“Rent” returns to the West End: Gaten Matarazzo makes his London debut tonight, opening night set for October 8

LONDON — The most famous slogan of the musical “Rent”, “No day but today”, takes on its full meaning in London tonight (September 26): the great return of Jonathan Larson’s musical to the West End officially begins previews at the Duke of York’s Theatre — a theater that will soon be renamed the Tom Stoppard Theatre. The official opening night is set for October 8, while the limited engagement has already been extended through March 27, 2027.

At the center of the cast is “Stranger Things” star Gaten Matarazzo, who makes his West End debut tonight in the role of Mark Cohen. Matarazzo, known as Dustin Henderson in the Netflix series, has played on Broadway in “Sweeney Todd”, “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Godspell”, but this is the first time he takes a London stage.

The production is directed by Olivier Award winner Luke Sheppard (“Paddington”), based on his 2020 staging at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre. Alongside Matarazzo, the cast includes Travis Ross as Roger, Alexa Lopez as Mimi, Billy Nevers as Collins, Lazy Violet as Maureen, Olivier nominee Danielle Fiamanya as Joanne, Jeevan Braich as Angel and Joaquin Pedro Valdes as Benny.

“Rent”, inspired by Puccini’s opera “La Bohème”, follows a group of young artists in 1990s East Village, New York, facing poverty, social conflicts and the AIDS epidemic. The musical’s history is as legendary as the work itself: a day before the first Off-Broadway preview, on January 25, 1996, creator Jonathan Larson died suddenly of an aortic dissection; his team finished the work, which received 10 Tony nominations in 1996 and won four — including Best Musical — plus the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. After 5,123 Broadway performances it closed on September 7, 2008; in the West End it first opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on May 12, 1998.

This year’s return coincides with the musical’s 30th anniversary — the same anniversary being celebrated on Broadway with a one-night concert of the original cast (Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp) this fall. With the London engagement already extended through spring 2027, Sheppard’s production promises to bring “Rent” “into the hands of a new generation of performers”, as the director himself described it, according to Playbill.