Rent

It’s New Year’s Eve, and the group gathers to pry off the padlock in a “breaking-back-into-the-building party” (88). Roger and Mimi are together and happy. As they watch the clock to count down to the New Year, Mimi swears in an aside that she will reinvent her life and even go back to school, because the past week with Roger has changed her. Mark frets that the rest of the group hasn’t arrived, and they’re running out of time. Mimi remarks that they’re probably trying to figure out what to wear to “a party that’s also a crime” (89). As if in response, Maureen enters dressed as a “cat burglar” (89), in a tight outfit with cat ears. Mark makes fun of her, and they bicker. Maureen points out that filming her riot landed Mark’s work on television. Roger enters and reports that the door is a dead end, reinforced with plywood and a padlocked chain. Dialing her cell phone, Maureen replies that her relationship is also a dead end. Maureen leaves a message begging Joanne to answer, promising to do anything for her if she’ll give her another chance. Joanne enters and hears her, commenting, “That might be okay” (91). Addressing the group, Joanne explains that she spoke to her lawyer friends at Legal Aid, and there’s a chance they have recourse as squatters.

Joanne produces a rope, and she and Mark excitedly plot how to use it to get onto the fire escape. Maureen muses that seeing them be friends is too much. In an aside, Roger expresses amazement that his life transformed in a week, and he’s suddenly happy. Angel and Collins enter, Collins in black and Angel dressed in blonde Bond-girl drag. Angel also has a blowtorch for the bolts holding the plywood. They are all working to break in at midnight. Then, suddenly, Mark narrates, the power comes back on in the building. Their answering machine plays their messages. First, Mark’s mother wishes him a Happy New Year and congratulates him for the riot footage that made the news. She urges Mark to call his father. Second, Alexi Darling from Buzzline, a show that Mark calls “sleazy” (94), praises his video and wants to talk to him about making a lucrative network deal. Outside, Maureen tells Mark that they should get an agent. She could plan another protest, and Mark could direct it. As midnight strikes, the group pries away the door. Benny enters, remarking that they “beat [him] to the punch” (96), as he came here to formally give them the key and the building. Mark is suspicious, but Benny replies wryly that Mimi came to see him yesterday to argue their case. Benny tells Mark to film him as he offers a rehearsed apology, and Mark sees that he’s just looking for a public relations boost, magnanimously escorting the poor artists back into their apartment.

Benny explains that CyberArts will still break ground this month on the vacant lot, but they can continue to live in their apartment. Maureen comments that Benny is here instead of with his wife on New Year’s Eve, and Benny admits he’d rather be here. Roger responds with sarcasm, and Benny suggests that Mimi placate Roger and make him cooperative, implying that she seduced Benny yesterday to convince him to let them have the building. Indignant, Mimi denies this, explaining that she was dressed provocatively only because she was headed to work, and that Benny tried to seduce her, but she kicked him. Benny wonders if Roger knows who Mimi’s previous boyfriend was. Roger spits, “I’m not her boyfriend, I don’t care what she does” (99). Angel changes the subject, and Collins offers Benny a glass of champagne. They give a mildly sardonic toast to Benny, and Angel suggests a resolution to always be friends as a group. They all agree. Afterward, Angel pushes Mimi and Roger toward each other, and they all give them privacy to talk. In unison, they apologize to each other. They kiss. Roger goes inside, and Mimi promises to follow in a minute. When she is alone, the Man comes out of the shadows and gives her a baggie of heroin. 

Filming, Mark explains that it’s Valentine’s Day. Roger has lived with Mimi since New Year’s, but he is considering selling his guitar for money to leave town. Mark speculates that this is possibly due to his jealousy over Mimi’s past relationship with Benny. Mark doesn’t have any idea where Collins and Angel are living, suggesting that they could be anywhere from a shantytown to a posh suite at The Plaza. Joanne and Maureen have been rehearsing, although their relationship continues to be turbulent. Mark finishes, “Me? I’m here. Nowhere” (103). The scene shifts to Joanne’s apartment, where Joanne and Maureen are quarrelling about a line written for a staged protest. Maureen gets upset and declares that she is tired of doing (and not doing) whatever Joanne says and still getting in trouble. Joanne points out that Maureen was flirting with a woman who was dressed in rubber. Exasperated, Maureen exclaims, “That’s what this is about? There will always be women in rubber—flirting with me” (103). Maureen sings about how men and women have been sexualizing her since puberty, and Joanne should feel lucky that Maureen is choosing her. Maureen likes to be in the spotlight, and she has no intention of changing. Joanne sings that this relationship isn’t going to work, because she needs order and boundaries, and Maureen is messy. They break up.

The company reprises “Seasons of Love” but amends the central question, singing, “How do you figure a last year on earth?” (107). Three beds appear onstage. One is a hospital bed, in which Angel is lying. Roger sits on the second. Joanne is in the third. Mimi rushes in, apologizing to Roger for being late. Roger assumes she was with Benny and points out all her flimsy excuses for coming home late. He grabs his guitar and says he’s going home to work. Mimi starts to tell him something but falters. Roger leaves. Mimi pulls out the bag of heroin she just bought and throws it across the room in frustration. She sings plaintively, “Without you, […] the earth turns, the sun burns, but I die without you” (108). Roger joins in, and they both sing about how missing each other is killing them, even though life goes on around them. During the song, Maureen and Joanne find each other and reunite, as do Roger and Mimi. Collins lies down with Angel, who is dying.

Alexi Darling from Buzzline leaves Mark a message. She gushes about meeting Alec Baldwin in the Hamptons and reminds Mark that she still wants to hire him as a director. Alexi singsongs that she knows Mark needs money, joking, “Marky – sell us your soul, just kidding” (111). In an abrupt stylistic shift, the company performs “Contact,” a high-concept abstracted song that feels like a fever dream. The main characters dance and chant words that evoke passion and sex to a pulsating rhythm that grows more and more intense over the course of the number. The erotic incantation builds, and then Maureen, Collins, and Mimi intone “fluid no fluid no contact yes no contact” (133), and the words rubber, latex, and bummer come to the forefront. In an explosion of music and heat, Angel is alone in the spotlight, dancing feverishly and singing repeatedly, “Take me, today for you, tomorrow for me, […] I love you” (113-14). The music cuts out, and the main characters toss out words that indicate that sex has gone from passionate to uncomfortable. Together, they chant, “It was bad for me—was it bad for you?” (115). In turn, Joanne, Maureen, Roger, and Mimi each exclaim, “It’s over” (115). Then, Collins says solemnly, “It’s over” (115).