The creator of one of the longest-running Broadway musicals of all time, the rock opera Rent, Jonathan Larson was a composer, lyricist, playwright, and actor with a rousing, emotive songwriting style. Rent, his 1996 adaptation of the book Scènes de la Vie de Bohème and Puccini's opera La Bohème, featured artist characters from multiple marginalized groups as they negotiated life in Manhattan's East Village of the early '90s. On the morning of Rent's first off-Broadway preview in January 1996, Larson died of an undiagnosed heart problem. The show opened on Broadway that April and ran for over 12 years, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tonys, including Best Musical, along the way. The 2005 film adaptation made show highlight "Seasons of Love" a Top 40 hit. Written prior to Rent, the autobiographical tick, tick...BOOM! was produced posthumously, premiering off-Broadway in 2001 and receiving a film adaptation in 2021.