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Rent's 20th anniversary

Stacey MacNaught |

rentA new production, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Rent, will launch with a UK tour beginning in October at Theatr Clwyd. A Christmas season will follow at St. James Theatre, London, visiting His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen, Malvern Festival Theatre and Wycombe Swan in between for a three week tour. The new production will be directed by Bruce Guthrie and a highly acclaimed cast make up the creative team. Jonathan Larson’s musical, inspired by Puccini’s opera La Bohème, won four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. Rent ran on Broadway for 12 years, from 1996 to 2008, and premiered in London’s West End in 1998 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it ran for 18 months. It was adapted into a film in 2005. The musical tells the story of a group of bohemian artists who struggle to maintain their friendships and non-conformist ideals in New York's East Village. The group face their problems head on, making personal self-discoveries and finding out what matters most in life. The well-known score features songs such as Seasons of Love, Take Me or Leave Me, La Vie Bohème, Out Tonight, I Should Tell You and the title song, Rent. The tour anticipates introducing Rent to a new generation of musical theatre fans whilst simultaneously serving its dedicated ones. The music demonstrates a microcosm of life and it will be a special moment to celebrate 20 years of the show. The new production will have Choreography by Lee Proud, Set Design by Olivier Award-winner Anna Fleischle and Costume Design by Loren Elstein, with Lighting Design by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rick Fisher, Sound Design by Olivier Award-winner Mike Walker, Video Design by Andrzej Goulding, Musical Direction by Phil Cornwell and Casting by Will Burton Casting. It was originally produced in New York by New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Alan S. Gordon and New York Theatre Workshop.