Neil Patrick Harris, Rachel Zegler, Taye Diggs and Norbert Leo Butz are among 45 performers added to Rent, the 30th Anniversary Concert since its first cast list, the one-night Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Monday, October 26.
The lineup Broadway Cares has published now runs to 67 names. Beyond the four headliners, the additions include Tracie Thoms, Wilson Cruz, Eden Espinosa, Tamyra Gray, Will Chase, Telly Leung, Matt Caplan, Michael McElroy, Schele Williams and Alan Mingo Jr.
Diggs, the original Benny, joins the members of the 1996 company announced earlier, among them Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Fredi Walker-Browne.
The other new names are Sharon Catherine Brown, Bryson Bruce, Haven Burton, Coleman Cummings, Tori DePrimo, Laura Dias, Shaun Earl, Rayla Garske, Ava Gaudet, Andrea Goss, Christopher J. Hanke, Nicolette Hart, Marcus Paul James, Cody Jenkins, Justin Johnston, Owen Johnston II, Adam Kantor, Lencia Kebede, Tamika Lawrence, Tracy McDowell, David Merino, Timothy Britten Parker, Manley Pope, James Schoppe, Andy Señor Jr., Aiyana Smash, Jacques C. Smith, Deri’Andra Tucker, Byron Utley, Lorraine Velez and Jay Wilkison. Broadway Cares notes that performers are subject to change.
The evening is a concert of the complete show, not a medley. Michael Greif, who directed the original production, stages it, and Tim Weil, the first music director, leads original band members Kenny Brescia, Jeff Potter and Daniel A. Weiss, with Steve Gelfand. The curtain is at 8pm, and ViiV Healthcare is the presenting sponsor.
Every in-person ticket has sold out. The one remaining way into the theater is a digital lottery for 24 box seats at $30 each, which closes at 2pm ET on Tuesday, October 20; we explained how it works when it opened. Everyone else can watch the livestream, which stays available until 11pm ET on Tuesday, October 27. The Gates Foundation is matching the donation from each livestream ticket up to $525,600, as we reported earlier this month.
Livestream tickets and the lottery entry are both on the Broadway Cares page for the concert. Proceeds go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Jonathan Larson’s musical began at New York Theatre Workshop and moved to the Nederlander Theatre in 1996, where it played 5,123 performances before closing on September 7, 2008.
