FOX has announced the full cast for the upcoming live musical event Rent, airing Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019(7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed). The cast includes alums from So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and more.
Actress Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud), Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Brandon Victor Dixon (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert), singer/songwriter Jordan Fisher (Hamilton, 2017 winner of Dancing with the Stars Co-Host Dancing with the Stars Juniors), actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens (Judge, So You Think You Can Dance, Second Act, Grease: Live), newcomer and singer/songwriter Brennin Hunt (Nashville), R&B/Pop superstar Mario (Empire), recording artist Tinashe (Dancing with the Stars) and performer Valentina (RuPaul’s Drag Race) are set to star in the highly anticipated live musical event. Additionally, Keala Settle will perform the iconic solo from “Seasons of Love” and join the ensemble in the live musical.
The groundbreaking, Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is a re-imagining of Puccini’s La Bohème, and set in New York City’s gritty East Village. Rent tells the story of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams during a time of great social and political turmoil. Winner of four Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, writer/composer Jonathan Larson’s tour de force continues to offer an inspiring message of hope and friendship.
Below is a cast breakdown:
- Kiersey Clemons as Joanne Jefferson, Maureen’s girlfriend and an Ivy League-educated lawyer.
- Brandon Victor Dixon as Tom Collins, the computer scientist who returns to New York after being expelled from MIT.
- Jordan Fisher as Mark Cohen, an aspiring filmmaker, who serves as the show’s narrator, while filming the lives of his friends.
- Vanessa Hudgens as Maureen Johnson, the outgoing performance artist who’s not afraid to take on the establishment.
- Brennin Hunt as Roger Davis, a struggling musician and Mark’s roommate and best friend.
- Mario as Benjamin Coffin III, Mark and Roger’s former roommate-turned-landlord, who is after their rent.
- Tinashe as Mimi Marquez, the dancer who struggles with addiction.
- Valentina as Angel Dumont Schunard, a young drag queen and street percussionist who embraces life and lives it to its fullest.
The television adaptation will be broadcast from the historic Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Film, television and theater producer Marc Platt (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, Grease: Live, La La Land, Wicked), along with the estate of writer/composer Jonathan Larson, will executive-produce the event. Tony Award-nominated director Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Rent), who directed the original New York Theatre Workshop and Broadway productions of Rent, is the director overseeing the stage direction; and Alex Rudzinski (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, Grease: Live, Dancing with the Stars) will serve as the live television director.
In addition to Greif, creative team members from the original Broadway production of Rent returning for the television adaptation include Emmy Award-winning casting director Bernie Telsey and costume designer Angela Wendt. Additional creative team members include Obie Award winner Kristoffer Diaz writing the adaptation for television, Emmy Award winner Al Gurdon as lighting designer, Tony Award and Grammy Award winner Stephen Oremus as music director and producer, Jason Sherwood as set designer and two-time Emmy Award nominee (So You Think You Can Dance) Sonya Tayeh as choreographer.
