Show Synopsis:
It?s Christmas Eve, and Roger has just come back from rehab and is not really interested in living outside his apartment, where he tries to write ?one great song? before dying from HIV/AIDS. He and his wannabe-filmmaker roommate Mark refuse to pay rent on their apartment because their former roommate Benny bought the building and told them they wouldn?t have to pay for the year. Their friend Collins is mugged and rescued by a drag queen named Angel while Mark is helping his former girlfriend Maureen with the technical equipment for her performance art show. Roger meets a dancer junkie named Mimi and they are instantly attracted to each other, but Roger ends up rejecting her because he doesn?t believe he can love anymore after his former girlfriend left him a note that they had HIV/AIDS and committed suicide. Collins and Angel begin a passionate love affair and Angel generously shares some lucky winnings with Collins?s friends. Maureen performs an absurd performance piece in the lot by Roger and Mark?s building and a riot starts. The whole group celebrates at dinner, and Roger and Mimi discover that they are both infected with HIV/AIDS and jump into a relationship. On New Year?s Eve, the group tries to break back into Roger and Mark?s loft, which had been padlocked by Benny, and Roger rejects Mimi when Benny implies that Mimi seduced him to unlock it. They make up, but soon afterwards, Maureen breaks up with her girlfriend Joanne, and Roger breaks up with Mimi when her drug habits get to be too much for him. Angel dies of AIDS and the group gathers for a funeral, where Mark feels alone, Roger leaves for Santa Fe in the car he bought when he sold his guitar, Mimi is succumbing even further to her drug addiction, and Maureen and Joanne are angry at each other. Roger returns to New York because he finally hears his ?one great song? and realizes he loves Mimi, but cannot find her. On Christmas Eve, Collins comes over to celebrate, and then Maureen comes with a deathly ill Mimi. Rogers plays her his song as she dies and then comes back to life after having an image of Angel telling her to turn around. The group watches the film that Mark made of their year together and vow to live for no day but today.	

Character:
Roger, a young musician who is coming to terms with his own mortality after being diagnosed with HIV; does not believe the world has anything to offer him anymore and is depressed by this fact.

Song Context:
Roger heard this song when he thought of Mimi while he was living in Santa Fe, and it helped him realize that he could still be a successful musician, and that he loved her. As she lies in his apartment dying, he plays it for her.	

Fun Facts:
1) This musical was loosely based on the opera La Boheme and enhanced with the composer/lyricist/bookwriter Jonathan Larson's experience living in the East Village in the early 1990s, seeing his friends strive for their dreams but also deal with the terrifying AIDS epidemic. 
2) Adam Pascal originated the role of Roger on Broadway and said in an interview with Broadway.com that he thought composer Jonathan Larson and director Michael Greif "saw something raw in me that they felt was appropriate for the character. Roger is a young, aspiring musician who longs to leave his mark on the world, and I had the exact same desire at that point in my life. To be honest, as I got older, the part got easier and more fun to do because I was able to find more nuances. I certainly am a much more experienced actor now." 
3) Anthony Fedorov played Roger in the 2011 Off-Broadway revival of RENT and in an interview with TheatreMania he described him as having  "a lot of regret, but he has so much life in him."