One Song Glory

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes – how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes – how do you measure a year in the life?

How do you measure 12 years? That was how long (it opened off-Broadway in Jan 26 1996, then went to Broadway on April 29 the same year) the musical Rent was staged in Broadway, until the curtains came down last night in New York City.

Rent is a rock musical based on Puccini’s La Boheme and was written by Jonathan Larson, who unfortunately died at age 35 from aortic aneurysm on Jan 25, 1996, one day before his show opened publicly. This was the definitive musical for Generation X (and would extend to Gen Y and the iPod Generation throughout the dozen years it ran for), tackling issues of multiculturalism, drug addiction, love, sexuality and HIV. It won four Tony Awards in 1996, and Larson was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

I first watched Rent at London’s West End, during a trip there in 1999. I fell in love with the musical immediately … although the story was set in New York’s Lower East Side, I identified with so many aspects of the show. I am not exaggerating when I say that this musical changed my life.

It remains my favourite musical of all time – I even flew to Singapore just to catch the Asian tour, starring Karen Mok. And as I write this post, I am watching the 2005 movie adaptation for the, er, well, uncountable time.

Although the musical will continue to live on, with tours still going on around the world, I mourn its closing in Broadway. As the seventh longest running musical of all time on Broadway (and the second longest next to Phantom of the Opera until yesterday), no doubt its closing marks the end of an era.

And in that sense, I suppose the following words from the lyrics of One Song Glory, one of my favourite songs from the musical, is an apt tribute.

One song
Glory
One song
Before I go
Glory
One song to leave behind

10.02pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

Tags: Broadway, Jonathan Larson, Musical, Rent