'Rent', the hit Broadway musical , opens in Catalan language
This production coincides with the 20th anniversary of its original premiere.
Musical fans are in luck: Rent, which has already been on the billboard in Barcelona, in a 1999 production in Spanish, is back with renewed energy, directed by the prolific Daniel Anglès, responsible for Mamma Mia! and Los Miserables, among other musicals.
Rent premiered in New York in the early 1990s, just two days after the death of its creator, Jonathan Larson. It's based on La bohème by Giacomo Puccini but was brought up to date for the times of its premiere. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young people, bohemian artists and musicians who are surviving in the Lower East Side during the resurgence of Alphabet City, while living under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic.
It's a rock opera that went from a hit on the alternative scene to a landmark of the genre, transforming the aesthetic canons of its time. It enjoyed a 12-year run on the New York billboard and has won a number of prestigious awards, including a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
The production in Barcelona will be performed in a unique venue: the Casino de l'Aliança de Poblenou, where it is set to open on the 26th of January. Accompanying director Daniel Anglès is a brilliant cast featuring some of the most promising talent on the Catalan musical drama scene, including Nil Bofill, Víctor Arbelo, Mireia Orrit, Xavi Navarro, Albert Bolea, Anna Herevia, Queralt Albinyana, Oriol Burés, Jana Gómez, Víctor Gómez, Edgar Martínez, Lucía Torres and Ivan Valero, as well as consolidated names like Roger Berruezo.