Original “Rent” Cast Reunites 30 Years Later for Emotional Celebration — and to Sing the Show’s Biggest Hits

Thirteen of the musical’s 15 original Broadway cast members came together at The Festival for a loving tribute to Jonathan Larson and the groundbreaking show

NEED TO KNOW

• Nearly the entire original Rent cast reunited to celebrate the musical’s 30th anniversary at The Festival in New York
• The cast reflected on Jonathan Larson’s legacy and celebrated the musical’s enduring message while also sharing their appreciation for the community that has embraced Rent for decades
• They also performed iconic songs from Rent, including “Seasons of Love” and “La Vie Bohème”

Season of love? Try decades of love!

Nearly the entire original Broadway cast of Rent reunited Saturday, Aug. 15, for an emotional celebration of the 30th anniversary of the groundbreaking Jonathan Larson musical at The Festival, the new three-day musical theater gathering taking place at Hutton Brickyards Riverfront Hotel + Venue in Kingston, N.Y.

Thirteen of the 15 members of the original company took part in the reunion: Adam Pascal (Roger Davis), Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Taye Diggs (Benjamin Coffin III), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi Márquez), Fredi Walker-Browne (Joanne Jefferson), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel Dumott Schunard), Byron Utley (Mr. Jefferson), Aiko Nakasone (Alexi Darling), Gilles Chiasson (Steve), Gwen Stewart (Mrs. Jefferson and the “Seasons of Love” soloist), Kristen Lee Kelly (Mark’s mom), Rodney Hicks (Paul) and Timothy Britten Parker (Gordon).

PEOPLE has an exclusive photo of the group together, taken minutes after they stepped off the stage.

The only two original cast members absent were Idina Menzel, who originated the role of Maureen Johnson and was attending Disney’s D23 festivities, and Jesse L. Martin, the original Tom Collins, who was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.

But their roles weren’t left entirely unfilled. Tony Award winner Lauren Patten stepped in for Menzel to join Walker-Browne for Maureen and Joanne’s fiery duet “Take Me or Leave Me,” while Hicks stepped into Collins’ shoes for the reunion performance.

And what a reunion it was.

Thousands of fans packed into The Festival’s Broadway Direct Stage for what had become one of the most anticipated events of the weekend. Many arrived wearing Rent shirts and other memorabilia, while at least one particularly dedicated attendee paid tribute to Angel by dressing in the character’s iconic Santa-inspired ensemble.

For the cast, the afternoon offered a chance to look back at the show that changed their lives — and Broadway along with it.

Together, they reminisced about creating Rent, shared memories of working with Larson and reflected on the musical’s lasting impact three decades after it first opened at New York Theatre Workshop in 1996 before transferring to Broadway.

Larson famously died unexpectedly at age 35 on Jan. 25, 1996, the night before Rent was scheduled to have its first preview Off-Broadway. He would never see the phenomenon his work became.

Inspired loosely by Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, Rent followed a group of young artists struggling to create lives for themselves in New York City’s East Village amid the HIV/AIDS crisis. Its rock score and frank depictions of sexuality, addiction, poverty and disease helped usher in a new era of musical theater.

The show went on to win four Tony Awards, including best musical, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama, and ran for more than 12 years on Broadway.

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On Saturday, however, its original cast seemed less interested in listing the accolades than celebrating the community that has kept Larson’s work alive.

The performers repeatedly expressed their gratitude to the generations of fans who have embraced the show and its messages over the past three decades, returning again and again to the Larson mantras that have become embedded in musical theater history: “No day but today” and, fittingly for an afternoon spent looking back, measuring a life in love.

There was plenty of love in the room — and music. The company revisited selections from throughout Larson’s score, performing “Rent,” “La Vie Bohème,” “Out Tonight,” “Take Me or Leave Me,” “I’ll Cover You,” “You’ll See,” “Another Day” and “Finale B,” among other favorites.

Of course, remembering songs first performed three decades ago occasionally proved to be its own adventure.

Diggs, who originated the role of Benny, jokingly admitted early in the reunion that he was “very ill-prepared” and would be relying on his phone to help him through some of the lyrics.

He wasn’t alone in occasionally needing a refresher, and the forgotten words quickly became part of the fun, with Diggs’ phone-assisted performances emerging as something of a running gag throughout the celebration.

If anything, the imperfections only added to the reunion’s warmth. This wasn’t about recreating Rent exactly as it had been in 1996. It was about watching the people who were there at the beginning come together again, laugh about the intervening years and revisit music that has remained a defining part of their lives.

The reunion was also particularly fitting for The Festival, which was created by founders Joshua Saltman and David Schwartz as a place where Broadway fans could experience the kind of unexpected collaborations and one-of-a-kind performances that aren’t possible during a traditional night at the theater.

Schwartz previously told PEOPLE that he saw the original company of Rent some 15 or 20 times, even sleeping on the sidewalk at least once for lottery tickets, and called bringing the cast back together one of the centerpieces of The Festival’s inaugural weekend.

“Rent really redefined Broadway,” he told PEOPLE ahead of the event. “It reinvigorated the industry and introduced so many people to musical theater.”

Saturday’s crowd offered plenty of evidence of that legacy.

Fans who had been with the show since its earliest days stood alongside those who discovered it through later Broadway casts, tours, the 2005 film adaptation and subsequent productions. Together, they cheered the familiar opening notes, laughed along with the cast’s stories and sang along with songs that have long since escaped the walls of the Nederlander Theatre.

And there was only one song that could bring it all to a close.

The original company came together for “Seasons of Love,” Rent‘s enduring anthem about measuring a year not in minutes, but in the moments and relationships that give those minutes meaning.

Thirty years after they first introduced it to audiences, the message — and the musical — clearly still resonates.

No day but today, indeed.

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