Rent announces front row ticketing initiative for West End previews

The new revival of Rent in the West End has revealed details about preview tickets.

Jonathan Larson’s show follows a community living in New York City’s East Village as they navigate poverty, love, and the AIDS crisis in the early 1990s. Inspired by La Bohème, it premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 before transferring to Broadway, where it became a defining rock musical of its era, winning the Pulitzer Prize and multiple Tony Awards.

The “bold new production”, directed by WhatsOnStage and Olivier Award winner Luke Sheppard (who previously oversaw the five-star revival seen at the Hope Mill Theatre in 2020 and 2021, which has “inspired” this version), will run at the Tom Stoppard Theatre from 26 September 2026.

For the first preview performance, 100 tickets in the stalls will be released for £20 each. This echoes the musical’s pioneering Broadway rush policy, which famously offered $20 front-row tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. The tickets for the 26 September performance will only be available to purchase in person at the Tom Stoppard Theatre’s box office from 12 noon on the day and are limited to two per person.

After that, in celebration of the musical’s 30^th anniversary, all other preview performances until 7 October, will have front-row seats available to purchase for £30 each, in person at the box office from 10.30am on the day.

For all future performances from Friday 9 October, a digital lottery for day seats will be launched, with further details to be announced.

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Broadway and Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo will make his West End debut as Mark Cohen in the show, alongside Travis Ross as Roger, Billy Nevers as Collins, Alexa Lopez as Mimi,  Lazy Violet as Maureen, Danielle Fiamanya as Joanne, Jeevan Braich as Angel and Joaquin Pedro Valdes as Benny.

The cast is completed by Baylie Carson, in the role of April, Laura Delany, Ryesha Higgs, Montoya Holloway-Johnson, Rhys Hopkins, Shem Omari James, Hannah Macpherson, TJ Matara-Holloway, Ryan Nixon, Leah Vassell, James Wilkinson-Jones and Kevin Yates.

Alongside Sheppard, the show has choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves, with set design by David Woodhead, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, audio production and sound design by Paul Gatehouse, video design and cinematography by George Reeve and Nathan Amzi, make-up and hair design by Jackie Saundercock, UK casting by Pearson Casting and US Casting by Jim Carnahan.

The musical supervisor is Bill Sherman and the musical director and associate musical supervisor is Katy Richardson, the intimacy director is Asha Jennings-Grant, the associate director is Priya Patel Appleby and the dialect coach is Joe Trill.

Bookings for the show are currently available until Saturday 27 March 2027 at the newly rechristened Tom Stoppard Theatre. Matarazzo is currently scheduled to appear until 10 January 2027.