It was already announced that Rent cast members will sing "Seasons of Love" at the event, which is part of the Broadway For Life free lunchtime series. Menzel, who received a Tony nomination for originating the role of Maureen on Broadway and who will reprise it in the movie, will also duet with Tracie Thoms on "Take Me or Leave Me"Menzel, who will next appear in Michael John LaChiusa's See What I Wanna See at the Public Theatre, received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her turn as Elphaba inWicked. The star, who is well-known for her belting prowess, played Amneris in Broadway's Aida, portrayed Kate in Andrew Lippa's off-Broadway musical The Wild Party and appeared in the City Center Encores! production of Hair, as well as in the Actors' Fund Benefit Concert of Funny Girl. The burgeoning film actress will also be seen in Ask the Dust, starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek.
TheRent film, which is directed by Chris Columbus (who adapted Jonathan Larson's book with Stephen Chbosky), will be released by Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios on November 11th. The original cast--Menzel, Taye Diggs, Wilson
Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Adam Pascal and
Anthony Rapp--is intact but for Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker; their respective roles of Mimi and Joanne will be played by Rosario Dawson and Thoms.Rent, which won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is set in the East Village, where a group of artists
love and live La Vie Boheme even under the shadow of poverty, failure,
illness and death.To learn more about the Rent film, visit Rent">www.sonypictures.com/Rent.
