Original Broadway Rent cast reunites for 30th anniversary concert in New York

Thirty years after it first opened on Broadway, Rent brought its original company back together in New York. Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp and Daphne Rubin-Vega were among the members of the 1996 cast who reunited on 26 October for a one night only concert of the full show at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, staged as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The evening marked the 30th anniversary of Jonathan Larson's rock musical. In person tickets sold out, and Playbill called Rent a cultural touchstone. CBS News New York also covered the reunion, which drew a long list of Rent alumni and Broadway guests to the stage alongside the original company.

The original cast returns

According to Playbill, fifteen members of the original Broadway cast took part: Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Taye Diggs, Fredi Walker-Browne, Timothy Britten Parker, Yassmin Alers, Gilles Chiasson, Shelley Dickinson, David Driver, Darius de Haas, Byron Utley and Rodney Hicks.

Many of them played the roles that made their names. The 1996 company famously included a group of largely unknown performers who went on to become stars, and several later appeared in the 2005 film adaptation.

Playbill's video report from the concert shows the full company singing "Seasons of Love", the song most associated with the musical, taken from the filmed performance.

Who else joined the line up?

The original cast was joined by more than 50 performers. They included Neil Patrick Harris, Rachel Zegler, Aaron Tveit, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Norbert Leo Butz, Jordan Fisher, Tracie Thoms, Eden Espinosa, Natalie Venetia Belcon, Nicholas Christopher, Merle Dandridge, Wilson Cruz, Jose Llana, Ephraim Sykes, Adam Chanler-Berat and Telly Leung, along with many more alumni of the long Broadway run and its tours.

Who was behind the concert?

Michael Greif, who directed the original production, returned to direct the evening. Tim Weil, the original music supervisor, led the musicians, who included fellow original pit players Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter and Daniel A. Weiss, joined by Steve Gelfand. Marlies Yearby, the original choreographer, also returned.

A benefit for Broadway Cares

The event was produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS with Andy Jones, founder of Baseline Theatrical. Kevin McCollum, one of the original Broadway producers of Rent, was among the guests on the red carpet.

"Jonathan wrote Rent in honor of the people he knew who were living and struggling with HIV and in honor of the many friends and contemporaries he lost to AIDS," Michael Greif said ahead of the concert. "I know he'd be proud and honored to join forces with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to celebrate the 30th year anniversary of his milestone musical."

The concert was also streamed for a limited period for viewers around the world. That stream closed at 11pm New York time on 27 October.

Why the anniversary matters

Rent began life at New York Theatre Workshop, off Broadway, before transferring to the Nederlander Theatre in 1996. Its story follows a group of young artists in the East Village living in the shadow of HIV and AIDS, and it reworks Puccini's opera La Bohème with a rock score.

Larson died suddenly, aged 35, on the night before the first preview at New York Theatre Workshop, and never saw the show become a hit. The Broadway production went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and played for 12 years and 5,123 performances before closing on 7 September 2008.

The West End revival

In London, a new production of Rent is playing at the Tom Stoppard Theatre, where it began previews on 26 September 2026 and runs until 29 May 2027. Directed by Luke Sheppard, it stars Gaten Matarazzo as Mark, with Travis Ross, Alexa Lopez, Billy Nevers, Lazy Violet, Danielle Fiamanya, Jeevan Braich and Joaquin Pedro Valdes.

The production grew out of the 2020 Hope Mill Theatre staging in Manchester and is presented in the West End to mark the same 30th anniversary that was celebrated on Broadway on 26 October.

Our Rent page has dates and tickets for the Tom Stoppard Theatre.

More to read

• The 30th anniversary revival announced for the West End
• See the rehearsal images from the London company
• Read what the critics said about the London revival
• Details of the extension to 29 May 2027

Header image: The West End production of Rent at the Tom Stoppard Theatre, with Gaten Matarazzo and the company. Photo: Pamela Raith.