Imaginations of Jonathan Larson, Rusty Magee and Friends Birthed the Musical 'Sacred Cows' | url=https://www.playbill.com/article/how-the-feverish-imaginations-of-jonathan-larson-rusty-magee-and-friends-birthed-the-musical-sacred-cows-com-203033 | last=Collis | first=Jonathon | work=[[Playbill]] | date=March 4, 2013 | access-date=April 2, 2022 | archive-date=April 2, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402051848/https://www.playbill.com/article/how-the-feverish-imaginations-of-jonathan-larson-rusty-magee-and-friends-birthed-the-musical-sacred-cows-com-203033 | url-status=live }}</ref>

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''Rent'' started as a staged reading in 1993 at the [[New York Theatre Workshop]], followed by a studio production that played a three-week run a year later. However, the version that is now known worldwide, the result of three years of collaboration and editing between Larson and the producers and director, was not publicly performed before Larson's death as Larson died the day before the first preview performance. The show premiered Off-Broadway on schedule. According to lead performer [[Anthony Rapp]], Larson's parents, who were flying in for the show anyway, gave their blessing to perform the show despite Larson's death a day earlier, and the cast agreed that they would premiere the show by simply singing it through, all the while sitting at three prop tables lined up on stage. But by the time the show got to its high energy "[[La Vie Boheme]]", the cast could no longer contain themselves and did the rest of the show as it was meant to be, minus costumes, to the crowd and the Larson family's approval. Once the show was over, there was a long applause followed by silence which was eventually broken when an audience member shouted out "Thank you, Jonathan Larson."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2CctOLvdaoC | title=Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent | last=Rapp | first=Anthony | authorlink=Anthony Rapp | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | date=October 31, 2006 | page=136| isbn=9780743269773 }}</ref>

''Rent'' played through its planned engagement to sold-out crowds and was continually extended. The decision was finally made to move the show to a [[Broadway theatre]], and it opened at the [[Nederlander Theatre]] on April 29, 1996.<ref>{{cite news | last=Winer | first=Laurie | title='Rent' Goes Up -- to Broadway | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-30-ca-64130-story.html | work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] | date=April 30, 1996 | url-access=limited | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803234358/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-30-ca-64130-story.html | archive-date=August 3, 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to the [[New York Theatre Workshop]], ''Rent'' was produced by [[Jeffrey Seller]], who was introduced to Larson's work when attending an off-Broadway performance of ''Boho Days'', and two of his producer friends who also wished to support the work, [[Kevin McCollum]] and Allan S. Gordon.

For his work on ''Rent'', Larson was posthumously awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]],<ref name=Life/> the [[Tony Award for Best Musical]], [[Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical]], and [[Tony Award for Best Original Score]];<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.playbill.com/article/rent-master-class-win-top-tonys-com-67959 | title=Rent, Master Class Win Top Tonys | work=[[Playbill]] | date=June 3, 1996 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401005122/https://www.playbill.com/article/rent-master-class-win-top-tonys-com-67959 | url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical]], [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music]], and the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics]]; the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; the [[Outer Critics Circle Award]] for Best Musical in the Off-Broadway category; and [[Obie Award]]s for Outstanding Book, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music.

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Larson's estate was scheduled to earn one-third of the amount earned by ''Rent''.<ref name=price>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/12/14/just-what-is-the-price-of-fame-rent-authors-family-seeks-answer-in-suit/b4ea6837-ba1d-41fd-9821-88eda5968d6a/ | title=JUST WHAT IS THE PRICE OF FAME? 'RENT' AUTHOR'S FAMILY SEEKS ANSWER IN SUIT | first=Paula | last=Span | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=December 14, 1996 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=August 28, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828224004/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/12/14/just-what-is-the-price-of-fame-rent-authors-family-seeks-answer-in-suit/b4ea6837-ba1d-41fd-9821-88eda5968d6a/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Illness and death==

==Death==▼

Larson died at his home inIn the earlydays morning of January 25, 1996, at age 35, the day before the first Off-Broadway preview performance ofpreceding ''Rent''.{{'}}s Anfirst autopsypreviews determinedin LarsonJanuary died from an [[aortic dissection]].<ref name=Untimely/> His body was found on the kitchen floor by his roommate at 3 A.M.<ref name=Led/>1996, Larson had been suffering severeexperienced [[angina pectoris|chest pains]], dizziness, and shortness of breath. forHe severalwas days before his death, but doctorsassessed at both [[Cabrini Medical Center]] and [[St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan|St. Vincent's Hospital]], couldbut notdoctors findfound signsnothing of anconcern aortic dissection even after conducting a chestin X-rayrays andor [[electrocardiogram]]s (EKGs), soand hishad conditionattributed washis misdiagnosedsymptoms asto [[influenza]] or stress; one doctor questioned the possibility of a [[Distressmyocardial (medicine)|stressinfarction]] while reviewing his EKG, but did not pursue the matter further.<ref name=Untimely>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/nyregion/on-the-eve-of-a-new-life-an-untimely-death.html | title=On the Eve of a New Life, an Untimely Death | last=Van Gelder | first=Lawrence | authorlink=Lawrence Van Gelder | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=December 13, 1996 | url-access=limited | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=February 21, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221133002/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/nyregion/on-the-eve-of-a-new-life-an-untimely-death.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Larson continued to complain of persistent, severe chest pains throughout this period.<ref name = Untimely/>

At around 12:30 a.m. on January 25, 1996, the day before the scheduled first preview performance, Larson returned to his apartment from a production meeting, and collapsed in the kitchen.<ref name = Untimely/> During the 3 a.m. hour,{{efn|name = Time|Variously reported as 3:00,<ref name=Led/> "around 3:30",<ref name = Untimely/> or 3:40 a.m.<ref name = JUCM/>}} his body was discovered by his roommate, who called emergency services and attempted CPR.<ref name = JUCM/> Police arrived and pronounced Larson dead at the scene, aged 35.<ref name = JUCM/> An autopsy identified the cause of death as an [[aortic dissection]].<ref name = Untimely/> A court found that Larson "washad been misdiagnosed by doctors at both hospitals" he had visited.<ref name=price/> and aA [[medical malpractice]] lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. An investigation by the [[New York State medicalDepartment investigatorsof Health]] concluded that Larsonit mayis possible he could have lived if the aortic dissection had been properly diagnosed and treated with [[cardiac surgery]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/state-faults-hosps-rent-tragedy-article-1.743185 | title=State Faults Hosps for 'Rent' Tragedy | last1=Nicholson | first1=Joe | last2=Kornblut | first2=Anne | work=[[New York Daily News]] | date=December 13, 1996 | access-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-date=April 1, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401005251/https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/state-faults-hosps-rent-tragedy-article-1.743185 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenthal|first=Elisabeth|author-link=Elisabeth Rosenthal|date=13 December 1996|title=2 Hospitals Fined In Wake of Death Of 'Rent' Creator|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/nyregion/2-hospitals-fined-in-wake-of-death-of-rent-creator.html|access-date=July 9, 2022|archive-date=July 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717200349/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/nyregion/2-hospitals-fined-in-wake-of-death-of-rent-creator.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Cabrini Medical Center and St. Vincent's Hospital were fined $10,000 and $6,000, respectively.<ref name = JUCM/>

It has been speculated that Larson had undiagnosed [[Marfan syndrome]], a claim promoted by the [[The Marfan Foundation|National Marfan Foundation]] at the urging of the [[New York State Health Department]].<ref>{{cite news|date=June 12, 2001|title=No Rest for the Parents of the Parent of 'Rent'|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/theater/no-rest-for-the-parents-of-the-parent-of-rent.html|access-date=July 9, 2022|archive-date=July 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709212559/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/theater/no-rest-for-the-parents-of-the-parent-of-rent.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Legacy==

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▲==DeathNotes==

{{notelist}}

== References ==