Original ‘Rent’ Cast To Reunite For Livestream Benefit Concert Next Month

Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega and other cast members of Jonathan Larson’s Rent will take part in a one-night-only 30th anniversary benefit concert to be livestreamed from Broadway‘s Richard Rodgers Theatre next month.

The October 26 Rent, the 30th Anniversary Concert in which the musical will be performed in full with benefits going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will feature original cast members Menzel, Pascal, Rapp, Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Fredi Walker as well as other performers who appeared in Rent over the years such as Nicholas Christopher, Jordan Fisher, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jai Rodriguez, Ephraim Sykes and Aaron Tveit.

While in-person tickets are sold out, $30 livestream tickets are available. In all, more than 50 past Rent cast members and special guests will take part in the concert to benefit

Joining the original principal cast will be original understudies and ensemble players Yassmin Alers, Gilles Chiasson, Shelley Dickinson, David Driver, Darius de Haas and Rodney Hicks. Other “alumni” performers will include Natalie Venetia Belcon, Adam Chanler-Berat, Merle Dandridge, Trey Ellett, Jose Llana, John Eric Parker and Antonique Smith.

Rent’s original director Michael Greif returns to helm the evening. More of the cast will be announced in the coming weeks. Performers are subject to change.

The show’s original music supervisor, Tim Weil, also will return, leading original Rent band members Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter and Daniel A. Weiss, who will be joined by Steve Gelfand.

The presentation is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Andy Jones, founder of Baseline Theatrical. Rent features a book, music and lyrics by Larson, with music arrangements by Steve Skinner.

Rent reimagines La Bohème in the AIDS-era East Village of New York City, following a tight-knit group of artists navigating love, loss and survival at the turn of a generation. The musical debuted at the New York Theatre Workshop before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre in 1996 where it played 5,123 performances before closing September 7, 2008. The original Broadway producers were Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum and Allan S. Gordon.

The livestream of Rent, the 30th Anniversary Concert is produced in collaboration with The League of Live Stream Theater.