Some of Staffordshire’s brightest up-and-coming performers will showcase their skills later this month in Stone Youth Theatre’s second production, the rock opera RENT.
Often considered controversial, RENT is the tenth longest running show on Broadway. Loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Boheme, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City’s East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
In a curious twist of fate, the opening night of SYT’s forthcoming production at Stoke Rep Theatre (Thursday 28th January) is exactly 10 years to the day of the first Broadway preview of the show. Tragically, it also marks the anniversary of the death of the show’s creator Jonathan Larson, who died on the very morning his hit musical was to be staged for the first time.
Following its debut run of A Chorus Line – which performed to sell-out audiences and critical acclaim at the Mitchell Arts Centre in January 2015 – SYT sought to build on this success and held a series of open auditions for 16 to 25-year-olds last summer to build their pool of talented local performers and raise the bar for the next show.
The resulting auditions produced some stellar performances, and the talented cast – all hailing from the Stafford, Stone and Stoke areas – can now be introduced as:
LEWIS WARREN – Mark
WESLEY WALKER – Roger
SAM SIMKIN – Benny
HANNAH WALTON – Mimi
ELLIE GILBERT – Joanne; RUBY MAE TITUS-COBB – Maureen
FREDDIE BORGMAN – Collins
NATHAN ADAMS – Angel
Laura Keeling, studio director at Rooftop Studios – the base of operations for SYT – said: “You usually get your cast pretty spot on, but it’s been an amazing journey working with so much talent, and with many youngsters who are completely new to us. They’ve all bonded extremely well, and are living and breathing the show to get into character. It’s going to be something very special to watch. We had a great response from all those who came to see ‘A Chorus Line’ at the Mitch last year and it would be great to see as many old and new faces showing that same support for this year’s show as well.”
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]Stone Youth Theatre’s production of RENT will take place at Stoke Repertory Theatre from Thursday 28th to Saturday 30th January. Thursday and Friday performances start at 7.30pm, with two Saturday shows taking place at 2.30pm and 7pm respectively.
Tickets are £12.50 for adults and £10 for concessions and are available at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rent-the-musical-tickets-18049533641 or on the door[/box]
