Jonathan Larson’s ‘Rent’ Cast Album Gets First Vinyl Release
The 3LP set includes archival Larson materials and a new oral history based on 19 interviews.
Jonathan Larson’s Rent will be released on vinyl for the first time on November 13, marking the musical’s 30th anniversary. The 3LP Rent: Original Broadway Cast Recording (30th Anniversary Edition) was created with the Larson estate and members of the original company and creative team, and has been newly mastered for vinyl by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound.
In the U.S., the set will be available on standard black vinyl and a limited-edition “Avenue B Brick” color pressing. Its packaging draws on the cast album’s original artwork, with a rigid quad book-style gatefold jacket, printed poly-lined inner sleeves and a collectible ephemera envelope referencing the Nederlander Theatre. Archival material comes from the Jonathan Larson Papers at the Library of Congress and Larson’s holdings at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, including handwritten and typed lyrics and notes documenting the musical’s development.
A stitched 24-page booklet includes full lyrics and a new oral history running nearly 20,000 words. Theatre historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper conducted 19 new interviews with members of the original cast and creative team for the account of the album and its songs. Julie Larson said the family viewed the reissue as a way to mark the anniversary and recognize the original cast, adding that they were “honored that, all these years later, Rent is still inspiring so many young people.”
Rent opened off-Broadway in 1996, shortly after Larson died from an aortic dissection hours before the production’s first preview. It later ran for more than 12 years at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre. The original cast included Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Fredi Walker and Taye Diggs. The production won four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
