‘Rent’ Is Officially Due at FOX With Live Musical Production
The networks are awash in live musicals, some more successful than others, and FOX has added yet another to its ranks. Hold on to your knit caps and break out the wine and beer, as Rent is getting the live musical treatment in the near future.
FOX confirmed as much Friday, setting the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning 1996 show as its next major live musical production after Grease. Additional details like casting and premiere dates are a long way off, but Grease: Live! helmer Marc Platt will nonetheless be back to executive produce.
The estate of writer-producer Jonathan Larson will also executive produce, saying:
Rent was Jonathan’s dream of sharing the theater and the passion he had for it with a whole new generation. None of us could have imagined the massive impact that the messages and themes in Rent would have on the theater community or the world … except for Jonathan. We are absolutely thrilled to be continuing Jonathan’s legacy and the still-relevant themes of the show in this way.
For those unfamiliar with the acclaimed musical (which was redone as a movie in 2005), Rent loosely approximates Puccini opera La bohème, following a group of artists and activists in New York’s East Village against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Among the original cast prevalent in Hollywood today, there’s Frozen voice Idina Menzel, The Flash star Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs and upcoming Star Trek: Discovery star Anthony Rapp – all of whom could potentially take part in FOX’s live version.
It could be some time yet before Rent gets on its feet, but viva la vie bohème, and stay tuned for the latest.