RENT Will Return to the West End to Celebrate 30th Anniversary

And that was Rent Remixed which doesn't count at all.  (I am a big Kylie Minogue fan, and loved the concerts William Baker conceived/directed for her with Steve Anderson doing the concert mixes of her songs.  But how on Earth they were then able to do their first musical theatre piece--and it was a completely reworked Rent is beyond me.  I do remember Luke Evans being pretty good--the cast in general wasn't the issue.)

I saw Rent for the first time when I was 18 on a trip to London when I was living in Dublin a bit right after high school--so Summer of 1999.  I wasn't too excited for Rent (and had missed its first tour back in Vancouver, but felt I really should see it.)  And remember really liking it--and the audience was packed from what I remember.  So was surprised that it closed October of that year, only having run for a year and 5 months...

Hoping for Tom Francis…

steven22 said: "Hoping for Tom Francis…"

YES! I've been saying for a while now that I'd love to see him as Roger, and Casey Likes as Mark...

“How we gonna pay?”

Chris Harper will provide you your salary. :)

 

binau said: "I know why some people might be tired of RENT, it was on Broadway for so long. We had a dreadful movie with much of the original cast who were too old. We had the final performance filmed. We then had an off broadway revival that felt surprisingly stale. However, if you try and forget the legacy and the overexposure and just listen to the OBC recording again carefully I do think it’s hard not to recognise the show was groundbreaking, has some amazing performances and iconic songs. It also has been extremely influential in shows afterwards such as spring awakening, next to normal and Hamilton."

I have my own reservations about Rent, but today's young broadway audience barely had object permanence for any period of the original run. Why not give a full fledged Broadway revival? Worse shows have been given one for lesser reasons. 

Jordan Catalano said: "Tom Francis has already played Roger in the Hope Mill production in Manchester in 2020. The whole thing was filmed and streamed for anyone who wants to see it.

Here is Tom’s “One Song Glory”"

I’m personally hoping this revival is a remounting of the Hope Mill production…it really captured the gritty and raw feeling that rent provided at the time, and made it feel even more relevant. Not to mention Luke Sheppard directed it and since he just won the Olivier for Paddington, it makes sense for him to follow up with that…

also to the above user that said “today's young broadway audience barely had object permanence for any period of the original run” I absolutely agree with you…I think a lot of younger theatre kids (especially ones who’s first exposure was Wicked or Hamilton) do not understand that without Rent, we wouldn’t have Wicked or Hamilton or most of the Broadway shows that we have right now…hell even some revivals like Cats: The Jellicle Ball seem to take a lot of cues from Rent in terms of what musical theatre can be, the way it sounds and the kinds of stories that it can tell. So a revival can introduce this show to a new generation of theatre fans not only to this show but also the impact that it had on the art form. 

Updated On: 5/2/26 at 07:37 PM

Very curious as well

Sutton Ross said: "It's weird this is happening in London when it was created here, debuted here, and ran for years here before the West End premier. It's strange they are getting a full revival and we get a one night concert, which willprobably be impossible to even acquire a ticket to. Is Rent more popular in London than New York? Hmm."

Didn't Rent never play any sort of long run in London? Which is why they trotted out Rent Remixed to shake it up (badly)?

malcs98 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "Tom Francis has already played Roger in the Hope Mill production in Manchester in 2020. The whole thing was filmed and streamed for anyone who wants to see it.

Here is Tom’s “One Song Glory”"

I’m personally hoping this revival is a remounting of the Hope Mill production…it really captured the gritty and raw feeling that rent provided at the time, and made it feel even more relevant.Not to mention Luke Sheppard directed it and sincehe just won the Olivier for Paddington, it makes sense for him to follow up with that…"

The filmed version of the Hope Mill production was fine. It would need a lot of work if they chose to go that route. The socially distant staging was awkward for Rent - understandable given the circumstances, but really awkward.