Pulitzer Prize-winning musical now on film.

It’s a holiday tradition in my family to spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas in a dark movie theater, silently bonding over the latest Star Trek, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movie while our meals digest. This year, it’s going to be different.

Oh we’ll still be in a movie theater but the screen will be exploding with songs, not pyrotechnics.

I was thrilled to see that at long last the rock opera phenomenon “Rent” was coming to the big screen, opening Nov. 23 at a theater near you.

In case “Rent” has escaped your cinematic radar, eclipsed no doubt by the release of the latest Harry Potter movie, let me fill you in.

“Rent” has been running on Broadway since it opened Feb. 13, 1996, and in addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, has also garnered an Obie Award, a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, four Tony Awards and three Drama Desk trophies.

The book, music and lyrics were written by Jonathan Larson, a 35-year-old genius who tragically died on Jan. 25, 1996, less than a month before “Rent” opened. He never lived to see his baby grow into an enduring international success, loved by millions, as well as the critics.

The story is based on Puccini’s classic opera “La Boheme,” and tells the tale of a group of modern day Bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent in New York’s tough East Village, while holding on to their dreams.

“Rent” was one of the first productions to openly address the AIDS epidemic, and it does so in an intensely human way. Many of the characters are HIV positive, and it has affected all their lives in some form.

Tom Collins, played in both the original Broadway production and the movie by the yummy Jesse L. Martin, meets and falls in love with Angel, a transvestite street musician. Both discover they have the AIDS virus, but it doesn’t keep them from falling in love.

Roger is still mourning the death of his girlfriend, who committed suicide when she learned she had AIDS. He fights an attraction to the drug-addicted Mimi, who looks a lot like his dead girlfriend.

OK, that may sound a bit grim, but it’s the songs, oh the songs, that grip you and won’t let go. They are poignant and sweet, gutsy and powerful.

I was lucky enough to see the touring production in Seattle (thank you Michael K.) and went home with the songs running through my head. I bought the two-disc soundtrack and set about memorizing all the songs.

“Seasons of Love,” sung by the entire company, asks the question, “How do you measure the life of a woman or man?” The answer: “In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried. In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.”

My favorite is sung by Tom and Angel, “I’ll Cover You,”

which is a double entendre for covering the rent and protecting each other. Angel’s offer to Tom: “Live in my house, I’ll be your shelter. Just pay me back with one thousand kisses. Be my lover — I’ll cover you.”

With its plot full of death, poverty and injustice, “Rent” may not seem like a good choice for a holiday movie, but the glory of “Rent” is that it is actually life-affirming; you can’t fully appreciate being alive without realizing how close death is, and that each life is precious.

The movie, directed by Chris Columbus, is already drawing rave reviews from “Rentheads” who have seen the film at sneak previews across the country.

The movie features many of the original cast members, including the aforementioned Jesse L. Martin, whose talents have been sorely wasted in his role as Det. Ed Green on NBC’s Law and Order. This actor is so much more than a trenchcoat and a gun.

Go. See “Rent.” If you don’t agree it’s the most uplifting movie you’ve ever seen, well, Harry Potter’s playing on another screen.

Kitsap Beat accolades

For those of you who have enjoyed reading this column over the past year and a half, I am pleased to report the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) shares your enthusiasm.

The association awarded Kitsap Beat second and third place honors in its circulation category for Best Topical Column, at the 2005 Awards in October.

One judge wrote “You are obviously a very accomplished ‘word artist.’ Your work is clean, clear, vibrant and entertaining.”

Another one simply noted, “Did I say fun to read?”

Aw shucks. My thanks go out to them, and to all of you. wu