Two Veterans Revive Interest in 'Rent'

Anthony Rapp had just one real concern when he and Adam Pascal were considering slipping back into the roles they originated more than a decade before in the beloved musical "Rent" -- "That there might be some backlash, like 'They're too old.' "

In fact, when Rapp and Pascal went back to Broadway as Mark and Roger two summers ago, the show started selling out again. Suddenly the flagging rock musical was again generating buzz.

"It was interesting to come back to something 12 years later and see that it still has all kinds of life in it," Rapp says. "It's also really, really satisfying to get to see that this piece still means so much to so many people."

After 10 weeks back on Broadway, the producers came to Rapp and Pascal with another proposal: to take the show on the road. The success of that summer run prompted both to agree, and the touring production lands at the Warner Theatre on Tuesday.

"It was really just a great opportunity," Pascal recounts on the phone before a show in Houston. "It was a great opportunity business-wise. And a great opportunity to have just the ultimate sense of closure to the 'Rent' experience. As much as I loved making the movie, I'm glad my 'Rent' experience will end having done it on the stage."

The age thing didn't stop being an issue; many articles written about the show note the undeniable fact that the actors have gotten on in years. Pascal was 25 when he first stepped onstage as Roger; he's 38 today. Rapp is 37.

"The reviews will bring up the issue and then say, 'But they haven't changed a bit,' and . . . that feels great to know," Pascal says. "Anthony and I are both lucky enough to have remained quite young-looking."

There is another factor preventing the two from looking like elder statesmen onstage: They insisted that the median age of the rest of the cast match their own.

"I didn't want to go out on the road with a bunch of 22-year-olds," Pascal says. "It was very important for me to be with my peers."

And any lingering fears that the play (which was written in the early '90s at the height of the AIDS crisis in America) would fail to resonate with today's audiences were quickly dissipated.

"One of the things 'Rent' did in the first place was try to bring to the forefront people and issues that had been sidelined for a long time," Rapp says. "Now the conversation about struggle and trying to make ends meet and crisis -- these things are much more in the mainstream."

Returning to the musical that indelibly altered both of their lives has turned out to be more gratifying than either actor imagined.

"I've done a lot of other things in the meantime since doing 'Rent' back in the day," Rapp says, "but it remains the most complete artistic and personal experience of my life. So you know, on a very selfish personal level, it was also very meaningful to go back."

Still, both men agree, when the tour wraps in the fall, it really will be the end of the road for Rapp and Pascal as Mark and Roger.

"Yeah," Pascal says. "I mean, we really will be too old to keep doing it."

Rent Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. 202-397-7328. http://www.warnertheatre.com. Tuesday through May 31. $40-$85.