His opera "La Boheme" was a major influence on the rock musical "Rent."
In fact, not only do most of the major characters have the same or
similar names, some of the musical numbers correspond as well.
"Musetta" became Maureen, and Rent makes direct reference in its text
to "Musetta's Waltz," which is re-imagined as "The Tango Maureen."
"Light my candle," which introduces the character Mimi, contains the
line "They call me Mimi," which is an exact translation of a line in
the same scene in his Italian opera.