Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays'
Rent, the Broadway musical that adapts Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme by setting it in the middle of the HIV/AIDS crisis, has won three Tony awards—including Best Musical, four Drama Desk awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.It's been adapted into a major Hollywood film and made Taye Diggs, Anthony Rapp and Idina Menzel major stars.
It only closed after 12 years on Broadway, making it the 11th-longest running show of all time.Despite all its acclaim, a Leeds theatergoer was apparently unaware of the content of the play.
On Saturday, during a matinee performance at The Carriagework Theatre put on by the Bite My Thumb theater company, an audience member left, according to Bite My Thumb.The audience member left = during the performance of "Today 4 U, Tomorrow 4 Me," sung by the drag queen character Angel.
The leaving theatergoer told a staff member they were leaving because "I didn't realise this show was about gays."The show follows seven artists in New York—about half of whom are LGBT—as they create work in lofts owned by their former friend.
