With early performances already sold out, after the initial run was delayed by the great snowcrete attack of 2026, Compass Rose Theater is producing a revival of Rent, Jonathan Larsen’s highly acclaimed, now iconic rock musical adaptation of La Boheme.
Performances are on the campus at Anne Arundel Community College, where Compass Rose is in residence while temporarily itinerant; additionally, the company involved students on stage and behind the scenes as part of a larger partnership that provides learning and professional opportunities to students.
Rent, which won for Larsen a posthumous Tony and Pulitzer, famously uses Puccini’s beloved opera, with its interwoven tapestry of starving artists and creative misfits shivering (and coughing) through the daily ups and downs of their bohemian lives, as a jumping-off point to explore similarly intertwined stories of East Village outsiders engaged in making art, finding love, and fighting the devastations of AIDS.
The original musical, developed initially at New York Theatre Workshop, rode a wave of acclaim and momentum to Broadway in 1996 and never stopped: a film followed in 2005, and revivals continue to thrive around the country. And now it has come to Annapolis, with a company of veteran performers alongside the emerging artists of tomorrow.
Compass Rose Artistic Director Madeline Austin shared her thoughts and reflections on the piece and the production in our conversation.
For tickets, times, and more information, you can look here (but note dates have changed): https://www.compassrosetheater.org/rent
and here: https://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.venue&venueid=558
