Fox Casts Tinashe, Jordan Fisher, Mario, Vanessa Hudgens, More in Live Version of Rent

Fox announced the cast for its forthcoming Rent live musical on Monday.

Musician Tinashe has been cast as Mimi Marquez, a dancer who struggles with addiction. Mimi’s love interest, musician and recovering addict Roger, will be played by Brennin Hunt (Nashville).

No stranger to the world of musicals, Grease: Live’s Jordan Fisher (of Hamilton fame) will play filmmaker Mark, Roger’s roommate and best friend, who narrates the show.

Vanessa Hudgens, who appeared alongside Fisher in Grease: Live, is set to play Maureen Johnson, a performance artist and Mark’s ex-girlfriend. When the musical opens, Maureen has begun seeing Joanne Jefferson, an Ivy League-educated lawyer played by Kiersey Clemons (Dope, Transparent).

Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Brandon Victor Dixon (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert) will play Tom Collins, a college professor and computer scientist who returns to New York after being dismissed from MIT. There he meets and falls in love with the inspirational, young drag queen Angel Dumont Schunard, played by Valentina (RuPaul’s Drag Race).

R&B singer Mario, currently starring in Fox’s Empire, will play Benjamin Coffin III, Mark and Roger’s former roommate, current landlord. Benny is Mimi’s ex, but he married wealthy and now hopes to gentrify his old neighborhood.

Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman) will perform the iconic solo from “Seasons of Love”—and if her rendition is anything like “This Is Me,” winner of the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, we’re in for a treat.

Fox’s version of Rent will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Michael Greif, who directed the original Broadway version, will oversee the stage direction of the live musical, while Alex Rudzinksi will serve as the live television director.

Rent opened on Broadway in April 1996, running through 2008. The musical spurred touring productions, a 2005 big-screen adaptation and an Off Broadway version in 2011-12.

Rent Live will be broadcast from Fox Studios in Los Angeles live on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Watch the show’s cast reveal teaser below.

Today for you, we have an announcement — meet the cast of #RENT! pic.twitter.com/i4u44CHYwi

— RENT on FOX (@RENTonFOX) October 29, 2018