Liars and Saints

 "Rent" has one mostly legible story, about a struggling songwriter named Roger. (We can assume Roger is the lead male character; in the nineties, Adam Pascal was Tony-nominated in the "Lead Actor" category.) Roger is drawn to a young person named Mimi, but he has PTSD from a bad affair. He rejects invitations--in a nasty way--and he is distrustful by default. At the same time, he can't help but flirt with Mimi. And these two push each other to do good things, i.e., returning to school (Mimi) and making use of a pen and paper (Roger). An actual story unfolds, through showing, not telling; the Roger/Mimi songs are specific and evocative ("Light My Candle," "Another Day," "I Should Tell You," "Without You," "Goodbye, Love"). I think Roger's story is an entire musical; unfortunately, "Rent" is bloated. It's almost three hours long. Jonathan Larson throws many, many wet noodles at the wall. One wet ...

 One gift that Sondheim left behind was: an invitation to see canonical works in a new way. It seems that Sondheim continuously fought against popular wisdom. Hammerstein's great achievement was not "Some Enchanted Evening," but "What's the Use of Won'drin." Lorenz Hart was iffy, but DuBose Heyward wrote like a god. Ira Gershwin tried too hard. "Tonight," from "West Side Story," is an example of "purple writing." Leave it to Sondheim to view "Rent" in an unusual way. Sondheim didn't have much praise for the big, buzzy numbers, but he was fond of Jonathan Larson's quiet, little song, "Santa Fe." Let's open up a restaurant in Santa Fe. Sunny Santa Fe would be nice.... We'll open a restaurant in Santa Fe-- And leave this to the roaches and mice. Larson's fictional bohemian brainiac Tom Collins addresses his new love, and he (Collins) gets swept up in a daydream: You're a sensitive aes...

 Michael Riedel's "Singular Sensation" is here, and it's great, and I'm ready to answer your questions: *What role does Stephen Sondheim have? Sondheim attends a Broadway performance of the revival of "Show Boat," in which Elaine Stritch sings to a baby. If you've heard the recording, you know that Stritch is weirdly ferocious. (She is Elaine Stritch.) At the end of the lullaby, Sondheim murmured: "I didn't know if Stritch would sing to that baby or eat it." Also, a diva-ish Jonathan Larson, deep in the weeds before "Rent"''s opening, goes to Sondheim to complain about various collaborators. Sondheim rolls his eyes. "You chose those collaborators," he says. "Now collaborate with them. Or you can be like Wagner and go off on your own, and find some King of Bavaria to fund your work." *Where is Bernadette Peters? She is rather quiet in this book, though she is mentioned as a possible star of the Guys...