Original Rent Cast to Reunite for 30th Anniversary Benefit Concert
Six original stars of Rent will sing the Jonathan Larson musical in full on 26 October for a one-night concert marking 30 years since its debut.
The performance is a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the theatre fundraising organisation, according to details reported by Rolling Stone. The cast will perform the score from start to finish.
The room is sold out. The concert will play Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, listed by Broadway Cares, with tickets still available for the livestream for viewers who cannot attend in person.
The reunion brings back Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Fredi Walker. All six were part of the original Broadway company.
They will be joined by original understudies and ensemble members Yassmin Alers, Gilles Chiasson, Shelley Dickinson, David Driver, Darius de Haas and Rodney Hicks. The line-up blends principal players with performers who covered and supported the first production.
Later performers from the show's long run will also take part. The list includes Natalie Venetia Belcon, Adam Chanler-Berat, Nicholas Christopher, Merle Dandridge, Trey Ellett, Jordan Fisher, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Jose Llana, John Eric Parker, Jai Rodriguez, Antonique Smith, Ephraim Sykes and Aaron Tveit.
Original director Michael Greif will return to direct the anniversary staging. Original music supervisor Tim Weil will lead the band, with original players Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter and Daniel A. Weiss joined by Steve Gelfand.
Rent opened in New York in 1996 and won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the American award for distinguished playwriting. The prize was awarded posthumously to Larson, who died before the musical's first public preview.
For fans, this means a rare chance to hear the complete show from many of the voices linked to its first staging. In-person seats are gone, but the livestream keeps the one-night-only event open beyond Broadway.
