Photo Flash: First Look at New Line Theatre's RENT

New Line continues its 23rd season with Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize winning, long-running rock opera RENT. This cheerfully transgressive, 1990s rock/pop riff on the classic story, set in New York City's East Village, is best described in its creator's own words: "In these dangerous times, where it seems the world is ripping apart at the seams, we can all learn how to survive from those who stare death squarely in the face every day and we should reach out to each other and bond as a community, rather than hide from the terrors of life at the end of the millennium." BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!.

The cast of New Line's Rent includes Jeremy Hyatt (Mark), Evan Fornachon (Roger), Anna Skidis (Mimi), Luke Steingruby (Angel), Marshall Jennings (Collins), Sarah Porter (Maureen), Cody LaShea (Joanne), Shawn Bowers (Benny), Kevin Corpuz, Robert Lee Davis III, Zachary Allen Farmer, Ryan Foizey, Wendy Greenwood, Melissa Harris, Nellie Mitchell, and Marcy Wiegert. The show will be directed by Scott Miller and Mike Dowdy, with scenic and lighting design by Rob Lippert, costume design by Sarah Porter and Marcy Wiegert, and sound design by Kerrie Mondy.

Rent is so many things to so many people. As Larson said, "It's about celebrating life, even in the face of death." It was the first musical in decades that younger audiences really identified with, that speaks in their voice, that voices their concerns, that tackles their issues. It breathed new commercial life into the Broadway musical, possibly signaling the beginning of the end of the great divide between pop music and theatre music, which has existed since the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s, and heralding a new Golden Age of American musical theatre.

Rent was nominated for a staggering ten Tony Awards and won four, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. It also won six Drama Desk Awards, three Obie Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Drama League Award. And the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The original production ran more than twelve years and over five thousand performances - it's still one of the top ten longest running musicals in Broadway history - and the recent off Broadway revival, opening just three years after the original closed, ran another year.

RENT runs March 6-29, 2014, Thurs. through Sat. evenings, all at 8:00 p.m., at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. March 6 is a preview. Click here for directions.

Tickets are on sale now through Metrotix outlets, including the Fox Theatre box office. Tickets are$15 for adults and $10 for students/seniors on Thursdays; and $20 for adults and $15 for students/seniors on Fridays and Saturdays. To charge tickets by phone, call Metrotix at 314-534-1111 or visit the Fox Theatre box office or the Metrotix website. This show contains adult content.

Photo Credit: Jill Ritter Lindberg