Right About Time - "One Song Glory"

One Song Glory
From Rent – by Jonathan Larson

“I’m writing one great song before I…
One song glory
One song before I go
Glory
One song to leave behind…
Find one song
One last refrain
From the pretty-boy front man
Who wasted opportunity
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl…
Find glory
Beyond the cheap colored lights
One song
Before the sun sets
On another empty life
Time flies … Time dies
Glory – one blaze of glory
One blaze of glory – glory
Find glory
In a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire
An eternal flame
Find one song
A song about love
Glory
From the soul of a young man…
A young man
Find the one song
Before the virus takes hold
Glory
Like a sunset
One song
To redeem this empty life
Time flies …
And then – no need to endure anymore
Time dies …”

Adam Pascal’s voice, singing the words to one of my favorite songs from Rent, has stayed in my mind since last week, when Ian and I saw an amazing production of the musical at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady.

Rent is one of my favorite musicals, and though I never got to see it on Broadway, I saw a touring production in West Point about ten years ago with Ian and my sister. And I’ve seen the movie, in the theater and several times on DVD. But this production was special – billed as Rent: The Broadway Tour, it stars original cast members Adam Pascal (as Roger), Anthony Rapp (as Mark), and Gwen Stewart (the soloist in “Seasons of Love”). The rest of the cast was as outstanding as the original members; the voices of the cast and the music of the band were perfectly mixed; and the staging recreated the gritty East Village, NYC set within the elegant theatre. I feel fortunate that we were able to see the show (from excellent seats – 5th row!) and I recommend this tour to anyone who loves the play. (It runs through January, 2010.)

The story of Rent’s creator, Jonathan Larson, is a poignant counterpart to the play’s tale of (as Jonathan described it) “a community celebrating life, in the face of death and AIDS, at the turn of the century.” It took seven years of collaborative work to bring the musical to its preview run at the East Village’s New York Theatre Workshop. But sadly, on January 25, 1996, before the first preview, he died of an aortic aneurysm. Rent went on to be an off-Broadway success; then moved to Broadway that April, where it won several awards, including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It closed last September, after 12 years – the 8th longest-running show on Broadway. And tour productions continue to be performed around the world.

The musical’s plot is loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, and Jonathan Larson based the characters on himself and his circle of friends in downtown NYC. Like the main characters Mark and Roger, Jonathan and his roommates lived in a run-down apartment with inadequate heat, and like Mark, Jonathan’s ex-girlfriend left him for a woman. Like filmmaker Mark, Jonathan wanted to tell his friends’ stories through his art – by creating a rock opera. And, like Roger, the musician who longs to write one great song, Jonathan hoped his creative work would make a difference. And it did – Rent changed modern musical theatre.

Many consider Rent to be Jonathan Larson’s “one song glory” – it is his most significant and successful work, and it made him an important figure in musical theatre history. But biographical sources show that he wrote several works before Rent, and was mentored by Stephen Sondheim early in his career. He wrote and staged a musical, Sacrimmoralinority, while attending Adelphi University, and it was later produced at a small theatre in NYC. In the ‘80s, he wrote Superbia, a rock musical based on George Orwell’s 1984, but it was never fully produced. Then he wrote tick…tick…BOOM! in 1991 – an autobiographical musical monologue about a frustrated composer struggling to make a living in New York theatre. The play was eventually produced Off-Broadway in 2001, and has played in several US and international productions. Jonathan Larson’s collective work was given to the Library of Congress in 2003.

And just as Jonathan Larson had more than one play in him, his character Roger has more than just one song. Roger’s back story emerges throughout the play’s lyrics – he had been the front man in a band that played shows at CBGB’s and other clubs in NYC, and presumably, had enough songs to attract a following. But now he’s HIV+ and a recovered addict, depressed and regretful over the suicide of his girlfriend, and his “wasted opportunity.” He sings One Song Glory, expressing his frustration and longing to write one last great song to make up for his mistakes and “redeem this empty life.” He wants it to have meaning – “a song that rings true,” but he doesn’t find inspiration until he meets and falls for Mimi, the HIV+, heroin-addicted dancer who lives downstairs. He resists her at first, but her positive, “no day but today” embrace of life draws him in, and he tries to support her in her struggle to stay clean and healthy. It’s all too much for them, though, and they break apart. He finally draws on his emotions of love for Mimi, and writes Your Eyes, a song that he sings to her when they reunite, as she’s deathly ill. Roger’s meaningful “one song glory” revives her and leaves everyone with hope.

Though I love all of Rent – every character and song – I’ve always felt an affinity to Roger and his One Song Glory. I don’t know what it’s like to be a male, HIV+, ex-addict/ musician. But I understand his frustration, and his writer’s block stemming from his lack of control over his situation. My own situation isn’t nearly as dire as Roger’s, but I often feel creatively stifled by time constraints and day-to-day stress. Also, I understand Roger’s desire to write something with meaning, to redeem his mistakes and add some depth and significance to his life. I hope to do the same thing with my writing – writing gives me a sense of purpose in this life. And lately, I can understand his urgency – over the past several months, the losses of a friend, a relative, and some friends’ relatives have reminded me that this life is uncertain and sometimes fleeting. What matters is embracing life and the people in it, and doing something/anything to make a difference. For me, it’s using my writing ability to create stories that will mean something to readers and that can add something positive to this world.

I know I have many more stories in me than just one. And my feelings about my writing change depending on the project. Some of them leave me frustrated, and some give me hope. Some of my stories are just creative amusements. And some have much more depth than others. But I’m trying to focus my writing on a couple of projects at a time, to hopefully redeem the wasted opportunities of the past. And hopefully, some will be published and will go out into the world. But I find myself thinking of One Song Glory, and wondering which of my stories will have the most meaning, the most significance, in this life. Which one will represent my thoughts, emotions, and ideas the best? Which one will “ring true … truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame”? Which one will have the potential to make a difference in this world? Will I find the one great story, like Roger found Your Eyes and Jonathan Larson found Rent, to leave behind – “one blaze of glory”?

I’ll keep being inspired by Rent, and I’ll keep those questions in mind, while hoping to find the answers one day. Until then, I’ll just keep on writing… and writing… and writing. Because “time flies…”