CT 'Inside the Broadway Musical' Features Rent's Hanke

The Music Theatre of Connecticut School, in association with Norwalk Community College will present "Inside the Broadway Musical," an evening with Christopher J. Hanke, star of Rent. The evening will be hosted by MTC co-founder, Kevin Connors, and take place on Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30pm in the PepsiCo Auditorium at Norwalk Community College.

"Inspired by Bravo Television's Inside the Actor's Studio, 'Inside the Broadway Musical' takes an in-depth and up-close view of today's theatre scene through those making their living in the business: the working actor. Host Kevin Connors will interview Broadway star Christopher J. Hanke, who will perform and share his thoughts about the craft and stories of his personal journey to the Broadway stage," according to press materials.

The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical Rent, with lyrics and music by Jonathan Larson, opened on Broadway in 1996 and is currently the seventh-longest-running Broadway musical. "Based on Puccini's opera La Bohème, the musical centers on a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Alphabet City in the early 1990s, under the shadow of AIDS." The cast album from the show was the most successful recording of an American musical in almost 30 years. In 2005, the musical was adapted for the screen.

Hanke joined the cast of Rent in August of 2006 in the role of filmmaker Mark Cohen. He made his Broadway debut last fall in the starring role of In My Life. Other New York credits include The Story of My Life at Manhattan Theater Club's 6 @ 6 series, Roberto-Aguirre Sacasa's play Golden Age, the lead role in the reading of A.R. Gurney's new play Indian Blood, directed by Mark Lamos, at Lincoln Center Theater; and Nick Piazza in Fame, for which he was nominated for a National Broadway Theatre Award as Best Leading Actor in a Musical. National tours include Tom Sawyer in the Deaf West/Roundabout production of Big River and Ethan Girard in The Full Monty.  He has also performed regionally.

Norwalk Community College's PepsiCo Theatre is located at 188 Richards Avenue in Norwalk, CT. General admission for "Inside the Broadway Musical" is $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. For reservations or more information, call Music Theatre of Connecticut at 203.454.3883 or visit www.musictheatreofct.com