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50 free Rent trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
44 free Rent trivia questions with answers. Jonathan Larson's rock musical opened off-Broadway on January 26, 1996, the day after its 35-year-old creator died, moved to the Nederlander Theatre that April, and ran for twelve years, a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards later. This quiz covers the show from every side: the La Bohème it borrowed from, the East Village characters, the songs and the story, the original cast, the RENT-heads and the $20 rush tickets, the 2005 film with most of that cast, the filmed final performance and Fox's Rent: Live. The easy questions ask who wrote it, which opera it is based on and what Angel does with the Akita; the harder ones want the diner where Larson waited tables, the number of songs in the final score, the playwright who had the original concept, the theatre's street, the two original cast members missing from the film and the mishap that forced Fox to air a dress rehearsal. It suits theatre kids of every generation and anyone who has cried at 'Seasons of Love'. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the musical, the film, Jonathan Larson and the cast, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote the music, lyrics and book of Rent?
Jonathan Larson
He supported himself for years waiting tables while writing hundreds of songs for the show.
Q 02Rent is loosely based on which 1896 opera?
La bohème
The opera's tuberculosis became HIV/AIDS, and 1800s Paris became the East Village of around 1990.
Q 03In which Manhattan neighborhood is Rent set?
The East Village
The Life Café, where 'La Vie Bohème' takes place, was a real restaurant on 10th Street and Avenue B until 2013.
Q 04Which playwright first conceived a modern La Bohème and worked with Larson on the first songs?
Billy Aronson
In 1991 Larson asked to take the project over as his own; the two agreed he would share proceeds and get credit for 'original concept & additional lyrics'.
Q 05Where did Larson wait tables to support himself while writing the show?
The Moondance Diner
A fellow member of the diner staff was Jesse L. Martin, who would go on to play Tom Collins.
Q 06How many songs did the final version of Rent contain?
42
Cut numbers included 'Real Estate', in which Benny tries to talk Mark into becoming a real estate agent.
Q 07Where off-Broadway did Rent begin performances in January 1996?
New York Theatre Workshop
The 150-seat house sold out every show, forcing the move uptown.
Q 08Larson died the night before the first preview. What was the cause?
An aortic dissection
It was undiagnosed and believed to have resulted from Marfan syndrome; he was 35.
Q 09Larson's only newspaper interview was with a critic from which paper?
The New York Times
Anthony Tommasini had been drawn by the coincidence that Rent was debuting exactly 100 years after Puccini's opera.
Q 10Where on Broadway did Rent move in April 1996?
The Nederlander Theatre
The house on 41st Street was previously derelict and still under renovation when the show arrived.
Q 11Besides four Tony Awards, which other major honour did Rent receive?
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Tonys were for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Featured Actor for Wilson Jermaine Heredia.
Q 12How many Tony Awards did Rent win from its ten nominations in 1996?
Four
Idina Menzel's featured-actress nomination lost to Ann Duquesnay of Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk.
Q 13Which original cast member won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, for playing Angel?
Wilson Jermaine Heredia
Q 21The riot that ends Act I was inspired by a real 1988 riot over a curfew in which New York location?
Tompkins Square Park
The real riot broke out over a city-imposed curfew in the park.
Q 22The song 'Seasons of Love' opens Act II. It is also known by what number?
525,600 Minutes
That is the number of minutes in a common year; the cast recording includes a version featuring Stevie Wonder on vocals and harmonica.
Q 23The Life Support scenes and the song 'Will I?' were inspired by Larson's visits to which group?
Friends In Deed
The first line of 'Will I?' came from a man at a meeting who said he was not afraid of dying, only of losing his dignity.
He said he loved Angel's transformation but found the high heels extremely painful.
Q 14What is Mark Cohen's occupation?
Documentary filmmaker
He is the show's narrator, and his footage of the Christmas Eve riot lands him a job offer from the tabloid show Buzzline.
Q 15Roger's girlfriend April killed herself after learning what?
That she was HIV-positive
Her note is how Roger learned his own status, which drove him into depression and the desperate wish to write one last song.
Q 16Tom Collins is a professor of what at New York University?
Computer-age philosophy
Mark describes him as a 'computer genius, teacher, and vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon.'
Q 17In 'Today 4 U', Angel explains how she earned a wad of cash. What did she do?
Drummed nonstop for an hour to kill a rich couple's dog
The dog turns out to be Evita, the Akita belonging to Benny's wife Alison.
Q 18Benny plans to evict the homeless from a lot in order to build what?
A cyber arts studio
He offers Mark and Roger free rent if they can persuade Maureen to cancel her protest against the plan.
Q 19Maureen's avant-garde protest performance 'Over the Moon' is based on which nursery rhyme?
Hey Diddle Diddle
In early drafts she was a serious, angry character whose piece riffed on Oedipus instead.
Q 20Where does Collins dream of escaping to open a restaurant?
Santa Fe
The song of that name was one of the first three that Larson and Billy Aronson wrote together.
Q 24Which sleazy tabloid TV company keeps calling Mark with a job offer?
Buzzline
Its producer Alexi Darling sings Voicemail #3 and #4; Mark eventually takes the job and then quits it to finish his own film.
Q 25In the finale, Collins reprograms an ATM to pay out to anyone entering which code?
ANGEL
Moments later Maureen and Joanne carry in Mimi, homeless and close to death.
Q 26What is the title of the song Roger finally writes and sings to the dying Mimi?
Your Eyes
The melody quotes 'Musetta's Waltz' from Puccini, the very tune Mark jokes that Roger keeps accidentally reproducing.
Q 27Mimi revives at the end after seeing a vision of whom telling her to go back?
Angel
The friends resolve to enjoy whatever time they have left, affirming that there is 'no day but today.'
Q 28Who originated the role of Maureen Johnson on Broadway?
Idina Menzel
It was her first professional theatre job; her later concert special was titled after her first line as the character, 'Which way to the stage?'
Q 29Which original cast member played landlord Benny and later married his Maureen co-star?
Taye Diggs
The marriage to Idina Menzel lasted from 2003 until their 2014 divorce.
Q 30Which original Tom Collins later spent nine years as Detective Ed Green on Law & Order?
Jesse L. Martin
He took a brief hiatus from the police drama in 2005 to shoot the film version.