Rachel Zegler, Taye Diggs, Norbert Leo Butz, More Join Rent Broadway Anniversary Concert
Broadway’s upcoming Rent Broadway anniversary concert, set for October 26 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, has added more stars to its roster, including more of the musical’s original cast. Tickets for the special event celebrating the landmark 1996 Jonathan Larson musical are technically sold out, but a digital lottery for the evening’s box seats is currently open through October 20 at 2 PM ET (enter at BroadwayDirect.com).
The event will also stream live, and available on demand after. The stream will be available through October 27 at 11 PM ET. Streaming tickets are at BroadwayCares.org.
Taye Diggs, Timothy Britten Parker, and Byron Utley have joined the lineup of original Broadway Rent stars who will be on hand to mark the rock musical’s 30th anniversary, along with the previously announced Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Fredi Walker-Browne, Yassmin Alers, Gilles Chiasson, Shelley Dickinson, David Driver, Darius de Haas, and Rodney Hicks.
The evening will also feature Rent alumni and Broadway favorites. Newly announced attendees include: Sharon Catherine Brown, Bryson Bruce, Haven Burton, Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz, Matt Caplan, Will Chase, Wilson Cruz, Coleman Cummings, Laura Dias, Tori DePrimo, Shaun Earl, Eden Espinosa, Rayla Garske, Ava Gaudet, Andrea Goss, Tamyra Gray, Christopher J. Hanke, Tony winner Neil Patrick Harris, Nicolette Hart, Marcus Paul James, Cody Jenkins, Justin Johnston, Owen Johnston II, Adam Kantor, Lencia Kebede, Tamika Lawrence, Telly Leung, Tracy McDowell, Michael McElroy, David Merino, Alan Mingo Jr., Manley Pope, James Schoppe, Andy Señor Jr., Aiyana Smash, Antonique Smith, Jacques C. Smith, Tracie Thoms, Deri’Andra Tucker, Lorraine Velez, Jay Wilkison, Schele Williams, and Rachel Zegler.
They will join the previously announced Natalie Venetia Belcon, Adam Chanler-Berat, Nicholas Christopher, Merle Dandridge, Trey Ellett, Jordan Fisher, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jose Llana, John Eric Parker, Jai Rodriguez, Antonique Smith, Ephraim Sykes, and Aaron Tveit.
Michael Greif is again directing after staging the original production. Original music supervisor Tim Weil will lead the band, which will include fellow original pit members Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter, and Daniel A. Weiss, joined by newcomer Steve Gelfand.
Originally premiering at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander in 1996, Rent was that rare show that transcends mere Broadway success to become a cultural touchstone, changing the industry and truly permeating the mainstream zeitgeist—essentially the Hamilton of its time. The show is most noted for bringing ’90s-style rock music to Broadway, giving a modern spin to Puccini’s classic opera La Bohéme—but with electric guitars subbing for woodwinds and AIDS taking the place of tuberculosis.
And making the show’s creation even more extraordinary was the sudden and tragic death of composer Jonathan Larson, the night before the largely undiscovered talent’s musical was scheduled to give the first preview performance at NYTW. The loss—from an aortic dissection thought to be the result of undiagnosed Marfan syndrome at the age of 35—ended a career that was only just beginning, made all the more tragic when Rent went on to the history-making mega-success that it was. The show made stars of much of its incredible original cast.
The Broadway run would ultimately continue for 12 years and 5,123 performances, closing September 7, 2008. Along with a Broadway cast album certified two-times multi-platinum (meaning sales exceeding 2,000,000 units), the musical has spawned countless regional and international stagings, a big screen movie adaptation featuring most of the original stage cast, and a live TV production.
Broadway Cares is producing the upcoming concert alongside Baseline Theatrical founder Andy Jones. The performance has been licensed via Music Theatre International. The live stream is being produced in collaboration with The League of Live Stream Theater.
Streaming tickets are at BroadwayCares.org.
