Twelve Seasons 
of Love

Just as we receive word that the Broadway production of Rent will be closing this September, the show's national tour makes its way to our own back yard. The rock musical inspired by Puccini's La Bohème is one of the first to speak to Generation X, Y and Z-but this time, tuberculosis is replaced by the threat of AIDS. Rent follows a group of friends (including a drag queen, a Harvard-educated lawyer and a filmmaker) who also happen to be a group of love-hungry, young, poor, but ultimately happy artists. The musical is rich with pop-cultural references (with maybe three dozen in the "La Vie Boheme" number alone), hating on yuppies and conformity . . . so yeah, you're pretty much either going to love or hate it. Test it out at the Grove's three-night run this week. Either way, it's going to be a hell of a lot better than the 2005 movie version.
May 13-15, 7:30 p.m., 2008