“Rent” turns 30 this year, and Broadway is marking the occasion properly. A one-night-only benefit concert is scheduled for October 26 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, reuniting original creative team members and cast for a performance in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tickets go on sale June 1 at BroadwayCares.org.
Original director Michael Greif returns to helm the concert, with original music director Tim Weil leading the band, including musicians Kenny Brescia, Stephanie Mack, Jeff Potter, and Daniel A. Weiss. Casting will include members of the original Broadway company alongside additional guest performers, with the full lineup still to be announced.
The benefit is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in partnership with Baseline Theatrical founder Andy Jones. Proceeds support Broadway Cares’ ongoing programs providing meals, health care, and financial assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses, the same cause the show championed from its very first performance.
“Rent” premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in 1996 before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre, where it won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The original Broadway cast included Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Fredi Walker, and Taye Diggs. The show ran for 12 years and 5,123 performances before closing in 2008, generating a multi-platinum cast album and a feature film along the way.