Musical Theatre West to Present RENT December 11-20 at Long Beach Performing Arts Center

Musical Theatre West is proud to announce their production of the Jonathan Larson Tony Award-Winning Broadway Smash, RENT. Rent will run December 11-20, 2009 at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center located at 6200 Atherton Street, Long Beach, CA 90815.

Musical Theatre West is proud to present RENT at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center

Rent is one of the most popular stage musicals in theater history. With a twelve year run on Broadway, the show is an update of the Puccini opera La Boheme, but takes place in late 20th century New York. The gritty subject material, powerful songs, and tragic death of the young creator combined to make the show a new icon of modern musical theater. Writer and composer Jonathan Larson set out to transform the tragic opera La Boheme into a modern day New York setting, complete with rock music. The story of Rent follows the lives of a group of young artists in New York City's East Village. In addition to being too poor to pay rent on their apartments, several of the members of the group are HIV positive. The play revolves around three couples, Collins and the cross-dressing Angel, the often-fighting Mimi and Roger, and the always-fighting Joanne and Maureen. The final member of the group is Mark, a filmmaker who spends more time taping the lives of his friends than he spends living his own life. All of the members of the group refuse to live a traditional lifestyle, embracing bohemian concepts and surviving as well as they can.

In 1996, the Broadway community would award Rent four Tony awards, for Best Musical, Best Book in a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who played Angel.

Tickets go on sale on June 1, 2009 and will range from $30-$80. All tickets will be available by calling the Box Office at 562-856-1999 x 4, at the Box Office in person at 4350 E 7th Street, Long Beach (corner of Ximeno Avenue) or online at www.musical.org.

Under the direction of Executive Director/Producer Paul Garman, Musical Theatre West remains one of Southern California's oldest and most respected theater production companies, and continues to be one of the fastest-growing arts organizations in the Long Beach area. The company is enjoying its 56th season and is currently celebrating eleven years since their inaugural production at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. MTW has recently reached out to surrounding communities, performing at the Heritage Forum in Anaheim.

The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 Atherton Street, Long Beach, on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. The theater is just west of Palo Verde Avenue. For more information please log on to www.musical.org.