History Trivia / RENT

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The movie, starts on Christmas Eve 1989, but the show has always been synonymous with TheNineties. The internet and VirtualReality as [[NewMediaAreEvil an evil takeover plot]], AIDS spreading like wildfire, etc. However, the movie also created [[AnachronismStew a serious anachronism]]: The ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' joke in "Today 4 U".

* TheOtherDarrin: Only Mimi and Joanne are recast in place of the originals for the movie, because Daphne Rubin-Vega was pregnant at the time and obviously gained too much weight to play a junkie dancer with AIDS, and Fredi Walker felt she was too old to portray a recent law school graduate. Her one request was to keep Joanne black.

* DiedDuringProduction: Jonathan Larson, the author of both the book and the music, died on the night of the final dress rehearsal. It's a tragically appropriate illustration of the show's message that you never know when your life will be over, so you should do as much as you can all the time. Contrary to popular belief, he died from an undiagnosed heart condition and ''not'' AIDS.

** The stage show is nearly entirely sung-through; the movie converts several songs into dialogue or nixes them completely. Notable cuts include the various "Tune-Up" and "Voicemail" sequences, "We're Okay", "Christmas Bells", "Happy New Year" and "Contact". Furthermore, "Halloween" was recorded and filmed, but cut from the theatrical release. Less than 1/3 of "Goodbye Love" made the cut.

* DawsonCasting:
** Mimi "You look like you're sixteen." "I'm ''nineteen'', but I'm old for my age!" Marquez, originally played by the ''27-year-old'' Daphne Rubin-Vega (though, since many of the other characters are only mid-twenties, the potential exists for them as well).
** The age of the cast in the film seems to add to this as well -- most of the actors were in their thirties at the time, and while their ages weren't set in stone in the play or film, they certainly felt more like twenty-something "starving artists".
** The 20th anniversary tour in the UK removed the line about her age entirely due to Mimi being played by the gorgeous but in no way teenager like 32 year old Kerry Ellis.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Jonathan Larson, the author of both the book and the music, died on the night of the final dress rehearsal. It's a tragically appropriate illustration of the show's message that you never know when your life will be over, so you should do as much as you can all the time. Contrary to popular belief, he died from an undiagnosed heart condition and ''not'' AIDS.

** One pass of the script began at Angel's funeral, with Marc flashing back to HowWeGotHere.

** Not to mention all the songs that got cut from the stage version. Some are rather bad ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1gJDuWrfs You'll Get Over It]]"--a duet between Mark and Maureen about her dating a woman, made Maureen sound dismissive about breaking his heart while ''he'' was dismissive of her bisexuality). Others, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWwviipzgY0 Real Estate]]" (a trio between Benny, Mark, and Alison where she and Benny try to convince Mark to give up filmmaking and go into the real estate business with Benny instead) were cut for length. Some would keep their melody with their lyrics being almost entirely rewritten, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiH29pTi5nA Right Brain]]" would become "One Song Glory".

** Not to mention all the songs that got cut from the stage version. Some are rather bad ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1gJDuWrfs You'll Get Over It]]"--a duet between Mark and Maureen about her dating a woman--made him sound like an ignorant lout and her like a callous whore). Others, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWwviipzgY0 Real Estate]]" (a trio between Benny, Mark, and Alison where she and Benny try to convince Mark to give up filmmaking and go into the real estate business with Benny instead) were cut for length. Some would keep their melody with their lyrics being almost entirely rewritten, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiH29pTi5nA Right Brain]]" would become "One Song Glory".

** YouLookFamiliar

** In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Mark, a straight man (Rapp initially identified as gay but later came out as bisexual).

* FocusGroupEnding: The film adaptation cut its original ending, in which the metaphor of the characters singing their lives together onstage was revisited. Focus groups shot that one down, as the reappearance of a certain beloved dead character apparently gave the impression that the whole movie had been a dream. Instead we're treated to a rousing climax of the entire cast sitting on a sofa trying not to cry. The original ending survives here.

** Jennifer Hudson auditioned for the role of Joanne in the film version. ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestant Frenchie Davis was also considered.

* QuoteSource: TragicAIDSStory

** Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel met during the original production and were then married for ten years, afterwards becoming AmicableExes.

** Creator/{{NBC}} reportedly considered televising a live production in December 2017, until they instead decided to air ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'' in that timeslot.[[note]]However, it would eventually get pushed back a year.[[/note]] Creator/{{FOX}} ended up obtaining rights to ''RENT''.

** "Goodbye Love" was filmed in its entirely, but the second half after Angel's funeral was cut because Chris Columbus thought it was an emotional overload
** The scene with Benny reconciling after Angel's funeral including the bit where he always hated his wife's dog

* IronyAsSheIsCast: In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Mark, a straight man (Rapp initially identified as gay but later came out as bisexual).

** "Goodbye Love" was filmed in it's entirely, but the second half after Angel's funeral was cut because Chris Columbus thought it was an emotional overload

** "Goodbye Love" was filmed in it'e entirely, but the second half after Angel's funeral was cut because Chris Columbus thought it was an emotional overload

* IronyAsSheIsCast: In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Mark, a straight man (he initially identified as gay but later came out as bisexual).

%%* NamesTheSame: The Mark Cohen in this show is in no way related to the guy who wrote the OneHitWonder "Walking In Memphis."

* IronyAsSheIsCast: In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Mark, a straight man (he later retracted this and claimed he was bisexual).

* IronyAsSheIsCast: In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Marc, a straight man (he later retracted this and claimed he was bisexual).

* NamesTheSame: The Mark Cohen in this show is in no way related to the guy who wrote the OneHitWonder "Walking In Memphis."

* NamesTheSame: The Mark Cohen in this show is in no way related to the guy who wrote "Walking In Memphis."

* StarMakingRole: Idina Menzel quickly became a Broadway sensation after playing Maureen.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Anthony Rapp as Marc, a straight man.
** Anthony Rapp is actually bisexual (or at least he said that in an interview with Paul Wontorek in 2014).