"Rent" To End Broadway Run
By: Frank DiLella, Producer
After more than 12 years on Broadway, the hit musical "Rent," which taught theater lovers that there are 525,600 minutes in a year, will weave a tale of the lives of residents of Alphabet City one last time Sunday.
Loosely based on Puccini's "La Boheme" and set against the backdrop of the Lower East Side, "Rent" originally opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in January 1996. It transferred to the Great White Way that spring.
Now it makes its final bow as the seventh-longest running show in Broadway history. Sadly, the show's young creator, Jonathan Larson, never lived to see the success of his work. On the night of the final off-Broadway dress rehearsal, Larson died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 35.
“I thought Jonathan wrote a wonderful musical that was true to its time and I was really happy to get to work on it,” said “Rent” director Michael Greif. “I think Jonathan had some inkling on where it could go, there’ve been lots of stories about that. I had a great group and Jonathan was doing wonderful, wonderful work and I was very proud of what we were doing, then other things took over.”
Not only did "Rent" receive multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical, it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and managed to launch the careers of several of the young artists in the original company including Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel and Daphne Rubin-Vega...
“It was a charmed, magical moment, because we were all very innocent and naïve,” said Rubin-Vega. “No can tell the future, but we have no idea the kind of impact that ‘Rent’ was going to have and continues to have.”
The final performance of "Rent" on Sunday will consist of an ensemble made of old cast members and new. Gwen Stewart, who originated the female solo in the iconic "Seasons of Love,” will bring the house down one last time.
“What's really special for me is that the meat of my solo was my doing,” said Stewart. “Jonathan allowed me to just sit with the song and fill in. It was just music at the time and he allowed me to sit with the song and just come up with some stuff, and it's been an honor.”
While the show is closing on Sunday night, the minutes will still continue to be counted, since the final performance will be captured on film and shown in movie theaters across America beginning on September 24.