LIFE CAFÉ’S SUMMER OF LOVE – before the final weekend and beyond

The Broadway production of RENT closed Sunday, September 7, 2008. But there’s still Life!

You’re invited everyday of the week to Life Café to make your RENT Pilgrimage as thousands of other RENT fans have already done. Come and celebrate the work and life of Jonathan Larson as well as the unique bond between RENT and Life Café and the special connection Jonathan has created among all of us.We have many opportunities for you at Life Café to experience what it’s all about.

Life Café is proud to have been invited by RENT to participate in the closing week-end’s celebrations. On Friday, September 5th, 2008, Life Cafe closed to the public for a party for the producers and cast members of RENT to raise a toast to its devotees, 50 of the biggest fans who won an invitation through the “Finale B” Video Contest, a nationwide contest hosted by Site for RENT that summer.

View List of Rent “Finale B” Video Contest Winners

For the 50 “Finale B” Video Contest Winners, RENT and Life Café celebrated the closing weekend of the hit musical’s 12-year run with a salute to the legions of fans that have driven the success of this show at the very location in the East Village of New York City’s Lower East Side where much of RENT was inspired and written by creator Jonathan Larson. After a record-setting 12-year run on Broadway and 27 years of operation in the East Village, we couldn’t imagine a better grouping of partners to team up with to salute the RENT fans in a more fitting way. Life Café closed to the public at 6:30 pm on Friday, September 5, 2008, to host a special event from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am in honor of all RENT fans and in particular the 50 winners of the RENT “Finale B” Video Contest held July 14 through August 11, 2008. During the party, we toasted the fans, watched the winning videos, had an open-mic session, listened to RENT music, met producers, crew and cast members from the Broadway production and finally, had a formal dedication of “The Jonathan Larson Bench” with a beautiful brass plaque. One very lucky winner present at Life Café won a pair of tickets to the closing night performance via lottery at the party. All 50 winners were treated to the Saturday matinee performance of RENT.

THE LIFE CAFÉ AND JONATHAN LARSON LEGACY

Jonathan Larson spent time at Life Café when he was writing RENT. To what degree the Café and its community of regulars provided him with inspiration we can only speculate. There is no doubt that he was part of the Life Café scene and at the very center of the community about which he wrote.

The timeless themes of universal love, life, art and the belief in one’s dreams are the foundation of RENT and have always been at the heart of Life Café. Certainly that was one of the reasons why he immortalized Life Café in his musical.

– To celebrate the ongoing legacy and connection among RENT, the East Village and Life Café before and after RENT closed on Broadway, Life Café had a special exhibition illustrating what café life and the East Village neighborhood was like at the time Jonathan drew his inspiration.

– Come sit on the Jonathan Larson Bench, our beautiful mahogany bench in the dining room which we dedicated to Jonathan Larson as the place to immortalize where he often sat meeting with friends and while researching and writing RENT. We’ll be pleased to take your photograph sitting on it. A commemorative plaque is permanently installed on the bench which was unveiled during the evening of Friday, September 5th, 2008.

– Be immortalized. Make an entry in The RENThead Registers. Life Café has an ongoing library of journals for messages by RENTheads and everyone else from all over the world. You, too, may leave your mark. Say good-bye to RENT on Broadway and communicate with your fellow fans and the world through The RENThead Registers which will always be available and will always be here. There is a “Special Edition” Register just for that weekend.

– We have designed several take-aways for you to always remember your visit to Life Café. These include “Forever Jonathan”, “Thank You Jonathan Larson” and Life Café logo T-shirts, posters, postcards, buttons, tote bags and more. These are also available on our website, www.lifecafe.com.

– Stroll throughout the café viewing the walls of history. Listen to the stories our staff has to share about Life Café’s history and the RENT connection. And enjoy our really great food and beverages while drinking in the café’s ambience to fully experience the authentic East Village atmosphere unique to Life Café.

Drop in anytime we’re open – seven days a week from 10 am ‘till after midnight. Call ahead at 212-477-8791 or email us at info@lifecafe.com if you’re ten or more people and we’ll arrange the perfect party for you.

Remember:

“No Day But Today”

• Life is Worth Loving.