I only saw it the one time back in 2004 on Broadway and I'm a little torn. On the one hand, it was great. Awesome music (except for the one song), good story, talented actors, quick and witty musical dialogue, but you already knew that.

On the other, having prepared myself for an emotional asskicking, I was ultimately a little underwhelmed by the effect it had on me. Part of the reason for that is that Roger's song does, indeed, really kinda suck. Beyond that, though, one of the more interesting explanations I've read is that--and please forgive my breaking into a Giulianiesque "Nine Eleven Changed Everything" harangue--Rent came to define a certain cultural era in New York that, if not ended altogether, was drastically altered by the terrorist attacks. Maybe it's not fair to say that 9/11 reduced the conflicts in Rent, but I think it did change our perspectives on them. The end result is that the play seems more foreign and more distant than perhaps it was supposed to, not originally having been intended as a historical piece.

It also could be that I never experienced pre-9/11, pre-Giuliani New York for myself. Maybe I just didn't get it.