Book Review – Rent FAQ – Tom Rowan

RENT FAQ – TOM ROWAN (Applause Books – ISBN: 978-1-4950-5145-6)

After the A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Show FAQ books, we have the Rent edition.

Covering all aspects of the musical from its conception through to the film and beyond, this is an extensive treasure trove for all those millions of Rent fans out there in the world.

Everything you could possibly want to know, from comparing it with the opera La Boheme, on which it is based, through the writing of the piece, trying to get it produced on stage, casting, etc, etc, etc – 365 pages of information including all casts that have played in professional productions around the world and a timeline from 1960 to 2012.

I’m not a huge Rent aficionado, so I can’t vouch for all the information in this tome, but I must say that I found the photographs a little disappointing.

There are a couple of half decent production photos but the rest all look as if they have been photocopied on to the page – they are all in black and white and scattered throughout the book. To be honest, I would have much preferred to have five or six pages of good quality colour and black and white photos inserted in the middle of the book for reference.

Tom Rowan is the author – he also wrote the A Chorus Line FAQ – and I am sure every single fan of Jonathan Larson’s Rent out there will be keen to get hold of a copy.

Nick Wakeham