The
touring
production
of
the
groundbreaking
rock
musical
“Rent”
has
become
as
ubiquitous
in
recent
years
as
any
traveling
show
can
get,
but
the
2007-2008
tour’s
April
25-27
stop
in
Atlanta
brings
a
pair
of
surprises
that
should
help
drive
ticket
sales.
“Rentheads”
who
have
watched
production
qualities
decline
as
the
tour
continues
may
be
reinvigorated
with
the
inclusion
this
round
of
two
singers
from
the
international
“Idol”
television
franchise.
Fans
of
the
fourth
season
of
“American
Idol”
may
remember
Top
10
member
Anwar
Robinson,
who
joins
the
“Rent”
cast
on
the
heels
of
his
debut
album,
“The
Truth
About
Love.”
He
takes
on
the
role
of
Tom
Collins,
a
gay
man
whose
boyfriend
is
the
Santa
Clause
dress-wearing
drag
queen,
Angel.
Atlanta’s
“Rent”
audiences
will
also
be
treated
to
the
voice
of
the
first
“South
African
Idol”
winner,
Heinz
Winckler.
He
plays
Roger,
the
show’s
wannabe
rocker
who
engages
in
a
tumultuous
relationship
with
stripper
and
drug
addict
Mimi.
For
the
uninitiated,
“Rent”
is
a
modern-day
take
on
the
classic
opera
“La
Boheme,”
which
was
based
on
a
play
from
the
novel
“Scenes
de
la
Vie
de
Boheme,”
which
was
itself
based
on
a
series
of
19th
Century
magazine
sketches.
The
ensemble
song
“La
Vie
Boheme”
in
“Rent”
is
a
nod
to
those
roots.
“Rent”
modernizes
the
story
with
a
rag-tag
bunch
of
20-somethings
in
New
York’s
Alphabet
City,
and
replaces
the
tuberculosis
epidemic
in
the
original
with
AIDS
to
heart-wrenching
ends.
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