Rent casting opinions

I'm going to be directing a production of Rent this summer and I wanted to get some other opinions on how the show needs to be cast. From the materials that I have already read from the licensing agent (MTI) it is specified that it should be an ethnically diverse cast - but it does not specify any particular ethnicity for individual characters. I think that with the last name of Marquez, Mimi should be Latino - but what of other characters? For example, would it work to have an African American actess play Maureen and have a caucasian Joanne? Or are there reasons (other than it is simply how the original Bway production was cast) for certain characters having a certain ethnicity? What do you think?

You should cast the most talented, dynamic people. The show should be racially diverse in order to give some authenticity to the lower east side community depicted in the show, but the specific ethnicities of each individual character is not that important. In the final Broadway cast, Mimi was African American and Maurine was Latina. They were both excellent.

I would agree with the above posters. There is no reason why Roger couldn't be black if he is strong and dynamic, or why Benny and Collins couldn't be white or hispanic. It's really about the texture of the individual performer vis-a-vis the role.