Rent: productions

New York workshops and off-Broadway production

Rent had its first staged reading at the New York Theatre Workshop in March 1993 A further two-week New York Theatre Workshop version was performed in 1994 starring Anthony Rapp as Mark and Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi, and more workshops followed. The show opened on January 25, 1996, again at the New York Theatre Workshop, and quickly gained popularity off-Broadway, receiving enthusiastic reviews. The New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley called it an "exhilarating, landmark rock opera" with a "glittering, inventive score" that "shimmers with hope for the future of the American musical." Another reviewer wrote, "Rent speaks to Generation X the way that the musical Hair spoke to the baby boomers or those who grew up in the 1960s, calling it 'a rock opera for our time, a Hair for the 90s.'" The show proved extremely successful off-Broadway, selling out all of its performances at the 150-seat theatre.

Original Broadway production
Due its overwhelming popularity and the need for a larger theater, Rent moved to Broadway's previously derelict Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street on April 29, 1996. On Broadway, the show achieved critical acclaim and word-of-mouth popularity. The production's ethnically diverse principal cast originally included Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker.
The production's controversial topics and innovative pricing, including some day-of-performance $20 tickets, helped to increase the popularity of musical theater amongst the younger generation. The production was nominated for ten Tony Awards in 1996 and won four: Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Heredia)
On April 24, 2006, the original Broadway cast reunited for a one-night performance of the musical at the Nederlander Theatre. This performance raised over $2,000,000 for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, Friends in Deed and the New York Theatre Workshop. Former cast members were invited, and many from prior tours and former Broadway casts appeared, performing an alternate version of "Seasons of Love" as the finale of the performance.
Rent closed on September 7, 2008, after a 12-year run and 5,124 performances, making it the eighth-longest-running Broadway show. The production grossed over $280 million. At the time of its closing, it was the second-longest-running musical playing on Broadway, eight years behind The Phantom of the Opera.
Original cast ensemble members Rodney Hicks and Gwen Stewart returned to the cast at the time of the Broadway closing. Hicks played Benny and Stewart played the role she created, the soloist in the song "Seasons of Love". In addition, actress Tracie Thoms joined the cast at the end of the run playing Joanne, the role she portrayed in the 2005 film version. The last Broadway performance was filmed and screened in movie theaters as Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway in September 2008. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray formats on February 3, 2009.
Early North American tours
Successful United States national tours, the "Angel Tour" and the "Benny Tour", launched in the 1990s. Later, the non-Equity tour started its run. There was also a Canadian tour (often referred to as the "Collins Tour").
The Angel tour began in November 1996 in Boston. It then went on to St. Paul, Minnesota, Washington, DC, Chicago (where Anthony Rapp temporarily joined the cast), Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Los Angeles (where Daphne Rubin-Vega temporarily joined the cast), before finishing in San Francisco in September 1999. Cast members appearing in the Angel Cast included Simone, Manley Pope, , Christian Anderson, Carrie Hamilton, Amy Spanger, Cheri Smith, Julie Danao, Sylvia MacCalla, Kamilah Martin, Jonathon Morgan, Luther Creek, Kristoffer Cusick, Tony Vincent, Courtney Corey, and Shaun Earl.
The Benny Tour began in July 1997 in San Diego, CA at the LaJolla Playhouse. Michael Grief, the original director of the Broadway show was also the artistic director of the LaJolla Playhouse and was instrumental in arranging for the Benny tour to begin in the smaller city of San Diego rather than Los Angeles, CA. It originally featured Neil Patrick Harris in the role of Mark Cohen. The Benny tour generally played shorter stops and often-smaller markets than the Angel Tour did. Cast members appearing in the Benny Cast included Eric Reed, Wilson Cruz, Keely Snelson, d'Monroe, Mark Lull, Courtney Corey, and Jonathon Morgan.
2005-2008 U. S. touring companies
Tours ran each season from 2005 to 2008. Cast members included: Dan Rosenbaum, Bryce Ryness, Jonathan Tisevich, Jed Resnick, Warren G. Nolan, Michael Ifill, Ano Okera, Arianda Fernandez, Chante-Carmel Frierson, Nina Metrick, Sheila Coyle, Aswad, Altamiece' Ballard, Ben Rosberry, Gavin Reign, Mike Evariste, Declan Bennett, Harley Jay, Melvin Bell III, Kristen-Alexzander Griffith, Jennifer Colby Talton, Jenna Noel, Cedric Leiba, Jr., Jade Hicks, Mimi Jimenez, Joe Donohoe, Dustin Brayley, Aaron LaVigne, Heinz Winckler, Anwar Robinson, John Watson, Onyie Nwachukwu, Christine Dwyer, Hannah Shankman, Devon Settles Jr., Natalie R. Perkins, Corey Joseph Mach, Enrico Banson, Tim Ehrlich, Jeff Cuttler, Christina Sajous, Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, and Stephanie Spano. The tour stopped in many cities including Knoxville and Chicago.

Rent: School Edition

In 2007, a modified edition of Rent was made available to five non-professional acting groups in the United States for production. Billed as Rent: School Edition, this version omits the song "Contact" and eliminates some of the coarse language and tones down some public displays of affection of the original. There were four test shows of the Rent: School Edition. The first high school production premiered at Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, Pennsylvania on November 9, 2007.
In May 2008, West Aurora High School in Aurora, Illinois was the first official high school in the United States to perform the school edition of the musical. The world premiere of the finalized pilot versions premiered in Kenosha, Wisconsin at Mary D. Bradford High School.
During the 2008-2009 school year, high schools in West Virginia and Texas cancelled proposed productions of Rent: School Edition because of administrators' and/or parents' concerns about the play's morality and controversial themes. However, McCallum Fine Arts Academy, part of Austin ISD in Austin, Texas presented a school supported production, though a controversy over how it was authorized for production, did ensue. This makes McCallum Fine Arts Academy the first school in the South to produce RENT: School Edition.
In October 2008, South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon performed "Rent: School Edition" with a relatively positive response from its community. This was the first high school production of RENT: School Edition performed in the Pacific Northwest. The production was later selected to showcase for the Oregon State Thespian Conference at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in April 2009.
In February 2009, Main Street School of Performing Arts in Hopkins performed "Rent: School Edition" at the Southern Theater. Main Street was the second school in the Midwest to perform the show (Hawken School
0, located in Gates Mills, Ohio, opened their performance of Rent on February 13, 6 days before Main Street). Two of the characters (Patrick Faunillian as Angel and Cody Braugt as Collins) in this performance won the 2009 Spotlight Awards and one character (Jonathan Hestler as Mark) received an honorable mention.
A performance at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California was almost cancelled in February 2009 due to a misunderstanding between the drama teacher and the principal. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the school in March, claiming that the cancellation was evidence of bias that contributed to an environment hostile to women and homosexuals. It turned out that the drama teacher had not given a copy the script for the principal to review.
In June 2009, Christs College and St Margarets College, in Christchurch, New Zealand, performed the first Australian production of "Rent: School Edition." In July that year, the school edition was debuted in the UK by King Edward's School, Birmingham.
[edit]Rent Remixed
On October 16, 2007, the production Rent Remixed opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. Kylie’s creative director, William Baker, directed this production, and set it in the present day. The cast included Oliver Thornton (Mark), Luke Evans (Roger), Craig Stein (Benny), Leon Lopez (Collins), Francesca Jackson (Joanne), Jay Webb (Angel), Siobhán Donaghy (Mimi), and Denise Van Outen (Maureen). From December 24, 2007, the role of Maureen was played by Jessie Wallace. The production received generally unfavorable reviews. The Guardian gave it only one out of five stars, writing, "They call this 'Rent Remixed'. I'd dub it 'Rent Reduced', in that the late Jonathan Larson's reworking of La Bohème, while never a great musical, has been turned into a grisly, synthetic, pseudo pop concert with no particular roots or identity." The production closed on February 2, 2008.
The production radically altered elements of the musical including defining the characters of Mimi, Angel and Mark, as British. Songs were reordered (including Maureen's first appearance as the finale of Act 1). The rehaul of the score was masterminded by Steve Anderson and featured radically rearranged versions of Out Tonight, Today 4 U and Happy New Year.

Australia 1999 and 2007
The Australian cast featured Justin Smith, as Mark, Rodger Corser as Roger, Opell Ross as Angel and Australian ARIA Award winner Christine Anu as Mimi. The tour wrapped in Melbourne in 1999. A Perth, Australia production featured Anthony Callea, as Mark, Tim Campbell, as Roger, Jaya Henderson as Mimi, Courtney Act as Angel, Shai Yammanne as Tom Collins, Sharon Wisniewski as Joanne, Andrew Conaghan as Benny and Nikki Webster as Maureen.
2005-2006 International tour
The international tour, which played from 2005–2006, started in Singapore in 2005 and ended in Budapest in 2006. It also visited Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, Reykjavik, Oslo, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Johannesburg, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.
2009 U.S. National tour
A new mini tour stars Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp reprising their original Broadway (and film) roles in a 2009 national tour of the musical, which launched in January 2009 in Cleveland, OH. After having a reprise performance in the summer of 2007, they signed in to be part of the 2009 tour. Original "Seasons of Love" soloist Gwen Stewart signed on to be part of the tour as well. Joining them on the tour are Nicolette Hart as Maureen, Justin Johnston as Angel, Lexi Lawson as Mimi, Michael McElroy as Collins, Jacques Smith as Benny, Haneefah Wood as Joanne, and Ensemble members are Karmine Alers, Toby Blackwell, Adam Halpin, Trisha Jeffrey, Joshua Kobak, Telly Leung, Caren Tackett, Jed Resnick, Andy Senor, Cary Shields, Yuka Takara, and John Watson.
At the tour stop in Detroit, Michigan, Pascal herniated two discs in his neck and was put on medical leave. Cary Shields, an understudy and a Broadway Rent veteran himself, filled in. Pascal has since made a full recovery and has returned to the show.
During the Rochester, New York stop on the tour various cast members including Anthony Rapp and Gwen Stewart stated that they are in negotiations for an extension of the tour into 2010 and Toronto was one of the stops mentioned.