Jonathan David Larson was an American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for writing the musicals Rent and Tick, Tick.
24 Facts About Jonathan Larson
2.
Jonathan Larson received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Rent.
3.
Jonathan Larson's grandfather, Bernard Isaac Lazarson, who was born in Russia, changed the family surname from Lazarson.
4.
At an early age, Jonathan Larson played the trumpet and tuba, sang in his school's choir, and took piano lessons.
5.
Jonathan Larson loved Pete Townshend, The Police, Prince, Liz Phair, and The Beatles.
6.
Jonathan Larson attended White Plains High School, where he was involved in acting, performing in lead roles in various productions, graduating in 1978.
7.
Jonathan Larson attended Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, with a four-year scholarship as an acting major, in addition to performing in numerous plays and musical theatre, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
8.
In 1983, Jonathan Larson planned to write a musical adaptation of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, which he planned to get produced in the year 1984; however, the Orwell estate denied him permission.
9.
Jonathan Larson then began the process of adapting his work on 1984 into a futuristic story of his own, titled Superbia.
10.
Jonathan Larson meets Elizabeth In, a girl his age from INCITY, who convinces him to spread the power of the music box.
11.
Jonathan Larson performed in John MacLachlan Gray's musical Billy Bishop Goes to War, which starred his close friend actor Roger Bart.
12.
Jonathan Larson came up with the title and suggested moving the setting from the Upper West Side to Lower Manhattan, where Jonathan Larson and his roommates lived in a rundown apartment.
13.
Jonathan Larson's estate was scheduled to earn one-third of the amount earned by Rent.
14.
Jonathan Larson died at his home in the early morning of January 25,1996, ten days before his 36th birthday, the day before the first Off-Broadway preview performance of Rent.
15.
Jonathan Larson's body was found on the kitchen floor by his roommate at 3AM.
16.
Jonathan Larson had been suffering severe chest pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath for several days before his death, but doctors at Cabrini Medical Center and St Vincent's Hospital could not find signs of an aortic dissection even after conducting a chest X-ray and electrocardiogram, so his condition was misdiagnosed as influenza or stress.
17.
The Jonathan Larson Grants are now administered by the American Theatre Wing, thanks to an endowment funded by the Foundation and the Larson Family.
18.
In December 2003, Jonathan Larson's work was given to the Library of Congress.
19.
Jonathan Larson is portrayed by actor Andrew Garfield in the biographical musical drama Tick, Tick.
20.
In memory of Larson, in 1996, the Larson family along with the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation established an award honoring emerging musical theater writers and composers.
21.
Jonathan Larson dated a dancer for four years who sometimes left him for other men, though she eventually left him for a woman.
22.
Jonathan Larson lived and died in a loft with no heat on the fifth floor of 508 Greenwich Street, on the corner of Greenwich Street and Spring Street in Lower Manhattan.
23.
Jonathan Larson lived with various roommates over the years, including Greg Beals, a journalist for Newsweek magazine and the brother of actress Jennifer Beals.
24.
At the diner, Larson met Jesse L Martin, who was his waiting trainee and later performed the role of Tom Collins in the original cast of Larson's Rent.