Squabbling over the ‘Rent’

Perhaps no piece of performance art has attracted as much local controversy as the rock musical “Rent,” which debuted on Broadway in 1996.

Based on the opera “La Boheme,” Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rent” tells the story of starving artists in 1980s New York City, who attempt to survive — and manage to thrive — under the specter of AIDS.

The musical’s gay and counter-cultural themes simultaneously garnered it critical acclaim and condemnation, all while inspiring a new generation of fans to reconsider musical theater.

Corona del Mar High School’s theater department sparked a nationwide debate earlier this year, when it opted to produce the musical. Then-Principal Fal Asrani had originally refused to let the show go on, but students launched a grass-roots campaign to bring it back onstage.

The resulting show — a tamer version of the original — was packed opening night, but outside the theater’s doors, a group of religious conservatives from Kansas protested the show and the school.

A student actor who played exotic dancer Mimi joined with the American Civil Liberties Union to file a claim against the Newport-Mesa Unified School District after the student was threatened by some varsity athletes with rape and murder in an online video. The student and the ACLU claimed that the school fosters a homophobic environment.

Although the school district officially has a zero-tolerance policy regarding such threats, none of the four student athletes was expelled.

The high school’s production of “Rent” went on to win critical awards, and the student who claimed to be victimized went on to college. The lawsuit was settled last month.