{"id":592207,"date":"2026-05-19T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/592207\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:45:16","slug":"stranger-things-star-gaten-matarazzo-to-lead-rent-musical-in-west-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/592207\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stranger Things’ Star Gaten Matarazzo To Lead ‘Rent’ Musical In West End"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Gaten Matarazzo<\/a>, who excelled as fast-talking Dustin Henderson on smash-hit Netflix sci-fi horror drama\u00a0Stranger Things<\/a>,\u00a0will make his London stage debut in an exciting revival of Jonathan Larson\u2019s landmark musical\u00a0Rent<\/a>, which will premiere at the West End in the fall, Deadline can reveal.<\/p>\n

\n\tMatarazzo \u2014 a self-described \u201cRent-head,\u201d according to Chris Harper, who\u2019s producing with Sonia Friedman \u2014 will begin rehearsing in early August with director Luke Sheppard, who recently won an Olivier<\/a> for his direction of\u00a0Paddington: The Musical.<\/p>\n

\n\tRent\u00a0will begin performances at the Duke of York\u2019s Theatre on September 26, with an official opening night October 8. Tickets are set to go on sale at noon UK time Tuesday.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe production that Harper and Friedman (who are teaming for the first time)\u00a0are respecting at the Duke of York\u2019s is a version of the one that Sheppard helmed at the 120-seat Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester six years ago. Its run was interrupted by the pandemic, though Harper managed to catch it before theaters shut down. The show was filmed, and people paid to watch a video of it; I was one of them.\u00a0(I\u2019m lucky enough to have seen the original\u00a0Rent\u00a0at New York Theatre Workshop and watched it night after night when it was in previews at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway.)<\/p>\n

\n\tHarper and Friedman are just as passionate about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBillboard for \u2018Rent\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Chris Harper and Sonia Friedman<\/p>\n

\n\tHarper \u2014 who produced the revival of Angels in America, Company and several other shows with Marianne Elliott \u2014 also saw the original Broadway production when it was in previews. He saw Sheppard\u2019s production at Hope Mill just before Covid rules closed theaters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHarper believes that the Hope Mill production is the version \u201cthat London should have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, everything slowed down because of Covid, \u201cand it\u2019s taken us six years of chipping away to get this version of the show to London,\u201d noting that there\u2019s\u00a0a complicated set of rights, plus Larson\u2019s estate wanted to be sure that this was the right team. \u201cAnd in that six years since I saw it and Sonia saw it, Luke Sheppard has become a superstar director.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe\u00a0& Juliet\u00a0show hadn\u2019t happened, and Sheppard hadn\u2019t won an Olivier Award for best direction of a musical for\u00a0Paddington,\u00a0which is playing to packed houses at the Savoy Theatre and will likely transfer to Broadway next year.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarper noted that the estate\u00a0\u201cwanted to feel that the next version of\u00a0Rent\u00a0that was in the West End was one that we all really could be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a way, it\u2019s a more apt time to bring\u00a0Rent\u00a0to London because of the state the world\u2019s in and, as in the show, young artists are struggling as the UK\u2019s Art Council and local borough councils are slashing budgets, making it more difficult than ever for young people to break through into the theatrical arts and music.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tChris Harper<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChris Harper Productions<\/p>\n

\n\tFriedman feels that \u201cthis younger generation also finds a new resonance because the conditions that underpinned\u00a0the original \u2014 even though, of course, we don\u2019t have the catastrophe of HIV and AIDS \u2014 they\u2019re being priced out of the city, they\u2019re struggling to live, struggling to know how to survive. You\u2019ve got chaos politically, and it feels like a very urgent time for the young generation with their mental health, with social media. And this piece, even though it\u2019s set then [in the 1990s], I think it\u2019s going to just feel so powerful and alive and urgent now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, Harper argues that what Sheppard did so \u201cbrilliantly\u201d was to cast it in a very youthful way, \u201cand it really was kids talking to that young generation, and we want to try and retain that youthful energy as much as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFriedman observed that when she saw it at Hope Mill she admired how Sheppard and his creative team put on a show that was\u00a0\u201cstripped back and bare\u00a0[to] just let the story and the performances do the work, and I felt I\u2019d seen\u00a0Rent\u00a0for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe made a point, which I agree with, and that\u2019s that \u201done or two\u201d previous productions of\u00a0Rent\u00a0have tried \u201cto put a top spin on it and it doesn\u2019t need it. It\u2019s a work of art. It\u2019s a work of its time, and it\u2019s also, like all great classics, timeless.\u201d It\u2019s always been a dream of hers to do\u00a0Rent. \u201cAnd so when Chris and I both were going for it, we said, \u2018Let\u2019s do it together,’\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSonia Friedman<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRankin<\/p>\n

\n\tThe coup thus far is getting Matarazzo to play Mark. It\u2019s such an inspired idea to cast him because he\u2019s a creature of the stage, having made his Broadway debut in\u00a0Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, followed by a stint in\u00a0Les Miserables, then a role in\u00a0Dear Evan Hansen\u00a0and, more recently, in the successful run of\u00a0Sweeney Todd\u00a0with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWell, we\u2019re over the moon,\u201c Harper says of Matarazzo\u2019s casting.<\/p>\n

\n\tFriedman, who produced Stranger Things: The First Shadow with Netflix, says that she\u2019s well aware what that demographic is \u201cand how excited they are going to be about seeing Gaten on stage. And to introduce them to something like\u00a0Rent\u00a0over here in the UK is just mind-blowingly exciting. He\u2019s going to bring in a whole new audience, as our play did, and this feels really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHarper reveals that he and Matarazzo had been talking about doing a play in London and \u201cactually through that conversation he said how much he loved\u00a0Rent. And I mean, he\u2019s a real\u00a0Rent-head; he knows the show\u00a0back to front and it\u2019s a musical he\u2019s deeply, deeply passionate about. And then he and Luke met each other and completely fell in love and he\u2019s so excited to do it. He literally knows the show in an encyclopedic way. He loves it, and he\u2019s a very sweet young man, and he can\u2019t wait. He\u2019s desperate to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis production of\u00a0Rent\u00a0will be produced\u00a0by Chris Harper Productions<\/a>, Sonia Friedman Productions<\/a>, Winkler & Smalberg and Julie Larson, in association with the Hope Mill Theatre.\u00a0(The original was produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Allan S. Gordon and the New York Theatre Workshop.)<\/p>\n

\n\tFriedman says that \u201cwe\u2019ll hold them [the original producing team] close to us because as the original producers, it\u2019s their legacy. I think we\u2019re very aware and very conscious of the responsibility that we hold to, obviously, the Larson family and everybody who was there at the beginning. And I think because we were also around then, I think we\u2019re aware of the importance of getting this right and we\u2019re very, very, grateful to the Larson family and the estate for giving us this opportunity. And obviously, Kevin and Jeffrey were there at the very beginning and they\u2019ll be with us, I hope, cheering us along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI well remember seeing\u00a0Rent\u00a0at NYTW and meeting the original company to do a newspaper feature. I have a memory of the company performing\u00a0\u201cSeasons of Love\u201d\u00a0from the show under the Brooklyn Bridge \u2014 one of the most extraordinary times. I saw three previews of Rent back to back at the Nederlander. The Hope Mill production I saw on video comes close to capturing some of\u00a0that same raw energy I felt seeing the original in the \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth Friedman and Harper remind me that the version I saw on my laptop from Hope Mill was socially distanced. \u201cThey weren\u2019t allowed to touch. They weren\u2019t allowed to kiss. They weren\u2019t even allowed to sing in each other\u2019s directions,\u201d Harper points out.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven so, it was moving and had fire in its belly.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe idea for the Duke of York\u2019s is to make it \u201cas intimate as possible, in the realms of commercial theater, as it were,\u201d Friedman says.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd what about ticket prices? Harper says there will be 10,000 tickets priced at the UK equivalent of $46 or under.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Stranger<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNetflix<\/p>\n

\n\tFor this particular audience, Friedman adds,\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be mindful of accessibility and, at the same time, mindful\u00a0of the fact that we need to break even. So we will be constantly making sure that people can get in for the price that means that they can see it, they can afford it and that we can afford to run it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show will start as a limited run \u201cand we\u2019ll see\u201d what happens, Friedman says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth Harper and Friedman refuse to discuss the show\u2019s life after the West End. My guess is that if this production takes off as they hope, then the sky\u2019s the limit for it. It\u2019ll certainly be headed,\u00a0at some point, over to New York City.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe creative team for the Duke of York\u2019s is essentially the same as it was up at Hope Mill Theatre. Choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves; set design by David Woodhead; costume design by Gabriella Slade; lighting design by Howard Hudson; audio production and sound design by Paul Gatehouse; video design and cinematography by George Reeve and Nathan Amzi; makeup and hair design by Jackie Saundercock; U.K. casting by Pearson Casting\u00a0and U.S. casting by Jim Carnahan. The musical supervisor is Bill Sherman, and the musical director and associate musical supervisor is Katy Richardson. The intimacy director is Asha Jennings-Grant, the associate director is Priya Patel Appleby and the dialect coach is Joel Trill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Gaten Matarazzo, who excelled as fast-talking Dustin Henderson on smash-hit Netflix sci-fi horror drama\u00a0Stranger Things,\u00a0will make his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[47636,6491,202616,96,131212,202617,28459,202618,51145,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-592207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-breaking-baz","tag-celebrities","tag-chris-harper-productions","tag-entertainment","tag-gaten-matarazzo","tag-londonu2019s-west-end","tag-rent","tag-sonia-friedman-productions","tag-stranger-things","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}