The unlucky landlord of "Rent" died the night his smash Broadway musical was born in 1996. Following the musical's final dress rehearsal, Broadway's Great White Hope for the American musical unexpectedly perished in his apartment of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 35. Theater's wunderkind reworked

Bombast, Dramatic, New american musical, Overflowing, Pop, Tragic

The dramatic duo of Victorian London, playwright Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, turned a theatrical corner with the creation of their wildly successful comic operas. For more than 20 years, the pair created a host of now-classic light operas, such as "HMS Pinafore" (1

Dramatic, Lyrical, Musical theater, Overflowing, Pathos, Playful

According to some, "the voice of a generation" echoes through the pen of playwright Wendy Wasserstein. More specifically, her plume speaks for the generation of women who were first caught up in the women's liberation movement. Too educated and too driven to be satisfied as housewives and mothers, th

Contemporary plays, Feminist, Feminist theater, Ironic, Jewish theater, Neurotic, Witty

Rachel Rosenthal spent her early childhood in pre-war Paris among the Monets, Chagalls, and Pissarros in her family's art collection. Her parents, frustrated artists themselves, gave her ballet and painting lessons, and when the war struck, they sent her to the High School of Music and Art in New Yor

Catastrophe, Collage, Improvised, Political, Solo performance