On Monday night, members of the original Broadway cast of Rent—the iconic rock opera that dropped the plot of La Bohème into Alphabet City during the HIV/AIDS crisis—united with a sprawling company of theater talent to celebrate the show’s 30th birthday before a sold-out crowd at New York’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
Rent played its first preview off-Broadway, at the New York Theatre Workshop, on January 25, 1996—the same day that Jonathan Larson, its 35-year-old composer and librettist, died suddenly at his home in Manhattan. Three months later, on April 29, it opened at the Nederlander Theatre, going on to earn 10 Tony nominations (the most of any production that season) and four wins, including for best musical. After making stars of its young actors, including Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, and Idina Menzel, Rent’s subsequent iterations across the country, in regional and touring productions, also helped to launch the careers of performers like Aaron Tveit, Brandon Uranowitz, and Norbert Leo Butz. (Its Broadway run ended in 2008, after a dozen years and 5,123 regular performances.)
Celebrity guests at Rent during its first year on Broadway:
Barbara Walters and David Geffen on Rent’s opening night, 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Christie Brinkley on opening night.
Photo: Getty Images
Isabella Rossellini on opening night.
Photo: Getty Images
Shirley MacLaine at a performance of Rent in May 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Jodie Foster seeing Rent in May 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward at Rent in May 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Cher seeing the show in May 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise at a performance in May 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Jim Carrey at a performance in July 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
Eddie Murphy at a performance of Rent in October 1996.
Photo: Getty Images
