Jonathan Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American Tony Award-winning composer and playwright who lived in New York City and authored musicals, including Rent and Tick, Tick... BOOM!. These musicals tackle serious issues such as multiculturalism, addiction, homophobia, and the AIDS epidemic. His artistic vision and goal was to fuse Generation X and the MTV Generation with the world of musical theatre in his work. This mission was accomplished by his magnum opus, Rent, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won four Tony Awards.

Jonathan Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was a Jewish-American composer from New York City who created musicals including Rent and tick, tick…BOOM!. These musicals seriously tackle issues such as multiculturalism, addiction, sexual orientation and HIV, although he was heterosexual and HIV negative himself. Rent was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won four Tony Awards; the scores of his shows reveal that he was an apt composer and lyricist. One tick, tick…BOOM! song ca