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Model Caprice Makes Musical Stage Debut in Rent

American-born supermodel Caprice (pictured) will make her musical stage debut next month in Rent, Jonathan Larson's much-lauded Broadway hit which returns to the West End for the third and, so say producers, final time. The limited season opens at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 15 December 2002 (previews from 6 December) (See News, 4 Nov 2002).

Caprice has pulled out of reality TV programme Celebrity Big Brother, which was due to begin filming this week, in order to join rehearsals for Rent, in which she'll play lesbian performance artist Maureen, who shares a passionate onstage kiss with her girlfriend.

Caprice made her stage debut earlier this year in a three-week stint of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, though she remains best known as a pin-up. After moving to London in 1996, the American has become a near-ubiquitous celebrity in the UK, with countless appearances in magazines and newspapers. She has also worked as a TV presenter for shows including Caprice Travels, Friday Night's All Wright, Guiding Stars and The Big Breakfast.

First seen in New York in 1996, Rent received its West End premiere at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 12 May 1998 and closed on 30 October 1999 after a run of 18 months. In 2002, it embarked on an extensive UK-wide tour, coming back into the West End for a limited two-month season at the Prince of Wales theatre last Christmas before the arrival of fellow Broadway transfer The Full Monty, which will now close prematurely this weekend.

Inspired by Puccini's La Bohême, Larson's musical updates the plot to 1990s New York where a community of East End squatters battle to fulfil their aspirations against the reality of rent demands and Aids.

The death of 35-year-old creator and composer Larson, who died of an aortic aneurysm shortly after the final dress rehearsal of Rent's debut, transformed the musical into a cause celebre amongst New York theatregoers. The show received rave reviews and immediately became a sell-out hit, with audiences waiting months for tickets and many fanatical 'Rentheads' queueing nightly to see the show again and again on Broadway, where it won, amongst other accolades, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tonys including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book.

The Full Monty, the American musical based on the hit British film of the same name, opened at the Prince of Wales theatre on 12 March 2002 (previews from 27 February) and will now close on 23 November 2002. Rent will initially be booking at the theatre up to March 2003.

- by Terri Paddock

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