Rent is a musical rock opera by Jonathan Larson that debuted on Broadway in 1996 and ran until 2008. It details the struggles of a group of young friends in the East Village area of New York City in the mid-1990s. The film, directed by Chris Columbus, had six of the original Broadway cast members reprising their roles.
It had the third-highest grossing opening weekend for a Broadway musical adaptation, surpassed only by the 2007 version of the film Hairspray and The Phantom of the Opera, released the year before.
In 2005, a film adaptation was released featuring much of the original Broadway cast.
Rent was also a Synth-Pop duo from England. The members were Clayton Littlewood and Robert Brown. They released at least one CD EP called "I Love To Be Queer". The title song was featured on Queer Music Heritage's radio show in January 2005 http://www.queermusicheritage.us/jan2005.html