Playing self-centered performance artist Maureen in the off-Broadway revival of Rent, Annaleigh Ashford turns the show's protest song "Over the Moon" into a kooky comic triumph. It's the latest high in a short but memorable stage career that includes memorable turns as ditzy sorority girl Margot in Legally Blonde, magical Glinda in Wicked and wide-eyed hippie Jeanie in ...

MJ Rodriguez, who is currently starring as Angel in the off-Broadway revival of Rent, has been awarded the 2011 Clive Barnes Award, which celebrates the work of young actors and dancers. The second annual award was presented on December 5 at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre, by inaugural Barnes Award winner and Venus in Fur star Nina Arianda.

Rodriguez ...

Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon will assume the role of Tom Collins in the off-Broadway revival of Rent on December 1 while current star Nicholas Christopher is on medical leave. Dixon will remain with the show, which is currently running at New World Stages, until February 12, 2012.

Dixon is a Tony nominee for his role in The Color Purple ...

How do you measure a man and his career? On November 18, the cast of Rent stopped by the set of Live with Regis and Kelly to give it a try. Led by soloists Tamika Sonja Lawrence and Marcus Paul James, the cast of the off-Broadway revival sang a special version of “Seasons of Love” in honor of the inimitable ...

Life Cafe, the restaurant in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood and a locale featured in the Tony-winning musical Rent, has closed indefinitely.

"After 30 years in business, I am closing Life Cafe East Village this evening 'until further notice,'" the restuarant's owner Kathy Life posted on the cafe's website on September 11. "I’m doing this due to ...

As kids all over America head back to school, Broadway.com decided to ask our favorite Broadway stars to look back at their own years in the classroom, sharing memories of favorite subjects and activities and describing their younger selves. Annaleigh Ashford may currently be prowling East Village fire escapes in black pleather as Maureen in Rent, but it sounds ...

Age & Hometown: 20; Newark, NJ

Current Role: An off-Broadway debut as Angel, the endearing drag performer and emotional cornerstone of Rent.

Born to Sing: Though his first public performance was in first grade (a solo of “Auld Lang Syne”), Rodriguez found his voice long before that. “It all started when I was 11 months old, singing a song by Jodeci ...

For aficionados of young Broadway stars, Adam Chanler-Berat needs little introduction. After creating the role of sweet “loner, bit of a stoner” boyfriend Henry in Next to Normal, Chanler-Berat won raves as the eternally young title character in the off-Broadway premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher. Now he's making the transition to musical leading man, tackling the role of ...

Broadway.com's resident artist Justin "Squigs" Robertson ventured to New World Stages, where the cast of Rent is bringing the vibrant Alphabet City scene to life in the off-Broadway revival of the Tony-winning musical. Squigs had the pleasure of drawing Roger (Matt Shingledecker), Mimi (Arianda Fernandez), Mark (Adam Chanler-Berat), Angel (Michael Rodriguez), Tom Collins (Nicholas Christopher), Joanne (Corbin Reid ...

Off-Broadway got a little more Bohemian on August 11 when the New York revival of Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent took its opening night bow at New World Stages. The rock musical, about a group of young artists struggling to live and love against odds like addiction and HIV in New York’s Alphabet City, was led by original director Michael ...