Cast Set for Newly Reworked Revival of Rent in the West End

Kylie Minogue's former creative director, William Baker, will stage a new production of Jonathan Larson's Rent in London. The reworked production is scheduled to begin performances at the Duke of York's Theatre on October 2 and open there on October 16.

The show is being updated with the songs reorchestrated under the musical supervision of Steve Anderson. The cast will include pop star Siobhan Donaghy, a founding member of Sugababes, as Mimi. Luke Evans, who played a featured role in Taboo and has just ended a stint in Avenue Q, will play Roger. Also in the cast will be Oliver Thornton as Mark, Jay Webb as Angel, Leon Lopez as Collins, Francesca Jackson as Joanne and Craig Stein as Benny. The rest of the cast includes Ruth Augilera, Jamie Sampson, Antony Luperi, Earl Perkins, Lewis Griffiths and Philippa Stefani.

"I'm approaching it in the same way I would appraoch a Kylie show or tour,” Baker said in a statement. He added that the original was “very much for the MTV generation,” and he sees his job now as making it appeal “to the iPod generation.”

Larson's show opened at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre on 29 April, 1996 and is still running there. It won four Tony Awards, including the 1996 Tony for Best Musical.

Rent first came to London in 1998, in a recreation of Michael Greif's original staging, where it ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 17 months. It subsequently had another West End run, in a different production, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in December 2001.