Director Chris Columbus successfully captures the genuine realities of characters and their circumstances in Jonathan Larson’s Rent.

The story follows New York City lower east side inhabitants Mark (Anthony Rapp), a struggling filmmaker; Roger (Adam Pascal), the struggling guitarist-songwriter; Mimi (Rosario Dawson), an exotic dancer at the nearby Cat-Scratch club; Tom (Jesse L. Martin), an NYU professor; Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a cross-dressing drummer with AIDS; Benny (Taye Diggs), the “sell-out” who’s moved to the suburbs and works for the man; Maureen (Idina Menzel), a performance artist and Mark’s ex and her new love interest Joann (Tracie Thoms), a successful lawyer. Dawson and Thoms are the only cast members who weren’t part of the original Broadway cast – the rest all originated their roles in 1996.

All of the characters face AIDS, whether it’s in their own lives or the lives of those around them. For many characters in Rent life is about living with a disease, not dying from it. The love and the pain manifests in song, movement and energy with strong beats and tight pacing. Columbus, known for his straight-forward directing style, takes a simple approach with creative undertones and minutia successfully translating Larson’s thrilling story from the stage to the screen. The plot and music are the same, but Columbus reaps the benefits of cinematography that are unavailable in live theatre to heighten the emotions the music evokes.

Columbus’ Rent is a success because it is real, and the actors are clearly singing their hearts out. Even though we don’t live real life as a musical, the portrayal of eight friends fighting the same fight we are still fighting today, a fight for love and acceptance, exhilarates. Rent leaves the viewer naked of everything except emotions. m