Everything you need to know about 'RENT' in the West End

Jonathan Larson's masterpiece receives a thoroughly contemporary 30th anniversary revival this autumn directed by Luke Sheppard and starring Gaten Matarazzo.

Summary

• Rent celebrates its 30th anniversary this year
• The West End revival begins performances on 28 September
• Paddington director Luke Sheppard takes the reins
• The production marks Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo's West End debut
• The cast also includes Travis Ross; Bella Brown and Billy Nevers

It has been 30 years since the sudden and untimely death of RENT creator Jonathan Larson, and, subsequently, the show's premiere. Therefore, there could be no more fitting tribute than a revival of his masterpiece. First presented in 1996, RENT achieved a legion of devoted of fans known as “Rent Heads”, as well as a Pulitzer Prize. It is the 12th longest-running show to run on Broadway to date.

The show now receives a revival for the 2020s helmed by Paddington The Musical director Luke Sheppard, with a cast led by Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo.

Says Sheppard: “It's an honour to be bringing RENT into the West End for its 30th anniversary year, and a personal privilege to return to Jonathan Larson's extraordinary musical... This is RENT in the hands of a new generation of performers who love and adore this piece”. Read on to learn more about this modern classic ahead of its return to the West End.

Book RENT tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

What is RENT about?

Set in the 1990s, RENT is about a group of young people attempting to live creative lives in New York’s East Village. Roger is an aspiring filmmaker living with Mark, a washed-up musician who is HIV-positive and trying to write one great song before he dies. Roger falls in love with their neighbour Mimi, who is also HIV-positive. Their wider circle of quirky friends also attempt to live la vie boheme to its fullest. The show explores themes of creativity, sexuality, chosen family, gentrification, and living in the moment despite terminal illness. And, amid everything, the rent still has to be paid!

If you're thinking that this set-up sounds reminiscent of Puccini’s 1896 opera La bohème, you would be correct. In the opera, the characters live in Paris and exist under the shadow of tuberculosis.

Who wrote RENT?

RENT features music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. Born in 1960, Larson began songwriting as a student and started working on RENT in the early 1990s and many elements were based on his own experiences as a struggling artist in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic. Larson tragically died of an aortic dissection on 25 January 1996, the day before RENT’s first scheduled preview Off Broadway, aged 35. His semi-autobiographical musical tick, tick... BOOM! was first performed posthumously in 2001 and became a film in 2021.

When was RENT first performed?

Following Larson’s untimely death, RENT opened Off Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop. Directed by Michael Greif, the original cast included Anthony Rapp (Mark), Adam Pascal (Roger), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi), and Idina Menzel (Maureen). The show transferred to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre in April 1996, where it played until 7 September 2008 following 16 previews and 5,123 regular performances. To date, it is the 12th longest-running show to play on Broadway.

RENT premiered in the West End in 1998, where it played at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 18 months. This was followed by several limited runs at the Prince of Wales Theatre between 2001-03. In 2007, a reimagined version billed as Rent Remixed received largely negative reviews. The show was most recently seen in London at St James’s Theatre (now The Other Palace) in 2016, featuring Layton Williams and Lucie Jones.

What awards has RENT won?

The original Broadway production of RENT won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The original London production was nominated for three Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.

Is there a film version of RENT?

A feature film adaptation of RENT was released in 2005, directed by Chris Columbus with a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky. Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel (Maureen), and Taye Diggs reprised the roles that they originated on Broadway. They were joined by Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms as Mimi and Joanne respectively. The film received mixed reviews.

Where is RENT being performed?

The West End revival of RENT is being performed at the Tom Stoppard Theatre (until recently the Duke of York’s Theatre) on St Martin’s Lane. This playhouse seats approximately 650 audience members and currently hosts Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia until 12 September.

When is RENT being performed?

RENT begins performances on 28 September 2026 and is booking until 27 March 2027. Performances take place from Monday to Saturday at 7:30pm, with matinees on Fridays and Saturdays at 2:30pm.

How long is RENT?

The running time of RENT is to be confirmed, but, as a blueprint, the Broadway production ran at about 2 hours 30 minutes.

Who is in the cast of RENT?

Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo, who, at 23, is already something of a Broadway veteran (Sweeney Todd, Dear Evan Hansen) makes his West End debut as Mark. He is joined by Travis Ross (Cabaret) as Roger, Bella Brown (Into The Woods) as Mimi, Billy Nevers (Hamilton) as Collins, Lazy Violet (SIX) as Maureen, Olivier Award nominee Danielle Fiamanya (Brigadoon) as Joanne, Jeevan Braich (Starlight Express) as Angel, and Joaquin Pedro Valdes (The Frogs) as Benny.

Who is in the RENT creative team?

RENT is directed by Luke Sheppard, who led the multi award-winning juggernaut that is Paddington The Musical. His other credits include Starlight Express, Just for One Day, The Little Big Things, and & Juliet. He first directed RENT at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre in 2021, which featured Tom Francis as Roger.

The show also features choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), set design by David Woodhead (Kiss of the Spiderwoman), costume design by Gabriella Slade (SIX), lighting design by Howard Hudson (Starlight Express), and sound design by Paul Gatehouse (SIX).

What songs are in RENT?

RENT features the following numbers in its addictive rock score:

Act 1

"Tune Up #1" – Mark, Roger
"Voice Mail #1" – Mark's Mother
"Tune Up #2" – Mark, Roger, Collins, Benny
"Rent" – Mark, Roger, Collins, Benny, Joanne, and Company
"You Okay Honey?" – Christmas Caroler, Angel, Collins
"Tune Up #3" – Mark, Roger
"One Song Glory" – Roger
"Light My Candle" – Mimi, Roger
"Voice Mail #2" – Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson
"Today 4 U" – Collins, Roger, Mark, Angel
"You'll See" – Benny, Mark, Roger, Collins, Angel
"Tango: Maureen" – Joanne, Mark
"Life Support" – Paul, Gordon, Steve, Ali, Pam, Sue, Angel, Collins, Mark, Roger
"Out Tonight" – Mimi
"Another Day" – Mimi, Roger, Ensemble
"Will I?" – Steve and Company
"On the Street" – Christmas Carolers, Squeegee Man, Mark, Collins, Angel, Homeless Woman, Cops
"Santa Fe" – Collins, Angel, Mark, Ensemble
"I'll Cover You" – Angel, Collins
"We're Okay" – Joanne
"Christmas Bells" – Christmas Carolers, Saleswoman, Collins, Angel, Mark, Roger, Cops, The Man, Mimi, Benny, Company
"Over the Moon" – Maureen
"La Vie Bohème A" – Waiter, Mark, Roger, Collins, Benny, Mimi, Angel, Maureen, Joanne, Mr. Grey, and Company
"I Should Tell You" – Mimi, Roger
"La Vie Bohème B" – Joanne, Maureen, Mark, Angel, Collins, and Company

Act 2

"Seasons of Love A" – Company
"Happy New Year A" – Mimi, Roger, Mark, Maureen, Joanne, Collins, Angel
"Voice Mail #3" – Mark's Mother, Alexi Darling
"Happy New Year B" – Maureen, Mark, Joanne, Roger, Mimi, Collins, Angel, Benny, The Man
"Take Me or Leave Me" – Maureen, Joanne
"Seasons of Love B" – Company
"Without You" – Roger, Mimi
"Voice Mail #4" – Alexi Darling
"Contact" – Company
"I'll Cover You (Reprise)" – Collins and Company
"Halloween" – Mark
"Goodbye Love" – Mimi, Roger, Benny, Maureen, Joanne, Mark, Collins
"What You Own" – Mark, Roger
"Voice Mail #5" – Roger's Mother, Mimi's Mother, Mr. Jefferson, Mark's Mother
"Finale A" – Homeless People, Mark, Roger, Collins, Maureen, Joanne, Mimi
"Your Eyes" – Roger
"Finale B" – Roger, Mimi, Company

Who are the characters in RENT?

RENT features the following cast of creative and talented characters:

Mark Cohen: the show’s narrator; an aspiring filmmaker who has recently been dumped.
Roger Davis: Mark’s roommate, a formerly successful musician and recovering drug addict who is HIV-positive.
Mimi Márquez: Mark and Roger’s neighbour, a performer at the Cat Scratch Club and drug addict who becomes Roger’s love interest, and, like him, is HIV-positive.
Tom Collins: a gay professor with anarchist leanings who has AIDS.
Angel Dumott Schunard: a young drag queen who has AIDS and becomes Collins’s love interest.
Maureen Johnson: an extroverted performance artist and Mark’s ex.
Joanne Jefferson: an ambitious lawyer, for whom Maureen left Mark.
Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III: the landlord of the building where the friends live and their former roommate; now a yuppie sellout.

What are some fun facts about RENT?

• The first incarnation of RENT that was presented at New York Theatre Workshop featured 42 songs and a lengthy running time – Larson was sent away to make some structural changes!

• RENT received its first Off-Broadway performance almost exactly 100 years after La bohème premiered on 1 February 1896 at Teatro Regio in Turin.

• The Act 2 opener “Seasons of Love” (which begins with “Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes...”) has been pastiched on numerous occasions, including in the American version of The Office, when Michael Scott’s (Steve Carrell) colleagues serenade him with “9,986,000 Minutes” (the length of time he worked at Dunder Mifflin) on his last day.

• Other musicals inspired by operas include Aida (adapted by Elton John and Tim Rice from Verdi’s Aida) Carmen Jones (adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II and set to the music of Bizet’s Carmen), and Miss Saigon (adapted by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly).

• If you’re a fan of RENT, you’ll be sure to also enjoy The Jonathan Larson Project, playing at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 22 August. This show offers a unique window into Larson’s creative world, featuring previously unheard songs from his archive. It’s the perfect way to get into the mood for this major revival and deepen your understanding of Larson’s work.

Book RENT tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: Rent cast. (Courtesy of production)