Rent

New York in the 1990s: Filmmaker Mark and musician Roger can no longer pay the rent on their apartment. Their landlord wants them to move out so that he can renovate the apartment and rent it out at a high price. Bohemians and homeless people everywhere are to be evicted from the hip East Village. When drug addict Mimi and drag queen Angel turn up, Mark and Roger's world is turned upside down.

Jonathan Larson based his musical, which premiered in 1996, on Puccini's La Bohème, but moved the action to New York's East Village in the 1990s. His bohemians are young people struggling for success and money to pay the rent, and Mimi is not suffering from tuberculosis but from AIDS. Rent tackles controversial topics such as homophobia, AIDS and racism, but wraps them up in a rousing musical mix of romantic, passionate ballads and electrifying rock songs. Rent won both the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama and ran for over 5000 performances on Broadway for 12 years.

Age recommendation: 14+