THEATER: LOWER EAST SIDE STORY

JONATHAN LARSON WAS LOOKING TIRED and pale all week, but it might have been just the stress of preparing for the opening of his new musical, Rent. Twice he went to the hospital, complaining of chest pains and a fever; his trouble was diagnosed as food poisoning, and he was given a battery of tests. He managed to drag himself to the last dress rehearsal, but colleagues were concerned: Larson, who rode his bicycle even on the coldest winter days, came in a taxi. "You could see he was trying to conserve his strength," says director Michael Greif. The next morning, when Greif arrived at a production meeting, he got the shocking news. Larson, 35, had been found dead in his apartment--the victim, it was later determined, of an aortic aneurism.

The death of a promising theatrical talent is always tragic, but Larson's legacy makes his all the more painful. Rent, a rock opera based on Puccini's La Boheme, opened in New York City just three weeks after Larson's death and got an ecstatic reception. Critics hailed it as the breakthrough musical of the '90s. Theatergoers began streaming downtown, to the way-off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop; within a week, the show had sold out its entire run, through the end of March. Hollywood studios and record executives began calling, as did Broadway. By late last week, the producers were finishing up negotiations to transfer the show to a Broadway house in mid-April, just in time for the Tony nominations. "Rent belongs in front of as many people for as long as possible," said co-producer Kevin McCollum. For once, a producer may get his wish.

Rent may not be quite the groundbreaker, or have the melodic richness, of Hair or Jesus Christ Superstar. But it is the most exuberant and original American musical to come along this decade. Larson has updated La Boheme and set it among the artists, addicts, prostitutes and street people of New York City's East Village. In place of Puccini's Mimi, dying of tuberculosis, is Larson's Mimi (Daphne Rubin-Vega), a drug-addicted dancer in an S&M club who is suffering from AIDS. The Rudolfo she falls for is Roger (Adam Pascal), an HIV-positive rock singer who longs for one great song to leave behind.

AIDS is the shadow hovering over all the people in Rent, but the musical doesn't dwell on illness or turn preachy; it is too busy celebrating life and chronicling its characters' efforts to squeeze out every last drop of it. Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin), a gay teacher, hooks up with Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a high-spirited transvestite. Joanne (Fredi Walker), a lesbian attorney, gets together with Maureen (Idina Menzel), a performance artist who has just broken up with Mark (Anthony Rapp), a video filmmaker who acts as the musical's narrator and guide.