RENT Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Maureen Johnson is one of the main characters in RENT. She is based on the character Musetta in La Bohème.

Maureen is a performance artist. She seems to be popular amongst the crowd, and hosts protests, one of which is to stop the homeless being evicted and mistreated by people like Benny.

Maureen is a former roommate of Mark, Roger, Benny, and Collins. She is also Mark's ex-girlfriend, having dumped him for Joanne. She is quite flirtatious, leading to complications in her relationships with both Joanne and Mark, and can be bossy at times too. However, despite this, she is generally a good person, and is there for her friends in times of need.

Biography[]

Act 1[]

Act 2[]

Songs[]

Solos[]

Duets[]

Solos (In a Group Number)[]


 

Act 1
Song Sung with
Christmas Bells Coat Vendor, Collins, Angel, Mark, Roger, The Man, Mimi and Company
La Vie Bohème Mark, The Waiter, Benny, Mimi, Collins, Roger, Angel, Joanne, Mr. Grey and Company
La Vie Bohème B Joanne, Bohemian girl, Mark, Angel and Company
Act 2
Song Sung with
Seasons of Love Company
Happy New Year Mark, Mimi, Roger, Collins, Angel and Joanne
Happy New Year B Mark, Mimi, Collins, Angel, Roger, Joanne and Benny
Seasons of Love B Company
Contact Angel and Company
I'll Cover You (Reprise) Collins and Company
Goodbye Love Mark, Roger, Mimi, Collins, Joanne, and Benny
Finale Mark, Collins, Roger, Joanne, and Mimi
Finale B Company


Trivia[]

  • Maureen dumping Mark for Joanne is based on Jonathan Larson's personal life, where one of his girlfriends dumped him for a woman.

Maureen Johnson is one of the main characters in RENT. She is an outrageous, bisexual performance artist. She dated Mark Cohen before the events in RENT, but is in a relationship with Joanne Jefferson, at the beginning of the film. It is assumed that she left Mark for Joanne, though this is never explicitly stated.

Maureen is known for her inability to stay faithful to her lovers, including flirting with a number of other women while still dating Joanne, as well as taking advantage of Mark's remaining feelings for her. She is first engaged to Joanne before breaking it off in "Take Me or Leave Me". Afterwards, they decide to get back together in the song "Goodbye Love," in which Joanne expresses her longing to have the wonderful love Collins and Angel shared. She used to be roommates with Mark, Tom Collins, Benny Coffin, and Roger Davis, but she hates Benny. She mocks him in her metaphorical performance "Over the Moon", mocking his ignorance of his tenants' suffering.

Differences from the Original[]

Maureen's role in the 2005 film is slightly altered from the musical. Maureen and Joanne do not break up after La Vie Boheme B, or at all until Joanne catches Maureen flirting with another woman while Joanne and Mark are being interviewed by Alexi Darling. As a compromise, Maureen proposes to Joanne, and at their engagement party, Maureen is caught flirting once again.

In the musical, Maureen first appears in Christmas Bells, but in the film, she first appears in a dream sequence in the Tango: Maureen number. This also happens in the Hollywood Bowl performance.

Advertisement