Jonathan Larson Biography

received the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 1994 Richard Rodgers Award for RENT. He twice received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundations’ Commendation 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 1998 he won the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical Superbia which was staged at the Playwrights Horizon. Mr. Larson 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 of children’s book-cassettes, including Steve Spielberg’s “An American Tail” and “The Land Before Time”. Other film scores include work for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner. Mr. Larson conceived, directed and wrote four original songs for “Away We Go!”, a musical video for children. RENT, his rock opera based on La Boheme, premiered on February 13, 1996 at New York Theatre Workshop. Mr. Larson died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, ten days before his 36th birthday.