Rent tour opens tonight at Hobby Center

April 29, 2:57 PMHouston Theater ExaminerJulia Temlyn

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The cast of Rent singing "La Vie Boheme." Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

The official tour of the groundbreaking, award-winning Broadway musical Rent opens tonight, Wednesday, April 29, at the Hobby Center for Performing Arts, as part of the Theatre Under the Stars current season.

The show is here for a special 5-day engagement, and is scheduled to close on Sunday, May 3.

This tour features Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark), both veterans of the original Broadway cast.

Rent was inspired by and is based on Puccini’s opera, La Boheme and, according to press notes, "tells the story of a group of young artists struggling in New York's East Village in the early 1990's and the obstacles they face, including AIDS, homelessness, poverty, lack of healthcare, and homophobia."

Rent was written by Jonathan Larson, and first premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, where it quickly sold out. After its limited engagement was extended, it finally moved to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996. It closed on September 7, 2008 after more than 12 years, and is currently the 7th longest running show on Broadway. Its relevance to today's culture has garnered the show a huge following of fans who are known as Rentheads.

Rent took home many prestigious awards when it opened on Broadway in 1996, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, the Drama League Award for Best Musical, and many more.

For all performances, 32 seats in the front two rows of the orchestra section will be available for $20 via a lottery system. (These seats easily go for $50 and up!) Visit the following link for more information on the Rent ticket lottery.

According to TUTS policies, "an audio described performance is available Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 2 p.m.; open captioning Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 7:30p.m. The Hobby Center is wheelchair accessible.  Student and senior (60+) discount tickets are available one hour before performance at the box office only.  Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more and may be purchased by calling (713) 558-8888 or via email at  groupsales@tuts.com."

Note: Due to mature themes and language, this musical is not recommended for children under the age of 13.

For more info: Call TUTS at (713) 558-8887 or (888) 558-3882, or visit their website at www.TUTS.org.