'Rent" compared to "La Boheme" by the great Giacomo Puccini? Give me a break.

Puccini is probably turning in his grave. How dare anyone compare this garbage to Puccini's "La Boheme." I'm an opera lover who has seen "La Boheme" numerous times since the 60s and I know the opera forward and backward.

Puccini's "La Boheme" is about young people in love (male and female) and one of the characters has TB. In "Rent," most of the characters are afflicted with AIDS, HIV, or are HIV positive and I can count at least five characters who are homosexuals. Is this what our children need to know —that most people are homosexuals or have AIDS?

Unfortunately, in this politically correct world, society is trying to shove things down our throat for the sake of tolerance. Is anyone tolerant of the other side's feelings?

Kudos to the parent who's opposed to this.

It's true that one does not have to go see it, then leave it on Broadway and let the people choose whether to go see it or not.

Choice should not be a consideration for students to go see a school play because of its controversy. And, why do we have to explain to our children that it's only a play, that it is about the problems that some people (minority) face today and that it is not the way the majority lives.

Is it not true that most of the people today are not afflicted with HIV and are not homosexuals?

Then "Rent" is for the minority and not the majority. Therefore, choose a play that's appropriate.

To the person who wrote, "Let the children explore, learn with 'Rent'" — learn what?
Angelo Cassaro
Millstone Township