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.
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