Folsom, CA — Two decades after opening on Broadway — winning both a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony® Awards — Jonathan Larson’s RENT continues to speak loudly and defiantly to audiences across generations and all over the world, with an inspiring message of joy and hope in the face of fear. A timeless celebration of friendship and creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters — love. The Harris Center welcomes this special encore presentation of the 20th Anniversary production to Stage One for five performances.

Rent follows an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists—a timeless celebration of friendship and creativity. “Indeed, this vigorous tale of a marginal band of artists in Manhattan’s East Village, a contemporary answer to La bohème, rushes forward on an electric current of emotion ... Sustained by a glittering, inventive score, the work finds a transfixing brightness in characters living in the shadow of AIDS.” (From original 1996 review, New York Times).

Based on original direction by Michael Greif (Tony and Drama Desk Nominations, RENT), Evan Ensign re-stages the 20^th anniversary tour (he was the assistant director for the original Broadway run of RENT). Original Broadway creatives Marlies Yearby (Choreography), Angela Wendt (Costume Design), and Tim Weil (Music Supervision and Additional Arrangements) return on the creative team for this special tour of RENT. 

RENT will take the stage in Folsom for five performances: Friday, September 27, 2019 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, September 28 at 2 & 7:30 pm; Sunday, September 29 at 1 & 6:30 pm. Tickets are $48–$78; Premium $82. 10% Discount for Sunday Evening Single Tickets. Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street. IT’S A RENT TRADITION!  The tradition of the $20 tickets began in 1996 in New York when the show moved to Broadway after a sold-out run in a small downtown theatre. See below for details.

On April 29, 1996, a musical opened on Broadway that looked and sounded unlike anything that had come before it. It told a powerful, moving, heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story of young, impoverished New York artists who were seeking to make their way in the world, longing to connect, and trying to survive the looming specter of AIDS.

The actors were black, white and brown; the characters were straight, gay, bisexual and transgender. Although the show was famously inspired by Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, it was also a reflection of the life of its creator, Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics. His score brilliantly melded Broadway savvy with contemporary rock, and the show captured the zeitgeist of a particular place at a particular moment in time.

RENT became a phenomenon. A few weeks before the musical’s Broadway premiere, Larson, who died of an aortic aneurysm the night before RENT was scheduled to open Off-Broadway, was posthumously awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, and run for over 12 years. It also attracted legions of fiercely devoted young theatergoers affectionately known as RENTheads, who returned to the show again and again because it spoke to them so personally.

20 SEATS, 20 DOLLARS, 20TH ANNIVERSARY: CONTINUING THE RENT TRADITION OF A SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL DISCOUNT! Twenty seats in Row C in the Harris Center are priced at $20 for each performance of RENT and will be made available for a ticket lottery beginning 2 hours prior to curtain. Available only from the Harris Center Ticket Office, lottery tickets are available on a cash-only basis, are limited to two tickets per person and will be exempt from facility and ticketing fees. The producers of RENT are committed to continuing the tradition of offering orchestra seats for $20 in each city where RENT tours.

Next month at the Harris Center

The Harris Center presents the romantic lyrics and lush harmonies of Latin America in Ánimo Production’s Boleros de Noche on September 20, featuring Los Panchos and the all-female Trio Ellas, a recent Latin Grammy nominee. Elite circus artists and acrobats from the Hebei province, China, Cirque Mei dazzles for three shows September 21-22. The Greatest Love Of All, a tribute to Whitney Houston starring Belinda Davids, returns by popular demand with two performances of “vocal power and precision that are a perfect match for Whitney’s power ballads” (Herald Sun; September 24-25). And The Simon & Garfunkel Story uses state-of-the-art video projection and a crack live band to tell the tale of the two young boys from Queens (September 30).

This Year Marks Nine Seasons of Great Shows. Up Close. In Folsom!

The Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College brings the community together to share in cultural experiences, presenting the work of artists from throughout the region and around the world. Built and operated by the Los Rios Community College District, the $50 million, state-of-the-art regional performing arts center boasts three intimate venues with outstanding acoustics, an art gallery, a recording studio, elegant teaching spaces, plenty of safe parking and all the other amenities of a world-class performing arts venue. Each year the Center hosts over 400 events attracting 150,000 annually.

Event Summary