They say you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead but there’s no rule against criticising their work. The US composer and lyricist Jonathan Larson famously died of an aortic dissection the day before his musical Rent opened off-Broadway, and somehow the tragedy of his sudden death folded itself into the show’s reputation.
Had he survived, two things might have happened: the musical may not have had such emotional resonance; and Larson’s talent might have eventually found a stronger vehicle for its realisation. Because, as much as people love it, Rent is actually pretty awful.
