Cuba readies for its first Broadway musical in 55 years, and it will be 'Rent'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It will be “Seasons of Love” in Cuba next month when the Caribbean country hosts its first Broadway show in more than five decades.
BBC News reported the Tony-winning musical “Rent” will have a three-month run in Havana starting in December.
The show’s producers said they have been trying for several years to stage a full production in Cuba, which has banned U.S. musicals since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Cuban National Council of Performing Arts said it was a “paramount step” for musical theater in the country.
Nederlander Entertainment, one of the largest theater producers in the United States, will co-produce the show with Cuba’s council for performing arts. It will be shown at Havana’s Bertolt Brecht Theatre.
This production of “Rent,” which centers on a group of struggling artists in New York’s East Village, will have a cast of 15 Cuban actors and will be entirely in Spanish. It will be led by Cuban-American director Andy Senor Jr., who made his professional debut as Angel in the original show on Broadway.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Rent,” which opened in New York in 1996, was written by Jonathan Larson and is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La boheme.” It won four Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize for drama.