RENT: The Broadway Tour Arrives At PPAC 11/17-22

Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum and Allan S. Gordon are pleased to announce that Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal and Gwen Stewart will reprise the roles they originated in RENT: THE BROADWAY TOUR, coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center, November 17 - 22, 2009.

Joining Pascal, Rapp, and Stewart are Nicolette Hart (Maureen Johnson), Justin Johnston (Angel Schunard), Lexi Lawson (Mimi Marquez), Michael McElroy (Tom Collins), Jacques C. Smith (Benjamin Coffin III), and Haneefah Wood (Joanne Jefferson). The ensemble includes Toby Blackwell, Shaun Earl, Adam Halpin, Trisha Jeffrey, Joshua Kobak, MiRi Park, Andy Señor, Caren Tackett, Shelley Thomas, and Brandon Uranowitz. Johnston, McElroy and Stewart were part of the final company of RENT when it closed on Broadway in September 2008.

RENT: THE BROADWAY TOUR is directed by Michael Greif, who received 1996 Tony and Drama Desk nominations as well as the Obie Award for RENT. Marlies Yearby, who received a Tony Award nomination for her work on the musical, choreographs the show and Tim Weil, the show's original music supervisor and conductor, serves as music supervisor.

RENT, which is inspired by Puccini's La Bohème, follows a group of impoverished artists in New York's East Village, as they struggle to find their voices, to connect to each other, and to survive. Despite the bleak setting and the looming specter of H.I.V. and AIDS, RENT is ultimately a celebration of life and hope. The show won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. Jonathan Larson, whose own artistic struggle also inspired RENT, did not live to see the show's extraordinary success; he died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 35, just hours after the show's final dress rehearsal off-Broadway.

Rapp said, "[Larson] changed musical theater. RENT proves that you can take commercial risks and be successful. So it encourages producers to think outside the box. I don't think Spring Awakening would have happened without RENT. I don't think Avenue Q would have happened without RENT. The show also transformed young people's relationship to theatre. It introduced many, many young people to the idea that theatre could mean something to them, and they have returned for the other shows that have followed."

RENT's performance dates and times are: Tuesday, November 17 at 8P; Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30P; Thursday, November 19 at 7:30P; Friday, November 20 at 8P; Saturday, November 21 at 2P & 8P; and Sunday, November 22 at 1P & 6:30P.

Tickets for RENT are on sale now and can be purchased at the PPAC Box Office, located at 220 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence, Monday through Friday, 10A - 5P; Saturday, 10A - 2P; and through curtain time(s) on show days. Patrons can also purchase tickets online at www.ppacri.org or by calling (401) 421-ARTS (2787). Tickets for Friday/Saturday Evenings and Saturday/Sunday Matinees are $68, $58, $53, and $43; all other performances are $63, $53, $48, and $38. All ticket prices include a $3 restoration fee.

Discounts are available for groups of 20 or more. For more information, contact Group Sales Representative Paul Hiatt at phiatt@ppacri.org or at (401) 574-3162.

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