Rapp and Pascal Together Again in Broadway's Rent

By Kenneth Jones
30 Jul 2007

Anthony Rapp in the original Broadway company of Rent.
Anthony Rapp in the original Broadway company of Rent.
photo by Joan Marcus

Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, who created the respective roles of bohemians Roger and Mark in the Broadway sensation Rent more than a decade ago, return to those roles July 30 at the Nederlander Theatre.

Pascal was a Tony Award nominee for playing the musician-songwriter who has muse issues. Both he and Rapp re-created their roles for the film version of the 1996 musical by late composer-lyricist-librettist Jonathan Larson.

Rapp plays young filmmaker Mark Cohen in the East Village-set show inspired by Puccini's La Boheme. The actors will be with the show for six weeks.

"American Idol" veteran Tamyra Gray is Roger's Mimi.

The musical is about love, friendship, creativity and connection in the age of AIDS. The musical won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Among post-Rent gigs for the actors: Pascal (himself a musician-singer) would later appear in Broadway's Aida and Cabaret, and Rapp played the title character in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway.

Both Pascal and Rapp appeared in the 1995-96 New York Theatre Workshop Off-Broadway production of Rent that was swept on a wave of praise to Broadway in 1996. Michael Greif directed.

Larson, the show's young composer-lyricist-librettist, died on the eve of the Off-Broadway bow. The cause was a then-undiagnosed heart ailment.

For more information about Broadway's Rent, visit www.siteforrent.com.

Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, seen here in the original Broadway company of Rent, rejoin the Broadway show.
Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, seen here in the original Broadway company of Rent, rejoin the Broadway show.
photo by Joan Marcus