"American Idol" Diva Tamyra Gray Is Mimi in Rent May 29-Nov. 25. Break a leg Tamyra!!!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 4:26am

Tamyra Gray, the popular first season finalist of "American Idol," joins the cast of Broadway's Rent May 29, playing dancer-muse Mimi Marquez.

Gray, who finished in fourth place on "Idol," will don latex pants in the show through Nov. 25 at the Nederlander Theatre.

Her castmastes include Haven Burton, T.V. Carpio, Luther Creek, Tonya Dixon, D'Monroe, Shaun Earl, Christopher J. Hanke, Nicolette Hart, Troy Horne, Tim Howar, Marcus Paul James, Telly Leung Andy Señor, Maia Nkenge, Wilson Karmine Alers, Crystal Monée Hall, Owen Johnston II, Moeisha McGill, Todd E. Pettiford and Kyle Post.

Michael Greif directs the 1996 musical, and checks in on the production once a month he recently told Playbill.com.

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After "American Idol," Tamyra Gray landed a recurring role on the hit television series "Boston Public" as well as guest spots on shows such as "What I Like About You" and "All of Us." She's no stranger to Broadway: Gray made her Broadway debut in the Bollywood-themed musical Bombay Dreams.

She penned the songs "I Believe" for "Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino (who is now on Broadway in The Color Purple) and "You Thought Wrong" for first season champion Kelly Clarkson. Gray also appeared in the film "The Gospel."

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As previously reported, original Rent stars Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark) will re-create their roles on Broadway July 30-Sept. 9. Pascal and Rapp also re-created their roles in the 2005 movie version of the musical, which has book, music and lyrics by he late Jonathan Larson.

Rent plays at the Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41 Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM, and Sunday at 2 PM & 7 PM. Tickets, priced $45-$100, can be purchased by calling TicketMaster at [phone]. A limited number of $20 tickets are available day of performance at the box office.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 11:14am

Anyone seeing her tonight?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 2:45pm

Judging by the lack of any response to your original post, I don't think many people care she's going into RENT.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 2:47pm

I'm really curious to hear about how she is, since she'll be Adam's Mimi -- if anyone goes, please do post about it! She can certainly sing, so I've got my hopes up that she's as great as she probably has the potential to be.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:00pm

I will likely be attending Adam and Anthony's first performance...so I'll also see Tamyra's Mimi then!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 6:04pm

I'm sure she'll do much better than how I have heard Scary Spice did!

[elphieisperky]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 6:09pm

"I will likely be attending Adam and Anthony's first performance...so I'll also see Tamyra's Mimi then!"

I'm going to their first performance...so I guess I'll see Tamyra too. I'm sure she'll do a good job. I always liked her voice.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/30/07 at 12:16pm

There was a thread about this already!