The new, 20th anniversary production of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical is coming to York Theatre Royal in April 2017.
Robert Mackintosh and Idili Theatricals Limited, in association with Theatr Clwyd, 20th Anniversary production of Jonathan Larson’s ground-breaking Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical RENT will play at York Theatre Royal this April.
The new production will be directed by Bruce Guthrie and stars Lucie Jones, who was recently chosen to represent the UK in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Lucie was a finalist on The X Factor in 2009 and recently starred as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Curve, Leicester). Her other theatre credits include Molly Jenson on tour in Ghost the Musical, Victoria in American Psycho at The Almeida, Meatloaf in the International Tour of We Will Rock You and Cosette in Les Miserables at Queens Theatre, London’s West End and O2 Arena. Lucie also toured the UK in The X Factor Arena Tour.
The cast of RENT also includes: Layton Williams as Angel Schunard; Billy Cullum as Mark Cohen; Ross Hunter as Roger Davis; Ryan O’Gorman as Tom Collins; Javar La’trial Parker as Benjamin Coffin III; Philippa Stefani as Mimi Marquez and Shanay Holmes as Joanne Jefferson, with Jenny O’Leary, Katie Bradley, Joshua Dever, Kevin Yates, Bobbie Little, Christina Modestou, Jordan Laviniere, Harrison Clark and Oliver Bingham.
Jonathan Larson’s musical, inspired by Puccini’s opera La Bohème, won four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. Ben Brantley’s New York Times review was a love letter to the show, calling RENT an “exhilarating, landmark rock opera”. RENT ran on Broadway for 12 years, from 1996 to 2008. The show premiered in London’s West End in 1998 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it ran for 18 months. It was adapted into a film in 2005.
Larson’s world is inhabited by a group of bohemian artists who struggle to maintain their friendships and their non-conformist ideals in New York’s East Village. Facing their problems head on, they make personal self-discoveries and find what really matters most in life. The poignancy of the story was heightened when Jonathan Larson died of an aortic dissection on 25 January 1996, the night before the show’s first off-Broadway performance at New York Theatre Workshop.
The much-loved score features songs such as Seasons of Love, Take Me or Leave Me, One Song Glory, La Vie Bohème, Without You, I’ll Cover You, Out Tonight, I Should Tell You and the title song.
Director Bruce Guthrie said:
“I am delighted to be working with a truly world-class creative team on this new production of Jonathan Larson’s classic musical. Our aim is to serve the fans of the show who have loved it so passionately since its ground-breaking premiere Off Broadway in 1996, while introducing it to a new generation of musical theatre fans. We want to capture the essence of bohemian New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It’s a place of grime and excitement, where voices are fighting to be heard and the inhabitants are fighting to connect with one another, as well as fighting for their lives. The musical is a celebration of life and living in the moment. It’s blood and bone, sweat and tears, laughter and joy, despair, hate and love, all in this one remarkable year shared by a group of friends. It is a privilege to be working on one of the great ‘moment’ musicals and to celebrate 20 years of RENT.”
The new production of RENT will have choreography by Lee Proud, set design by Olivier Award-winner Anna Fleischle and costume design by Loren Elstein, with lighting design by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rick Fisher, sound design by Olivier Award-winner Mike Walker, video design by Andrzej Goulding, musical direction by Phil Cornwell and casting by Will Burton Casting.
RENT has Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson, musical arrangements by Steve Skinner, original concept and additional lyrics by Billy Aronson, music supervision and additional arrangements by Tim Weil, and the dramaturg is Lynn Thomson. RENT was originally produced in New York by New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Alan S. Gordon and New York Theatre Workshop.
RENT is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Ltd.
Tickets for RENT are on sale now priced £32 – £12 (£1.50 transaction fee per booking) from the York Theatre Royal box office in person, by phone on 01904 623568 or securely online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rent will be at the York Theatre Royal between the 18th April – 22nd April.