Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 26

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the “who’s who” of the crowd with some limited range of actual critique of the musical itself. 18
The singular art form, again, is bound in the politics of its time and cannot be separated from its
creator (recalling The Faggot). This time, the politics are those of professionally over-zealous
courtesy and media sensationalism. However, through all of the laudations there was an equal,
if not more overwhelming, number of harsh criticisms responding to the work as trivial, benign,
and at worst exploitative of the AIDS epidemic and indifferent to the monetization and capitalistic
gain of homeless people, heroin addicts, and the LGBTQ+ community. The untimely death of
Larson unfortunately rendered his view of the subject matter (and any defenses he may have
made claim to for his work) null and void in the early years of RENT’s success. The massive
success of the musical did not sit right with many critics, with especially condemning voices
coming from the LGBTQ+ community. Larson didn’t have an opportunity to outright defend his
use of sentimentalism and superficiality as devices for the purposes of adhering to the tradition
of musical theatre, so given the raw subject material and the monetary gain, queer people felt
personally violated and hurt by the itemization and turning of their culture, lives, and stories into
“fashion.” As Istel reports, again, the problem with these criticisms come from a frustration not at
the musical or what it was meant to portray, but with major culture influencers such as “Rolling
Stone, Time Out and the Voice” who profited off of these experiences, whereas Larson’s
inherent lack of self-defense for his own work allowed them to do so (making Larson part of the
similarly impacted monetized, fetishized community). 19 Later analyses and commentary on
Larson’s work, however, take a more “objective” approach to his work and methods. Journals,
early interviews, and close readings of RENT serve to inform later generations of the musical,
John Istel. 1996. "`Rent' check." American Theatre 13, no. 6: 12. International Bibliography of
Theatre & Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost.
18
19
Ibid.