Original Cast Reunites for 10th South Africa Anniversary with RENT IN CONCERT

Showtime Management will mark the tenth anniversary of the South African premiere of Jonathan Larson's RENT with RENT IN CONCERT at the Montecasino Teatro on 15 May 2017 at 20:00. "Rentheads", the nickname given to fans of the musical, and theatre-goers are certain to enjoy this one-night-only event.

This celebratory one-night fund-raising event features the much loved iconic and popular numbers from the stage production of RENT including "Seasons of Love", "Out Tonight", "Without You", "Will I" and "Take Me Or Leave Me" performed by the original South African cast, who will reunite especially for this concert. The Tony and Pulitzer Award-winning musical was produced by Showtime Management ten years ago at the Alexander Theatre in Braamfontein and the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.

Based loosely on Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHEME, RENT follows a year in the life of a group of friends struggling to make it in New York's East City Village as they struggle with relationships, drugs, loss, love, creativity, HIV/AIDS and paying their "rent". This concert version presents the entire score sung and performed with minimal staging. It is all about the music, the songs and the strength of the beautiful voices that will have audiences singing along and aims for them to be mesmerised, longing for more.

All proceeds go to HospiceWits whose "no end to caring" motto resonates with RENT's themes of love, friendship and support in the context of losing a loved one to a terminal illness. Joy Ruwodo, the marketing manager of HospiceWits comments:

HospiceWits has provided the highest quality of care and support to hundreds of thousands of hopeful patients and families affected by life-threatening illnesses in Johannesburg over the past 38 years. The funds provided by this event will be used for the continuation of that care in our compassionate environment which enables patients to feel supported and encouraged on the journey of life-threatening illness.

The cast is passionate about the concert and eager to give their time to support HospiceWits. All the 2007 leads, including Shaun V - who is flying in from Dubai - Duane Alexander, Aubrey Poo, Zane Gillion, Thokozani "Zano" Nzima, Talia Kodesh, Sivan Raphaely and Ilse Klink, together with fellow cast members Chantal Herman, Jaco Van Rensburg, Anton Luitingh, Megan Victor-Carelse and Lorri Strauss will be on stage along with Phillip Schnetler and Nicholas "Nicksoul" Nkuna, who are looking forward to joining the original performers.

With Luitingh and Alexander co-directing the concert, with Bryan Schimmel returning to supervise the music and lead the band along with Jill Somers, the choreographer.

What started as a light-hearted Facebook chat about getting together for the tenth anniversary of the local premiere of RENT is now becoming a reality. Hazel Feldman and Tony Feldman of Showtime Management, the original producers of RENT, are lending their full support to RENT IN CONCERT and Montecasino, the host, is providing the Teatro as the concert venue.

Bryan Hill, the general manager of the Teatro comments on the event:

RENT radically changed the Broadway musical in the 1990s, so in keeping with our vision to continually provide world class entertainment that is unique to our venue, the Teatro at Montecasino is thrilled to be hosting this once off event to raise money for a very hardworking organisation such as HospiceWits.

Technical companies Gearhouse Splitbeam, ProSound and Computicket have donated their services while Music Theatre International New York and the Jonathan Larson Estate have waivered performance royalties, therefore greatly assisting in raising funds for HospiceWits. Tickets for this one-night-only concert are limited and patrons are encouraged to book at Computicket as soon as possible.

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