In high school, we were used to watching or performing in our usual squeaky-clean, chorus-line musicals. You know, your Grease, Guys and Dolls, Bye-Bye Birdie – all-American theater. But Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown Pa. is getting down and gritty with their current production of Rent.

This is the first time Jonathan Larson’s 1996 AIDS-centered musical has been performed by a high school.

This production has been only slightly edited for the grade-school audience. Same-sex couples Maureen and Joanne, and Angel and Collins still heat up the stage.

According to an article in the Inquirer, approximately 300 students auditioned for the 25 available roles in the musical.

EDIT: Larson died of an aortic aneurysm.

If you’re seeing the stark differences between your high school and Truman because their students sing lines like, “To sodomy / it’s between God and me / to S&M / …La vie boheme,” there’s more where that came from. Acclaimed producer Cameron Macintosh (producer of Les Miserables) came to the school’s performance when they debuted the world premiere of the high school version back in 2001. For Rent, Larson’s family came to see the show (Larson died from AIDS just before Rent debuted on Broadway in 1996).

Although not the most well-written musical (Larson employs slant lines like “I think that I dropped my stash / It was pure / Is it on the floor?), it’s bold social commentary and modern-day issues give Truman HS major artistic cred. This is the kind of show Temple should have done this season, instead of Into the Woods. Even though Stephen Sondheim is the master of thought-provoking scores and lyrics, the fairy tale backdrop just didn’t do justice to the immense talent the School of Theater posseses.