Opened on April 29, 1996. Closed September 7, 2008 after 5,123 performances — 12.4 years. 4 Tony Awards in 1996, including Best Musical; 6 Drama Desk Awards in 1996, including Outstanding Musical; Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996 Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. Loosely based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village, in the thriving days of the bohemian culture of Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Wiki link