A scene from “Rent,” the original cast of which will take to stage Sept. 8-20 at KBS Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. / Courtesy of New Venture Entertainment

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

The Broadway musical ``Rent'' will finally make its way to Korea in September, featuring its original cast. Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who played the roles of Mark Cohen and Roger Davis, respectively, in the original 1996 production, have returned to the show for the first time in 13 years.

The musical has closed on Broadway and this tour provides the Korean audience with one last chance to see the hit performed by the original cast.

``Rent'' is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, based on Giacomo Puccini's opera ``La Boheme.''

The show revolves around a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive in New York's Lower East Side during the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of AIDS.

Rapp and Pascal have both appeared in multiple productions of "Rent'' as well as the 2005 film adaptation.

Since its launch on Broadway, the musical has been translated into 15 languages in 25 countries, luring young audiences all around the world. The Korean version has also garnered enormous popularity due to the performance of actor Cho Seung-woo.

The musical was first shown at the New York Theater Workshop in 1994 and made its official debut on Jan. 25, 1996.

The show's writer and composer, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly the night before its off-Broadway premiere. The show gained critical acclaim on Broadway and earned a Tony Award for Best Musical, and a Pulitzer Prize, among other awards.

The musical features an ethnically diverse cast and incorporates controversial topics, drawing popularity particularly among the younger generation.

The Broadway production closed on Sept. 7, 2008 after a 12-year run with 5,124 performances, making it the eighth-longest-running Broadway show ever, eight years behind the longest, ``The Phantom of the Opera.''

The success of the show led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions, as well as the motion picture featuring most of the original cast members.

The musical has been on a tour of 40 U.S. cities since January . After performing in Japan in August, the tour team will hit the stage in Korea in September.

The show will run from Sept. 8 to 20 at KBS Hall in Yeoido. Tickets cost from 40,000 won to 200,000 won during peak times and 40,000 won to 180,000 won otherwise.

For more information, call 1544-1681 or visit www.rent-broadway.co.kr.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr