LPD Productions, the Sydney-based theatrical producer behind the likes of the 2019 Hayes Theatre Co production of Catch Me If You Can, 2018 season of Cry-Baby and the 2021 Sydney Opera House exclusive season of RENT has confirmed they will be taking the latter on a national tour across Australia.
The season will commence at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) Playhouse in Late-January 2024, before pivoting to the Arts Centre Melbourne State Theatre in Mid-February 2024, Newcastle’s Civic Theatre in Mid-March 2024, Perth’s His Majesty’s Theatre in Mid-May 2024 and finally (at this time) the Canberra Theatre from Early June 2024 onwards.
Commenting on the national tour announcement, producer Lauren Peters shared the following:
With RENT, Jonathan Larson unleashed a phenomenon – it would be difficult to find someone who hasn’t at least heard of it. RENT is the musical of the 1990s and the early-aughts but it has proved itself timeless. The characters who live in the East Village of 1990s New York navigate that which resonates so deeply with us in Australia in 2024: cost of living pressures, the threat of preventable disease, the subtle feeling that all the ways in which we can now communicate belie our disconnection. And all of this sounds terribly heavy but RENT somehow takes all this and turns it into a joyous celebration of connection, chosen family, and life itself – and it’s that joy in the face of all of life’s adversity and opportunity that is perhaps best captured in its iconic number Seasons of Love, a song which has achieved the rarest of Broadway feats and transcended the show for which it was written.
I can’t wait to bring RENT back to the Australian stage in this brand-new never-before-seen production This show hasn’t toured here since 1998! I feel very lucky to be a part of Jonathan Larson’s phenomenon, and I know our audiences will feel exactly the same way.
Booking information will be posted on the production’s official website as it is made available, with an official wait-list available to register for. Expect to hear more about casting etc. in the coming weeks and months.
