More Inside:

. FEATURES REVIEWS LISTINGS

Meet Grammy Winner David Gorman
From "Party of Five" To "Significant Others"
Local Author Explores Armenian Genocide

times with The IN as Rent, a modern pop-opera ver--
sion of Puccini's La Boheme, gets ready to open at
the Fisher Theatre.
"I welcome any chance to talk about Jonathan,"
hen Al Larson meets with new
Larson said His mother does not feel the same
cast and crew members of the
Broadway hit Rent, they spon- way; her grief is very private. Its really been horrible
for his sister (a producer of TV commercials) to
taneous y call im "Pop." In
raise two boys through all of` this
New York or in various locales where the
We still have not had the chance to fully come
show is playing on the road, he likes bond-
to
grips
with [what] has happened.
ing with the people about to bring the
"Before
Jonathan's death [at age 35], the concept
show to life.
of sitting here talking to the media would have had
During these sessions, Larson remi-
nisces about his son, Jonathan, the person me in a total funk. I couldn't have done it But now
I say to myself, This is nothing compared to the big
who worked long, hard, creative hours to write
picture.'"
the musical garnering so many prestigious awards
Larson, who retired five years ago as a
and so much audience acclaim. He is proud
fund-raising
consultant, moved from
The company
of the way it celebrates a struggling commu--
White
Plains,
N.Y., to New Mexico with
of
Vent.
pity of artists.
his
wife.
They
expected to enjoy fully their
More than a commitment to the show,
newly found leisure, and he anticipated daily munch
Larson's meetings are a commitment to the man
of golf along with all the things he hadn't been able
who grew up calling him "Dad," a voice he wishes
to do while he was working.
he could still hear, a voice felled so dramatically just
"We're typical suburban parents who enjoyed
before the show was to open in New York.
what
both of our kids were doing," Larson said. "I
Larson can't talk about the pending litigation
didn't
recognize the particular genius that eventually
against the doctors who misdiagnosed the aneurysm
causing his son's death. The case is expected to come came through."
Al Larson recalls the first time he heard Jonathan
to trial by the beginning of next year.
singing. At age 2, without prompting, the youngster
He does want to talk freely and openly about his
imitated his dad's version of "Yellow Bird."
I son, and he shared both the happier and harrowing
"Jonathan took piano lessons for a couple of years
but
didn't seem to like the rigidity of the practicing,"
Suzanne Chessler is a Farmington Hills-based free-
RENT STRIKES on page 93
lance writer.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News

The wild success
of Jonathan Larson's

pop opera,

coming to Detroit
next month,
is bittersweet.