DeKalb and other area residents will have the opportunity to see the much-talked-about musical “Rent” when it visits the Coronado Theatre, 300 Elm St., Rockford for a one-night-only show at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical written by the late Jonathan Larson and directed by Michael Grief had its world premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1996. Following the buzz of enraptured audiences, the ensemble transferred to Broadway later that same year, and is said by critics to have single-handedly reinvigorated the realm of musicals.

“I like musicals,” freshman undeclared major Gina Ricordati said. “I guess I’m just lame.”

Ricordati expressed interest in wanting to be a singer when she was in middle school, and tried out for many productions without any success. She now enjoys watching from the sidelines.

Junior English major Jared Miles expressed interest in seeing the show come to Rockford as well.

“All depending on money and the day it was playing,” Miles said. The controversial issues dealt with in the production are also a draw for the “Rent” fan.

Inspired by Puccini’s “La Boheme,” “Rent” follows the lives of characters ranging from poets, philosophers, HIV-positive 20-somethings and exotic dancers as they struggle to carve out names for themselves in the lower east side of New York City.

The main character, Mark, is making a film of his life that starts at 9 p.m. Dec. 24, while his roommate Roger is trying to write one great song. The musical follows Mark and his friends’ lives over the span of a year. One year is not an extremely long time, but for the cast of “Rent,” it’s long enough to find love, lose love and try to live their Bohemian lives to the fullest.

Larson, a former marketing worker and the man responsible for the music and lyrics that have made “Rent” the spectacle it is known for, told his father at the beginning of the production that “Rent” was going to bring about a marriage of the MTV generation and Broadway.

Mass critical acclaim and audience response has proven that he was right. Sadly, Larson isn’t around to see it – an unexpected aortic aneurysm claimed his life at the age of 35, just days before the show opened.

Two other notable elements of the success achieved by “Rent” are the contributions given by Grief and choreographer Marlies Yearby. Grief, the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, received the 1996 Obie Award for his work with the musical and has had a long-running association with the New York Theatre Workshop.

Yearby has since received a Tony Award nomination for best choreography for “Rent.” Both founder and artistic director of Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater, Yearby has also received a 1995 New York Dance and Performance Award for her choreography for Lisa Jones and Alva Rogers’ “Stained.”

Tickets are on sale now for “Rent” and can be purchased at the Coronado Theatre box office, the Metrocentre box office, all Centre Events locations, by calling (815) 968-5222 or by visiting www.centreevents.com.

The soundtrack for the musical, appreciated as a supplement to the overall experience of the show, can be purchased at most music stores.