The winners are Mark Christine of Massillon, OH and the University of Michigan; Aliza Kennerly of Newark, NJ, and Princeton University; and Chris Legentil of Washington Township, NJ, and Rowan University.

The winners will be brought to New York on March 4 when they will see Rent at the Nederlander Theatre and meet the cast after the performance. The next day, they will each have a work session with Rent casting director Bernard Telsey in preparation for an audition with Rent director Michael Greif and the show's producers.

"One or more of the three may end up with an offer to join the show's cast," according to the announcement.

Rent's producers and casting directors have held open call auditions for roles in the show's Broadway and touring productions throughout the country since the show's beginning in 1996.

"The wannabeinrent.com talent search, which was designed to reach people who might not be able to get to an open audition, continues the musical's tradition of looking for and finding exciting new talent as it has done from its very beginning," according to the announcement. "Over 1,000 talented young actors registered and from them 15 finalists were chosen.  Their auditions were posted at the wannabeinrent.com website and the three winners were selected by a vote of visitors to the site.  About 100,000 discrete votes were cast." On Feb. 10, Rent becomes the 10th longest running show on Broadway, surpassing the original run of Fiddler on the Roof.

The current cast of Rent includes Mayumi Ando, Maggie Benjamin (Maureen), Matt Caplan (Mark), D'Monroe (Benny), Shaun Earl, Mark Richard Ford (Collins), Danielle Lee Greaves (Joanne), Colin Hanlon, Justin A. Johnston (Angel), Catrice Joseph, original cast member Kristen Lee Kelly, Jeremy Kushnier (Roger), Destan Owens, Enrico Rodriguez, and Krystal L. Washington (Mimi).