My cousin is doing Rent this year with her children's theater company. She is 17. It was first going to be done during the season where they section off the kids into age groups. So you had to be 16 to 19 to be in Rent. Now they are going to do it where 13 to 19 can audition. How young is too young to do Rent?
Plenty of 13 year olds listen to Rent so I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to preform it. I think a lot of 13 year olds are mature enough to handle it. Is it a little weird for a 13 year old to be doing Rent? Maybe, but that is a matter of opinion, and it is a youth production.
I've seen Rent school Edition and its laughably tame. I mean I actually laughed out loud when they said "To homosexuals, lesbians too" instead of "to faggots, lezzies, dykes, cross dressers too". I mean really?