Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Broadway shows are signs of their times, and revivals either confirm our original assessments or make us wonder ``What was I thinking?''

In the case of ``Rent,'' my guess is that, like the recent hit revival of ``A Chorus Line'' and the Broadway-bound ``Hair,'' Jonathan Larson's musical -- which closes Sunday evening at the Nederlander Theatre after 12 remarkable years -- will stand the test of time. I'm already looking forward to the first revival.

In early February 1996, I attended a critics' preview of ``Rent'' at the New York Theater Workshop in Manhattan.

Larson, who'd written the book, music and lyrics, had died from an aortic aneurysm less than two weeks earlier, just shy of his 36th birthday. About 15 minutes into the show, I had the sense that everyone in the audience knew we were witnessing not just the birth of a new musical, but a work whose impact would be felt long after that night.

Larson had brashly updated ``La Boheme,'' setting the story of struggling artists in New York's East Village, where he lived and worked in an era of greed, indifference and hopelessness. Several of its main characters were HIV-positive. Larson's audacious Mimi, like Puccini's, was dying yet this contemporary heroine was so full of life (and smack) she actually howled at the moon.

Taking Measure

Although ``Seasons of Love,'' the best-known song in a score full of gems, urges us to measure a life not in numbers but in less tangible things, the numbers for ``Rent'' are stunning: When it closes after 5,140 performances, it will be the seventh- longest-running show in Broadway history. It will have grossed more than $625 million here, on tour and in over 200 productions around the world, according to John Corker, the show's general manager. In addition to the Pulitzer, it won four Tony Awards, including best musical, and in 2005 was made into a Sony Pictures Entertainment film starring many of the original cast members.

The show's profits funded the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, which supports talented musical theater newcomers. That goes a bit of the way toward filling the void left by Larson himself. But only a tiny bit.

Soon after I'd seen the show again, when it moved to the Nederlander, I sat in a room at the Algonquin Hotel with four other critics to talk about the season. Our task was to propose three candidates for that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which would then be voted upon by the Pulitzer board.

Pulitzer Vote

Richard Christiansen, the chairman of our jury and the longtime drama critic of the Chicago Tribune, suggested we begin by offering our thoughts about the season and asked me to start. (I was the chief critic of Variety at the time.)

I said I had been prepared to give no award that year -- until ``Rent'' came along. ``Rent'' not only merited the prize, nothing else came close. Frank Rich, the New York Times chief critic-turned-columnist, agreed. So did Clive Barnes of the New York Post and Judith Greene of the San Jose Mercury News and, finally, our chairman. Our toughest problem was coming up with two also-ran candidates as required by the board. (The other finalists were Jon Robin Baitz's ``A Fair Country'' and Jon Marans's ``Old Wicked Songs.'')

I've been asked many times in the years since whether Larson's death had influenced us. My twofold response has generally been to say ``No'' and then revisit the show, just to see whether I still believed that myself.

Still Vital

I'd have had no qualms about admitting that I'd changed my mind: Times and tastes change. In the case of ``Rent,'' however, that's never happened. It's as vital, original and moving today as was 12 years ago, and I still mourn the loss of Larson's talent.

Larson himself probably wouldn't give the closing a second thought. I think he'd agree that it's time for someone new to stake a claim on our conscience the way ``Rent'' did in 1996.

```No day/But today' are the last lines sung in `Rent,''' I wrote in 1996. ``It's no small comfort that while Larson is gone, he's left a show that more clearly and more defiantly than any other in recent memory points the American musical toward the future.''

It's doubtful that shows like ``Spring Awakening,'' ``In the Heights'' and ``Passing Strange,'' to name just three, would have found a place in the Broadway bazaar without ``Rent'' to lead the way.

I plan to be in the audience for the final performance, as I was in the beginning, to celebrate a voice that in death has never dimmed. Such work makes fans of us all -- even the most dubious critics among us.

(Jeremy Gerard is an editor for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on this story: Jeremy Gerard in New York at jgerard2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 3, 2008 00:01 EDT