‘Rent,’ Reborn: How Star Gaten Matarazzo, Director Luke Sheppard and a Perfectly Cast West End Ensemble Are Giving the Musical Its Biggest Revival Yet

Gaten Matarazzo remembers exactly where he was when he heard that beloved musical “Rent” was getting a revival on London’s West End — and that he had a shot at the lead role.

“The email came in when I was in the shower, and I scrambled,” he recalls, a grin spreading across his face. “I didn’t even grab a towel before I got on the phone to say, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’”

Matarazzo had just completed work on “Stranger Things,” the massive Netflix hit that had made him a star but also dominated his career for nearly half his life. He became a household name as the nerdy, lovable Dustin Henderson — but what many fans didn’t know was that he’d gotten his start on Broadway at age 9, playing roles in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “Les Misérables.” Though Matarazzo hadn’t been born when “Rent” premiered Off Broadway in 1996, it was an early favorite when he was a kid.

“I think most people who invest a huge chunk of their lives into musical theater always come across ‘Rent’ as a foundation,” the 24-year-old says, adding that he scoured the internet for videos of stage productions and must have watched the 2005 film adaptation “100 times.”

With music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson, the rock musical follows a year in the lives of eight 20-something struggling artists living in Manhattan’s East Village in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS crisis at the turn of the ’90s. Half of them have contracted the disease — a death sentence then — and together grapple with how to find love and purpose. The material is heavy, but also filled with undeniable joy, mainly due to Larson’s phenomenal songs: “Seasons of Love” became a mainstream hit that’s still heard at choir concerts, funerals and graduations. Though Larson was inspired by Puccini’s opera “La Bohème,” “Rent” was one of the first musicals to embrace a more modern, poppier style — paving the way for shows like “Hamilton” and “Spring Awakening” — and launched the careers of original cast members Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs and Anthony Rapp.

Before it even got to the stage, “Rent” had the makings of a hit — but it gained mythical status when Larson, at age 35, died of an aortic dissection the night before previews began in January 1996. The show still went on, knowing it was what Larson would have wanted, and the cast channeled their shock and grief into the production. After just three months, “Rent” transferred to Broadway and began a record-breaking 12-year run, winning a Tony for best musical and a Pulitzer Prize for drama, all while becoming a generational touchstone. Though Larson was straight, “Rent” represented a huge leap forward for queer representation and was a light in the darkness during the AIDS epidemic, in the very year that it finally started to become a manageable disease thanks to lifesaving medications becoming available. For musical theater lovers, “Rent” is the stuff of legend — and the part Matarazzo was tapped for was Mark Cohen, Larson’s avatar and stand-in: the outsider narrator watching his friends go through the epidemic while documenting their lives with his handheld camera. It had been Matarazzo’s dream role since he discovered the musical.

“As I was growing up, people kept nudging and winking like, ‘Hey, one day!’” he says. “It kind of struck me by surprise because I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I am old enough to do this now.’”

Matarazzo quickly set up a meeting with Luke Sheppard, a hotshot director coming off the biggest success of his career with the blockbuster “Paddington the Musical” on the West End, which won him an Olivier Award and received a direct-to-Broadway order. The two clicked. “Instantly I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you should play Mark. This is going to be magical,” Sheppard says.

Nine months later, the two are sitting in a messy dressing room at the newly renamed Tom Stoppard Theatre. It’s tech week, and previews begin in two days; opening night is Oct. 8. The state of the room reflects the chaotic energy in the air — there’s an abandoned box of Ritz crackers in the corner and 14 boxes of tissues on standby. Sheppard is itching for an audience (“Until you have that response, you’re missing a key ingredient,” he says), whereas Matarazzo, making his West End debut, is feeling anxious.

“I’ve turned into a bit of a monk, just in my room kind of panicking,” he says with a laugh.

Beyond online groans about stunty “star casting” from those unaware of Matarazzo’s theater background, this is his biggest role since “Stranger Things,” as well as his first time leading a production — it’s only natural he feels he has something to prove.

“And I kind of accept that, for the most part — and enjoy that,” Matarazzo says.

“You’re a theater kid like the rest of us,” Sheppard interjects. “Literally day one I was like, ‘Yeah, this is going to work.’ Because we’re all just theater nerds!”

This isn’t the first time Sheppard has staged “Rent.” In early 2020, after the West End success of his biggest production to date — the jukebox musical “& Juliet,” whose Broadway run will soon close after four years — he felt the urge to “get my hands dirty again,” and began working on “Rent” at Manchester’s tiny Hope Mill Theatre. What was a white whale for Sheppard was then interrupted by the pandemic, and ultimately presented as a socially distanced version that October (and later livestreamed).

“When I wanted to direct ‘Rent,’ I never imagined it with everyone six feet apart, not touching,” Sheppard says. “It felt like unfinished business.”

This go-around, the timing couldn’t be better. It’s the 30th anniversary of the original production, which became one of the longest-running shows on Broadway, closing in 2008. And though “Rent” has been a musical theater staple through many touring productions and a few West End editions over the years, Sheppard’s rendition is the show’s first true revival in two decades — and the first time that fans the age of its cast will get to witness it onstage.

There’s a weightiness to this project that’s not lost on the director, whose aim is to deliver a production as close to Larson’s vision as possible — retaining its period and NYC setting — with a few surprises.

“It’s a history lesson, in the most incredible way,” Sheppard says. “It’s so important that we never forget what the AIDS crisis meant, the fear that it created, what people were living with. There is a responsibility — a privilege — to being able to tell this story 30 years later, on behalf of the people who lived through that time.”

In the basement of the Bloomsbury Hotel, during the last week of rehearsal before tech, the “Rent” ensemble is running through “La Vie Bohème.” The energetic peak of Act I, the eight-minute song sees each character list off facets of their bohemian lifestyle as they wreak havoc on their local café, dancing on tables and ordering copious drinks.

I spot Matarazzo immediately — he’s standing on a table, pretending to hold Mark’s camcorder on his shoulder. “In that little town of Bethlehem, we raise our glass. You bet your ass to … la vie bohème!” Matarazzo croons in a bright tenor as his castmates flutter their arms to the song’s syncopated rhythm. He’s shed his “Stranger Things” shell and is fully in his element, nailing Mark’s dorky, earnest demeanor.

It doesn’t take long to identify the rest of the gang. The tall blonde with tattoos is Roger (Travis Ross), a musician trying to write one great song before he dies; Mimi (Alexa Lopez), his stripper love interest, is a wild-haired brunette and a natural dancer. Fiery performance artist Maureen (Lazy Violet), with hair dyed half purple and half platinum, moons the crowd of one (me) — and drag queen Angel (Jeevan Braich) shows up fashionably late halfway through the number, just as the character would. When the ensemble erupts into cheers at his entrance, Braich quips, “I get this every day, by the way!”

It’s clear that casting struck gold with this lively group — mostly in their 20s — who are honored to be breathing new life into Larson’s art. Sitting down with them later, I learn that every single one has a full-circle story about how they got here.

Twenty-five-year-old Ross decided to pursue musical theater after he was in a production of “Rent Jr.” — a kids’ version that “didn’t have all the bits and bobs,” he says — 10 years ago in County Durham in Northern England, where he grew up. Violet, 27, had mostly left the theater industry to focus on writing their own music (“I can’t be in this world; it’s too grueling,” they say) until they were spotted on Instagram by an agent who offered to help them audition for “Rent.” And 20-year-old Braich, who met Sheppard while working on his show “Starlight Express,” boldly told him at 17: “Come hell or high water, I will be playing Angel.” He was right.

Florida-born Lopez, 24, had a different journey. Mimi was originally set to be played by Bella Brown, known on the West End for her lauded turns in “Into the Woods” and “Evita,” but she had to drop out before rehearsals began in August due to a vocal injury. Lopez had been working with a casting director who suggested that she send in a self-tape for “Rent.” Within a week, she got a visa and was on a plane to London.

“We kind of just jumped into it,” Lopez says, sitting opposite Ross with her hair in rollers.

“We had to,” says Ross, who was understandably freaking out not knowing who his scene partner was going to be. “It goes through your head — a whole list of people you don’t want it to be. And then you weren’t one of them, and I was like, ‘Brilliant, let’s go!’”

To embody Roger and Mimi — who are both HIV-positive and fall in love, sharing some of the musical’s most heart-wrenching songs, including “I Should Tell You” — Ross and Lopez have leaned on the show’s sense of raw authenticity.

“I think Roger has a bit of a preconceived idea of just being one-note, miserable, depressed,” Ross says. “And I really didn’t want it to be, he just sits in the dumps for two and a half hours. I needed his friendship with Mark and some of the other guys to be real to make him 4D.”

For Lopez — who is coming straight from playing Christine Daaé in the “Phantom of the Opera”-inspired Off Broadway production of “Masquerade” — the key has been ditching the perfectionism that often comes with a high-pressure theater environment.

“It’s taken me a while to be like, ‘OK, I don’t have to be pretty out there — I can show what’s real,’” she says. “That’s what will make audiences resonate with our characters — seeing real people, as opposed to characters in a musical.”

That’s also how Violet is thinking about their portrayal of Maureen, whose eccentric performance art and selfish behavior often give the character a bad rap. “I think it’s so easy, especially with women, to hypersexualize them or make them being strong-willed into a joke. She’s maybe a bit of a narcissist, but I feel like so is everybody that wants to be onstage,” they say, flashing a smile full of colorful tooth gems. “Sorry!”

The first thing Braich did was think of everything he didn’t want Angel to be, such as “just really glam and fabulous and sassy and camp,” he says. “Like yes, for sure, but above anything, Angel is the bundle of hope in the show. They are just that guiding light.”

Angel is also the emotional anchor, with her Act II death compelling the characters to find a greater purpose. Back in rehearsal, Angel’s partner Tom Collins (Billy Nevers) delivers a gut-punching rendition of “I’ll Cover You (Reprise)” — his deep, silky voice sailing over the song’s challenging riffs — that brings the room to a standstill and reduces nearly everyone, including Nevers, to tears. Two weeks later, at a preview, the powerful moment brings the crowd to its feet in a rare mid-show standing ovation.

It’s a reminder that as much as “Rent” can be fun, it’s also devastating. As Matarazzo points out, that’s why the show still hits hard 30 years later.

“This is how traditions are made,” Matarazzo says, “by sitting around a campfire and telling these stories and honoring people who are no longer with us who dealt with the horrors of this.”

Despite the nearly clinical preparation leading up to opening night, Violet says that the rehearsal period has taken an emotional toll on the cast. “I don’t think we have to do that much acting, you know? Like, we’re really feeling it,” they say. “We’re all crying our eyes out, and doing that eight shows a week ain’t gonna be good for anyone’s nervous system.”

As for why “Rent” means so much to a generation that wasn’t alive to experience the original show, nor the epidemic that inspired Larson — that’s a question Sheppard has thought about quite a bit. “I remember, certainly when I was a teenager, listening to the soundtrack and resonating with that,” he says. “It’s a story as old as time — you’re watching these characters in their early 20s try and find their identities.”

Judging by the crowd at the preview, Sheppard’s hunch appears to be correct. The audience is full of young people — the revival has continued the original production’s commitment to offering cheap day-of tickets — many of whom have strong connections to the material. “Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re seeing ‘Rent!’” a 20-something girl Method-dressed as Mimi says in the bathroom line during intermission, mascara pooling on her face. By the finale, there’s hardly a dry eye in the place — including onstage.

It’s evident that “Rent” has come to encompass much more than its initial message. Though HIV is now manageable for those with access to medication, younger people face different kinds of darkness: global political turmoil, the rise of AI, the mental health crisis brought on by social media — take your pick. As Matarazzo notes, by channeling some of that anxiety into the show, the story of “Rent” can live on.

“There’s something really special about being able to take care of a show like this, and hand it to a new group of people who can learn and empathize and draw their own parallels to what’s going on today,” he says. “Because it does give the show an opportunity to continue living for a 50-year anniversary, a 60-year anniversary — whatever that may look like down the road.”

And although Sheppard has transferred several productions to Broadway, here on the West End he’s keeping his mind in the present — perhaps taking a cue from the show’s recurring motif, “No day but today.”

“Not even thinking about it,” Sheppard says quickly about the prospect of bringing “Rent” home to New York City. “I just feel so privileged to do it in this theater, with these people, and I really just believe that timing is everything. The world has got us to this point, and that’s incredible. Who knows?”