 – Winner of four Tony’s in 1996 and a Pulitzer Prize for drama, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre opens with “Rent” on Saturday, February 26 at the Arts…){kind=link}
(NWPR-IN) – Winner of four Tony’s in 1996 and a Pulitzer Prize for drama, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre opens with “Rent” on Saturday, February 26 at the Arts United Center, located in this city’s downtown. Showtime begins at 8:00 pm, directed by Ranae Butler.
Music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson (1960-1996) “Rent” is a rock opera based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La bohème, tells a story about a group of young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
Shown initially in 1994, in a limited three-week workshop production, at New York Theatre Workshop, an off-Broadway theatre was also the musical’s initial home following its official January 25, 1996 opening. Larson passed suddenly the night before the premiere, however the production was a hit and on April 29, 1996, it opened at Broadway’s larger Nederlander Theatre.
Among other awards in 1996, “Rent” gained critical acclaim, taking the Tony for the Best Musical, including a Pulitzer Prize for drama. After a 12-year run and 5,124 performances, the Broadway production closed on September 7, 2008, which made it the ninth-longest-running Broadway show by that time, grossing over $280 million. Also in 2005, it was adapted into a motion picture that features most of the original cast members.
“Rent” runs through March 13 and for other performance dates and tickets, call 260.424.5220 or see: www.fwcivic.org.