Connecticut Repertory Theatre Presents RENT This Month

Connecticut Repertory Theatre rounds out its 2022-2023 season with Jonathan Larsons's revolutionary rock musical, RENT. This Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical previews April 20 and runs April 21 - April 30 in the Nafe Katter Theatre in the UConn Fine Arts Complex.

Based loosely on Puccini's La Boheme, Jonathan Larson's RENT follows a group of impoverished young artists and musicians in New York's Lower East Side as they struggle with gentrification, love, loss, and drug use during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Reviewing the show in 1996, NY Times critic Ben Brantley called RENT "a show steeped in the chiaroscuro of bright young lives amid mortal shadows." Through songs including "One Song Glory," "I'll Cover You," "Out Tonight," and "Seasons of Love," RENT reminds us to live life with hope and joy in the face of uncertainty. A celebration of resilience, connection, and community. La Vie Boheme!

"Jonathan Larson's ferocious characters don't just give in to love. They chase it, name it, claim it, and celebrate it. And they do so with their eyes open, knowing that to love means being vulnerable to loss, pain, and grief," says CRT Artistic Director Megan Monaghan Rivas.

Nate Bertone directs the company, which includes guest artist Owen Ing in the role of Angel Dumott Schunard. Musical Direction is by UConn's Dmitriy Glivinskiy. "The infusion of emotion that we receive from music is especially potent in Rent. I'm thrilled that CRT gets to partner with UConn's Department of Music on this project," says Rivas.

RENT is recommended for mature audiences 13 and up (language, adult situations, drug use, and references to suicide, self-harm, homelessness, and homophobia).

The production is co-sponsored by UConn's Rainbow Center.

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