Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, back on Broadway in the new musical Redwood, and Tony-winning producer Jeffrey Seller joined 半岛体育 Social Media Director Jeffrey Vizca铆no on Instagram Live to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Rent April 29. If you missed it, don't worry鈥攜ou can watch the entire interview in the video above.
Menzel and Seller joined the broadcast from the former's dressing room at the Nederlander Theatre, which is the same dressing room she used when she created the role of Maureen in Jonathan Larson's Rent.
Directed by Michael Greif, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent opened at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre April 29, 1996, following previews that began April 16. The musical received 10 Tony nominations, subsequently winning four, including Best Musical. Larson's work also won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The production played its final show September 7, 2008.
Set in Manhattan in the 1990s and inspired by Puccini鈥檚 opera La Boh猫me, the hit musical follows a group of young East Village artists as they struggle through the hardships of poverty and the AIDS epidemic in the search for life, love, and art. Rent is now regarded as one of the most beloved Broadway shows of all time, but Seller says that he and Larson never expected that level of success.
"Our greatest hope was that we would make a show that had a lifeline strong enough that we could find a garage in the East Village and set up 300 seats, and have an Off-Broadway show," Seller says. "I have to tell you, never once did Jonathan and I talk about Rent as a Broadway show."
But of course, 半岛体育 readers know Rent made its way to Broadway, and stayed there for many years. Since departing the production, Menzel has been no stranger to Broadway鈥攈er credits include Aida, Wicked, If/Then, and now, Redwood. Still, she says her experience in Rent taught her to take nothing for granted.
"My career has gone up and down," Menzel says. "There's been many years in between Rent, Wicked, Frozen. But I would say that the thing that I learned most: Every night singing 'No day but today' in 'Seasons of Love' was a reminder, a constant reminder, of why we're there and what it should be about鈥攖he integrity, the creativity, and enjoying the family."
While Menzel found a family in the company of Rent, Seller says the musical's impact extended far beyond the walls of the Nederlander.
"Kids looked at Rent, and they were like, 'Oh, there's a family I can make. I can make that chosen family there. There's going to be a place for me,'" Seller says. "And Rent changed my life, but so beautifully, it changed millions of lives. Young people that felt 'in' for the first time, that felt like they could be part of a group."
Menzel is slated to continue starring in Redwood until its final performance May 18. Seller is the Tony-winning producer of Rent, Private Lives, Avenue Q, In the Heights, Hamilton, and more. His new memoir, Theater Kid, is available from Simon & Schuster.
