CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

‘Rent’ 20th Anniversary Tour: Musical Returns to L.A.

Variety: The production of “Rent” that opens tomorrow in L.A. may be the 20th anniversary tour of the Broadway hit, but the rock musical, which changed the face of HIV awareness two decades ago, arrives at the Pantages Theater at a political moment that could see the show take on new resonance.

“If you’re not insured, if you don’t have access to health care, if you’ve just been thrown off your insurance by this Republican administration, trust me, it may as well be 1996,” said Tom Viola, the longtime executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “That is a very scary proposition. I think seeing ‘Rent’ today will allow folks to come together to push back on that.”

1 comment:

Evan Schild said...

Rent was one of my favorite shows for years. I saw the off broadway "revival" around 7 times. I love rent. I however feel like it is being over done. The show closed only in 2008 which is around 9 years ago. And than the off broadway remount closed only a couple years ago. I feel like that Rent is being over done way too much. I understand how the show is still relevant and how so many people ove. But if they keep doing remount after remount the show is going to lose whats special about it. This tour should be done in 5 years to honor the 25th anniversary of the show not 20 year anniversary. Hopefully the show won't be revived so much the people start to not like it or it being one of the shows that is just being done to be done like gypsy being revived three times in the past 16 years, with the third one being revived next year.