Rent

Joanne is at the vacant lot near the pay phone. On her cell phone, she is dealing with work issues. Then the pay phone rings. Joanne answers and talks to Maureen, reassuring her that they are ready for the show. Joanne adds, “We’re okay” (54), which she repeats throughout the song. She goes back and forth between talking to Steve from the office, giving orders, and speaking to Maureen. She asks, as if offhand, “Did you cheat on Mark a lot would you say?” (54). On Joanne’s cell phone, her parents are beeping in on call-waiting. She puts Steve on hold and speaks to them, informing her dad that Maureen will be with her for her mother’s hearings. Now Joanne switches between Maureen and her father. After hanging up with Mr. Jefferson, Joanne is disturbed to learn that Maureen has company over—Jill, a Calvin Klein model who lives in one of the penthouses. She ends the call with Steve, singing, “We’re okay. I’m on my way” (55).

At St. Mark’s Place, a famous shopping and cultural area in Alphabet City, several people who are unhoused are singing Christmas songs, asking for spare change, and trying to clean windshields for cash. Alongside the cheery Christmas music, they sing about how there is no Merry Christmas for them, adding, “Here but for the grace of god go you” (55). It starts to snow. In the open-air market, vendors are offering everything from stolen clothing, bags, and records to alcohol and AZT. Angel is buying Collins a new coat. Collins tries to object, saying the gift is too generous, but Angel insists. They kiss in the snow. The focus shifts to Mark and Roger. Mark is repeating Roger’s story about Mimi. Mark is amazed that Mimi led Roger to leave the apartment, and he doesn’t understand why he pushed her away. Roger points Mimi out in the crowd and says that he ought to go, but he stays there. Police officers in riot gear appear, singing, “I’m dreaming of a white, right Christmas” (58). They exit. Mimi and several other people with drug addictions find who they’re looking for—the Man. They follow him, asking if he has different drugs. To each, he replies, “I’m cool” (59). Roger pulls Mimi to the side. He apologizes for his behavior and wants to make it up to her, so he invites her to dinner. Mimi agrees.

The Man sees the exchange and threatens to kill Roger if he steals her as a customer. Roger replies that the Man always has plenty of clients, having been one himself. Benny enters, telling his wife on the phone that he couldn’t get the protest canceled. Amid the flurry of vendors, drug deals, and people who are unhoused, Roger introduces Mark to Mimi and tells him that she’s having dinner with them. While looking at more coats, Collins spots his own stolen coat, but Angel guides him away to find a better one. Collins is angry, but Angel reminds him that having his coat stolen is what brought the couple together. On the phone, Benny is surprised to learn that his father-in-law plans to be at the protest show. The bustle of people without homes, police, vendors, and drug deals intensifies. Angel negotiates the price of the coat Collins likes. Mark and Roger invite Mimi to see Maureen’s show. Roger doesn’t want to hold Mimi’s hand and explains that he needs to take the relationship slowly. The three of them sing, repeating, “I should tell you …” (66). Maureen exclaims, “Joanne, which way to the stage!” (67).

Maureen, in front of a microphone, gives her performance. Throughout, there are vocal sound effects, and when she says important words, there is the reverberation that Mark helped Joanne fix. Maureen sing-speaks a story about a dream she had, in which she was in a desert called Cyberland. She was thirsty and met a cow. Maureen asked for milk, but the cow explained that the only drink allowed in Cyberland was Diet Coke. According to the cow, “They’ve closed everything real down … like barns, troughs, performance spaces … and replaced it all with lies and rules and virtual life” (67). The cow told her that the only way to escape was to take a “leap of faith” and “jump over the moon” (67-68). Then, Maureen says, she was approached by a bulldog named Benny who, “although he once had principles, he abandoned them to live as a lapdog to a wealthy daughter of the revolution” (68). Benny the dog called the cow a liar, claiming that she hadn’t produced milk since the cat started fiddling and the dish and the spoon were evicted. Besides, he continued, “Who’d want to leave Cyberland anyway? … Walls ain’t so bad” (68). Maureen turned to the cow, who offered her milk. She drank it and then climbed on her back. They jumped over the moon together. Maureen urges the audience to “moo” with her and they do, louder and louder. The performance ends.

At the Life Café, Benny is sitting at a table with Alison’s father, Mr. Grey. When the crowd of friends arrives from the show, the Restaurant Man begs them to go away, complaining that they sit at the table for hours but never order anything. Collins sees Benny, and the Restaurant Man frets about possible conflict. The group calls for wine and beer, and Maureen decides that if “the enemy of Avenue A" (70) is there, they will stay, too. Collins questions why Benny is there. Smugly, Benny gives a toast to “Maureen’s noble try” (71), which he pronounces unsuccessful. Roger wonders what kept Benny’s wife from the show, and Benny says vaguely that she couldn’t come due to a death in the family. Angel asks who died. Benny replies, “Our Akita,” and the group adds, “Evita” (71). Benny sees Mimi and remarks that he is surprised to see her there, asserting that he is improving the neighborhood and the idea of Bohemia is something that they’ve imagined and romanticized. Benny proclaims, “This is Calcutta. Bohemia’s dead” (72). The group immediately assembles into a mock funeral led by Mark, mourning “the late great daughter of Mother Earth” and toasting “La Vie Bohème” (72). Mark starts singing about what it means to be Bohemian—being artistic and poor, different from the mainstream, anti-capitalist, and forming a community.

Joanne enters, and Maureen immediately asks whether the sound equipment was put away properly. Joanne replies drily that it was, and “Maureen smacks Joanne’s ass as she exits” (74). Mr. Grey is offended, and Maureen exclaims that Joanne is her sister. The Restaurant Man repeats the group’s orders back to them, a catalog of vegan food plus more alcohol. They continue to sing about bohemian life, naming cultural touchstones and the names of artists and writers they venerate. Joanne comes back in, and Maureen goes back to giving her directions. Then Maureen tells her to come back quickly, and they kiss. Mr. Grey questions, “Sisters?”; Maureen replies, “We’re close” (76). The group declares Collins and Angel brothers and lists more aspects of bohemian life, including drugs and non-heteronormative sex and sexualities. Mr. Grey leaves, and Benny calls for the waiter. Taking Mimi aside, Benny comments that Roger doesn’t know about their relationship. Mimi insists that it happened three months ago, and there’s nothing to tell anyone or talk about. Smirking, Benny points out that Roger isn’t being very attentive. Mimi defends him, but then Benny asks where Roger is, and Mimi is surprised that she can’t find him. Roger plays a guitar solo for which Mark teases him, because everything he plays sounds like “Musetta’s Waltz” from La Bohème.

The group takes turns imagining the silly and impossible activist performances that each of them might offer. Benny exits. Mimi finds Roger and wants to know why he’s ignoring her. He tries to explain that he’s struggling because he has baggage. Mimi replies that life is too short to waste, and she also has baggage. Roger sings, “I should tell you—” (79). Then, multiple beepers go off, Mimi declares, “AZT break” (80), and she, Roger, Angel, and Collins all take medication. Roger and Mimi are each stunned to realize that the other has AIDS. Everyone freezes in place, and Roger and Mimi sing to each other about their fear of trusting and not knowing what will happen. Joanne returns, clearly angry. She tells Maureen to move out by next week. Joanne also reports, “They’ve padlocked your building and they’re rioting on Avenue B. Benny called the cops” (83). The police can’t get the crowd to move, as they’re all sitting and mooing. The group cheers, and they finish the song describing Bohemia, toasting people who go against the norm. Mark narrates that as the riot goes on, it snows, and Mimi and Roger tentatively kiss.