A musical phenomenon born in the ‘90s has gone from Broadway, then out on tour before hitting the big screen, closed tonight at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco.
Rent San Francisco-style starred two of the original Broadway cast members, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal.
“For me, the show has sort of started and will thankfully end on the stage,” says Pascal, adding, “We went from opening on Broadway and then the London production and doing the film, and for me it now comes full circle, bringing the show back to the stage with Anthony and taking it out to a new audience -- an audience that never actually had the chance to see us perform on Broadway.”
Set in New York City’s East Village, the Tony award-winning production’s 12-year run on Broadway was one of the longest in stage history.
“It’s great to go to shows that are simply entertaining, or there’s sort of like outlandish characters or there’s just an entertainment factor, and Rent is certainly entertaining, but it feels so much more like real life,” says Rapp.
Perhaps, you’ll recall parts of the movie production of Rent were filmed in San Francisco. A corner bar near 6th and Mission was the Kit Kat club, and as Pascal informed, “we also shot the New Years eve scene right down the street, which was supposed to take place in Times Square, but we shot it right over here (pointing to the corner of 6th and Jessie).”
Cast members said it was great to be back on the streets of the city that’s embraced its message for years.
