Jonathan Larson

Jonathan Larson received the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for RENT. He also won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 1994 Richard Rodgers Award for RENT and twice received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundation's Comendation Award. In 1989 he was granted the Stephen Sondheim Award from American Music Theatre Festival, where he contributed to the musical "Sitting on the Edge of the Future". In 1988 he won the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical "Superbia", which was staged at Playwrights Horizon. He composed the score for the musical "J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation", which was presented by En Garde Arts in 1995. Mr. Larson performed his rock monologue "tick, tick... BOOM!" at Second Stage Theatre, The Village Gate and New York Theatre Workshop. In addition to scoring and song writing for "Sesame Street", he created music for a number fo children's book-cassettes, including Steven Spielberg's "An American Tail" and "Land Before Time". Other film scores include work for Rolling Stones magazine publisher Jann Wenner. He conceived, directed and wrote four original songs for "Away We Go!", a musical video for children. RENT, his rock opera based on "La Boheme", had its world premiere on February 13, 1996 at New York Theatre Workshop. Mr. Larson died unexpedtedly of an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, ten days before his 36th birthday.

The Jonathan Larson Grant was established in his name and is awarded to musical theatre composers, lyricists, and librettists, or writing teams, early in their career, to support artistic endeavors and safeguard long-term music writing careers.
"The Jonathan Larson Project," to be released in early 2019, features Nick Blaemire (tick tick BOOM, Found, Godspell), Lauren Marcus (Be More Chill, Beatsville, Company), Andy Mientus (NBC's "Smash," Spring Awakening, Les Miserables), Krysta Rodriguez (Spring Awakening, First Date, The Addams Family), and George Salazar (Be More Chill, The Lightning Thief, tick tick BOOM).
The show features the music of the late composer Jonathan Larson, who wrote Rent and tick tick BOOM, the former an iconic Broadway landmark and the latter a beloved musical gem. The Jonathan Larson Project is an evening of Jonathan's unheard work featuring songs from never-produced shows like 1984 and Superbia; songs that were cut from Rent and tick tick BOOM; songs written for theatrical revues and songs written for the radio; songs about politics and love and New York City; songs never before publicly performed or recorded.