One Night Only, Idina Menzel and Rent's Original Cast Reunite
Thirty years on, the first Broadway company reunites at the Richard Rodgers for a sold-out benefit concert, with a $30 livestream for everyone else
The Richard Rodgers Theatre on West 46th Street is sold out for Monday, October 26, and it did not take long. Playbill reports that seats for the *Rent* 30th anniversary concert went almost as soon as they were offered.
That leaves two ways in. One is a lottery. The other is a laptop.
The Room
Curtain is at 8 pm. It is a one-night-only concert of the full show, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is producing it as a benefit with Andy Jones, founder of Baseline Theatrical. Jones started out as an assistant company manager, then company manager, on the original Broadway production.
Michael Greif, who directed *Rent* the first time around, is back to direct. Tim Weil, the original music director, will lead original band members Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter and Daniel A. Weiss, joined by Steve Gelfand.
The New York Theater calendar for October lists the evening among the month's openings and special events. Its note is short. In-person seats are gone and only the stream remains.
Who Is Coming Back
Idina Menzel heads the list. According to Broadway Cares, the original cast members returning are Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Fredi Walker-Browne, Yassmin Alers, Gilles Chiasson, Shelley Dickinson, David Driver, Darius de Haas and Rodney Hicks.
*Rent* alumni set to join them are Natalie Venetia Belcon, Adam Chanler-Berat, Nicholas Christopher, Merle Dandridge, Trey Ellett, Jordan Fisher, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jose Llana, John Eric Parker, Jai Rodriguez, Antonique Smith, Ephraim Sykes and Aaron Tveit.
More of the cast will be announced in the coming weeks, and the organizers say performers are subject to change. Treat the list as the lineup so far.
Thirty Years After the East Village
Jonathan Larson's musical set *La Bohème* in the East Village of the AIDS era. It began at New York Theatre Workshop and moved to the Nederlander Theatre in 1996. The Broadway run lasted 5,123 performances and closed on September 7, 2008, per Broadway Cares.
Playbill adds the part of the story that never gets easier to read. Larson died suddenly the night before the first preview at the Workshop.
That history is why the benefit matters here. Broadway Cares says its grants reach 494 organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. ViiV Healthcare is the presenting sponsor.
The poster is new and old at once. Naomi Mizusaki, who made the show's first ad, and Drew Hodges, who led the original design team, built it for the anniversary. Hodges told Broadway Cares what he was after.
"I really wanted to make something that has the spirit of the original, something as disruptive as the first." Drew Hodges
Watching From Home
The stream is produced with The League of Live Stream Theater. A livestream ticket costs $30 and includes a 24-hour replay window. The stream opens about an hour before showtime, and the organizers suggest logging in by 7:30 pm Eastern. Pre-show content may be announced closer to the night.
The Gates Foundation will match donations from every livestream ticket purchased, up to $525,600. Fans of the score will recognize the number. It is also the count of minutes in a year.
Broadway Cares says details on a limited number of special lottery tickets for the live performance arrive at 2 pm Eastern on Tuesday, October 13. It also warns that it cannot guarantee tickets bought from third-party sellers, and that invalid ones will not be honored at the door.
Reunions are having a season. Up on 57th Street, the 2016 *Falsettos* revival company is heading to Carnegie Hall, as we noted in Whizzer Comes Back.
What to Know Before You Go
The concert is Monday, October 26, at 8 pm at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th Street. In-person tickets are sold out. The livestream is $30 through the League of Live Stream Theater, with a replay for 24 hours afterward. Watch the Broadway Cares page on Tuesday afternoon for the lottery.
Most of the city will hear it from a sofa. A full house will hear it from the seats. On West 46th Street, for one night, original players in the pit tune up again.
