‘Rent,’ Reborn: How Star Gaten Matarazzo, Director Luke Sheppard and a Perfectly Cast West End Ensemble Are Giving the Musical Its Biggest Revival Yet — SkimNews
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- Gaten Matarazzo makes his West End debut as Mark Cohen in 'Rent' — his first lead role since 'Stranger Things' and the musical's first true revival in two decades, with previews beginning days before the article and opening night set for Oct. 8 at the newly renamed Tom Stoppard Theatre.
- Luke Sheppard directs, coming off his Olivier-winning 'Paddington the Musical' (which received a direct-to-Broadway order); this is his second attempt at staging 'Rent' after a pandemic-interrupted, socially distanced 2020 production at Manchester's tiny Hope Mill Theatre.
- The production marks the 30th anniversary of Jonathan Larson's original, which won a Tony for best musical and a Pulitzer for drama and ran on Broadway for 12 years — Larson died of an aortic dissection the night before previews began in January 1996.
- The mostly-twentysomething ensemble includes Travis Ross as Roger, Lazy Violet as Maureen, Jeevan Braich as Angel, and Alexa Lopez as Mimi, who replaced original casting Bella Brown just weeks before rehearsals after Brown dropped out due to a vocal injury.
- Matarazzo got his start on Broadway at age 9 in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' and 'Les Misérables,' and says he watched the 2005 'Rent' film '100 times' growing up — strangers told him 'one day' he'd play Mark, he recalls.
- Sheppard frames the revival as carrying 'a responsibility — a privilege — to being able to tell this story 30 years later, on behalf of the people who lived through' the AIDS crisis, retaining Larson's period and NYC setting.
Why it matters: Sheppard's revival — his second attempt after a pandemic-shutdown 2020 staging and his first major project post-'Paddington' — gives the 30-year-old AIDS-crisis musical rare directorial credibility. For Matarazzo, a Netflix star making his West End debut at 24, the Oct. 8 opening doubles as a career reset and a test of whether streamer-era fame translates into prestige-theater ticket sales.
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