Making Rent: The Story Behind the Music That Changed Broadway

Weil, the original musical director of Rent, recounts in his conversational debut memoir his role in bringing one of Broadway’s most famous musicals to the stage. Weil was hired in 1994 to work as an audition pianist—for $10 an hour—on an early iteration of the show, before he stepped in as musical director later that year. When creator Jonathan Larson died suddenly in 1996 on the same day the show was set to preview off-Broadway, the production still needed fine-tuning. Weil recounts how he tried to protect Larson’s vision while also performing “a lot of nipping and tucking,” from dropping a few beats of silence to cutting entire song verses. Weil’s narrative will thrill theater fans with its fun in-the-room details (he goes into particular detail on the audition process; after future star Anthony Rapp’s audition, Larson exclaimed “That’s Mark!”). Along the way, Weil offers intimate insights into the challenges of producing a show that brought the influences of popular music—rock, R&B, pop—to bear on musical theater traditions. Rent fans old and new will revel in this colorful peek behind the curtain. (Jan.)