Shafiq Hicks News

Interview with the actor playing Tom Collins (Shafiq Hicks). RENT will be in Jacksonville, FL beginning January 14.

For those who have been paying attention for the last 20-ish years, RENT was/is a pretty big deal. The rock opera adaptation of Puccini's La Boheme follows a group of young creatives in New York City during the AIDS crisis and was so popular during its initial run that it racked up multiple awards, including 3 Tonys and a Pulitzer. With that in mind, I believe it to be a very daunting task to perform RENT because it's easy to go through the motions and sing the songs that people know and love without really having to think about it. That being said, there were many moments where they got it right and others that might've fallen a little flat.

Broadway Across Canada has finally brought the much anticipated 20th Anniversary Tour of Jonathan Larson's acclaimed rock opera, Rent, to Ottawa. Rent is loosely based on the classic Puccini opera, La Bohème but, instead of 1890s Paris, Larson's scene is set in the gritty back alleys of New York's Alphabet City at Christmastime in the early nineties. We meet the two main protagonists, who are down on their luck. Mark (Cody Jenkins) is an aspiring filmmaker and Roger (Coleman Cummings) is a former musician. They live in a slum apartment, burning items in a steel trash can for warmth. Mark's girlfriend, Maureen (Kelsee Sweigard), left him for a woman named Joanne (Samantha Mbolekwa). Roger's girlfriend, April, committed suicide after she discovered that both she and Roger had contracted AIDS. To make matters even worse, Mark and Roger are about to be evicted by their former friend and roommate, Benny (Jason Taylor Smith), who recently purchased the building with the intention of converting it into a high-tech cyber arts studio.

Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning masterpiece RENT will return to the National Theatre by popular demand with its 20th anniversary tour production. The musical will run Tuesday, November 12 through Sunday, November 17, 2019, and is the fourth production in the venue's recordbreaking 2019-2020 Broadway at the National season.

Zoom in on NAC Southam Hall as the 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT plays Oct. 22-27.

The hit Broadway musical: RENT opened up Broadway Across Canada's 2019-20 season with it's 20th Anniversary Tour at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on September 17th. Highlighting the story of struggling artists living in the East Village of New York City, we explore their struggles with life, love, and HIV/AIDS. RENT: The 20th Anniversary Tour plays at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver till Sunday September 22nd!

RENT tells the story of six New York artists struggling to survive at the end of the millennium. With a plot so complicated, it could be an opera (Puccini's La Bohéme), RENT is also a classic and one dear to many theatre-lovers' hearts. Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson, this 20th Anniversary tour is a story that speaks to audiences young and old.

Ring in Edmonton's fall theatre season with dynamic smash hit Rent! It runs at Edmonton's Northern Jubilee Auditorium until July 8.

Soulful and evocative, beloved musical Rent captivates Edmonton with its 20th anniversary touring production.

In 1996, Jonathan Larson's rock-opera RENT changed the landscape of American theatre. A re-imagining of Puccini's La Bohème, RENT chronicles a tumultuous year in the life of seven artists, struggling to navigate between their dreams and the harsh struggles of real life. Though first performed two decades ago, RENT's messages of love, acceptance, and loss remain poignant today.

Zoom in on NAC Southam Hall as the 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT plays Oct. 22-27.

 Local theater company Theatre in the X presents a free outdoor production of The Wiz in Malcolm X Park on August 12, 19, and 26 at 5pm. Directed by Cheyenne Barboza, this production of The Wiz is an homage to Hip Hop and Black cinema of the late 80s/early 90s. Featuring original musical compositions, the iconic characters will journey through an Oz remixed with all the nuance and cultural swag of the Black experience in America. The performances will be held in the center of Malcolm X Park, 5100 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19143. The production is free and open to the public. In lieu of ticket purchases the company encourages audience members who are able, to donate at https://www.gofundme.com/theatre-in-the-x-presents-the-wiz. This event is Bring Your Own Chair (BYOC).