Stage Coach Theatre Extends RENT Through 3/29

The smash hit musical "RENT" has sold out every show and is sold out this weekend, so they have added two new shows on Friday, March 28th and Saturday, March 29th, both shows starting at 8:00 p.m.

The reviews have been amazing and people have been begging to get tickets to the sold out shows. SCT had already added an extra matinee for this coming Saturday, yet it sold out in just two days of being announced.

RENT is a rousing rock musical, with operatic tear-jerking moments, and a score that runs the musical gamut from rock and roll to tango, R&B, pop and moving ballads.

The cast of 20 was amazing at sharing the story of each of their characters and delivering the thought provoking messages of the play. With their amazing voices, they took the audience for an emotional roller coaster ride of love, laughter, friendship, joy and sadness. It was great to cry, laugh and sing along with the cast. P

Hats off to Jenn Dunn and her assistant director, Steven Santos for being able to direct this massive undertaking of bringing an iconic play to Boise and providing us with such enjoyment. Dan Allers and his team were able to maximize the space on the small stage to make sure the audience felt they were actually in the scene and were able to see all 20 cast members on stage at the same time. The lighting, sound and costume crews did a fantastic job on adding the perfect ambiance and were excellent in helping highlighting the different moods and journeys that the play took you through.

Set in the East Village of New York City, RENT is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, RENT has become a pop cultural phenomenon with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audience. Based loosely on Puccini's La Boheme, Jonathan Larson's RENT follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

RENT was first seen in a limited three-week workshop run at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994 that quickly sold out. This same New York City off-Broadway theatre was also the musical's initial home following its official January 25, 1996, opening. Tragically, the show's creator, Jonathan Larson died suddenly from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm the night before the off-Broadway premiere. RENT opened on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre, April 29, 1996. It went on to win every major best musical award, playing its final performance at the Nederlander Theatre on September 7, 2008, after 5,124 performances and 16 previews. RENT is the seventh longest running show in Broadway history and grossed over $280 million during its Broadway run. Over the course of its groundbreaking 12-year New York run, RENT transformed the definition of musical theater - and changed Broadway forever!

Director Jennifer Dunn has assembled an amazing cast of young actors for the Boise premiere. The principle cast of RENT includes: Tyson Bates as Mark Cohen, an independent filmmaker; Riley Sikes as Roger Davis, a songwriter who is HIV positive and Mark's roommate; Giovanna Hernandez as Mimi Márquez, an exotic dancer with HIV; Sean Small as Tom Collins, a gay philosophy professor and anarchist with AIDS; Steven Santos as Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay drag queen percussionist with AIDS and Tom Collins' partner; Angela DeRisio as Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist; Leta Neustaedter as Joanne Jefferson, a lawyer, who is Maureen's partner; Thaddeus Marks as Benjamin 'Benny' Coffin III, the local landlord and a former roommate of Roger, Mark, Collins, and Maureen.

Ensemble cast members include: Rachel Dickerson, Kevin Renberg, Coralee Sharp, Shelly Oneida, Jim Klepacki, Gianinna Damiano, Andy Hurley, Shannon Foy, Eric Ellis, Erin Westfall, Thax von Reither, and Jen Potcher.

The Creative Team boasts Musical Direction by Michael Stear and Scenic and Lighting Design by professional designer, Dan Allers. Dan has been a veteran in the entertainment field since 1978, providing lighting designs for more than 520 live stage productions, and hundreds of television and Corporate shows. He lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Special Olympics World Winter Games Held in Idaho, 2009. He has also enjoyed being the lighting designer for Opera Idaho over the past 12 years, realizing over 15 grand operas on the Morrison Center Stage. He is the Owner of Idaho Theatrical Lighting and Idaho Cinematic Equipment.

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