Set in the East Village of New York City, Rent School Edition is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it has become a pop cultural phenomenon with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audiences of all ages.
Based loosely on Puccini’s La Boheme, Rent School Edition follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom, and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble. Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends. Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves, and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.
Rent School Edition is exuberant, passionate, and joyous; its qualities as a musical mirror those of Chesterton Youth Theatre’s starry company of around 30 crème-de-la-crème performers from the College. Members of National Youth Theatre and leads from National Youth Music Theatre, ranging in age from 13 – 17 years, bring their experiences from performing at The Globe and Sondheim Theatres in London to Chesterton’s own stage. In this Show, the Atrium space is to be reinvented to an immersive thrust configuration, with the New York skyline painted into the background. The creative team is led by professional performer Lee Cooper, and we are thrilled to be collaborating with Corkscrew Theatre Company chiefs, Lesley Ford and Will Males, whilst bringing the drama and music department together with a live band of adult pros and exceptional student musicians conducted by Fern Thurlow.
Facilities
- Car Parking
- Facilities for Disabled Guests
- On site parking
