‘Rent’ returns to Philly with a 25th anniversary ‘Farewell Season of Love’ tour

When “Rent” opened off-Broadway in 1993, it made a bold statement — theater for the young and struggling, rock music, and the motif of AIDS/HIV running throughout this work loosely based on “La Bohème,” the Italian opera written a little more than a century earlier by Giacomo Puccini.

Broadway, the critics, and the world all took notice. Rent went on to gross over $280 million on Broadway between its opening in 1996 and its closing in 2008 — one of the longest-running productions in Broadway history.

Rent, with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson, spawned touring companies that staged the show through multiple generations of producers, casts, and musicians, traveling around the nation and globe, including many times here in Philadelphia. The show returns in March to the Kimmel Cultural Center’s Merriam Theater.

Through it all, Tim Weil, who had been Larson’s chief collaborator, has been a steady presence on the music side, even while it was still in development before its 1993 debut. Weil had a hand in arranging the latest iteration of the score for this tour.

“It’s always been such a joy,” said Weil. “In our business, these kinds of opportunities don’t come along very often.”

And for Weil, it may be coming to an end. The Kimmel show is part of what the Rent producers are calling the 25th Anniversary “Farewell Season of Love.”

In 1993, Larson died unexpectedly the night before Rent’s first open dress rehearsal — a sort of pre-preview — at the New York Theatre Workshop. Weil was left, literally, to pick up the baton and still deeply mourns the loss of his friend and collaborator.

“There’ve been many young people that I’ve been so fortunate to work with and perform with, and all the great musicians and all the Rent bands,” he said. I can’t begin to count the blessings.”

After shepherding the music on Broadway, Weil went on to become musical supervisor for the touring company, in the United States and globally. He found the musicians and made sure that everything on the music side went smoothly. And, as the chief music arranger throughout, he made small changes to the score over the years to accommodate the vocal strengths and weaknesses of each new cast.

“It is completely and recognizably Rent,” Weil said, “but if you listen down deep, you’ll say, `That’s not what I remember.’ And you are right. Of course, I can’t mess with the big things, but I get free rein to fix or to futz or to reconfigure.”

The show “has really been a living, breathing organism,” Weil said. “It keeps very subtly morphing with what each new group brings to the table. That’s what has made it so incredibly satisfying.

“I know I’m one of the lucky ones in this business.”

March 4 through March 6, Merriam Theater at the Kimmel Cultural Campus, 250 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. 215-893-1999 or kimmelculturalcampus.org. Masks and vaccination proof required.

Walnut Street Theatre presents “Sherlock Holmes – The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” a world premiere written and directed by Bill Van Horn, a Walnut favorite. Bernard Havard, Walnut’s producing artistic director, had commissioned Van Horn to write this adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s three-act 1910 play. Van Horn also plays Holmes’ sidekick, Dr. Watson. Fearing that she will be the next to die after her twin sister’s unusual death in a run-down country manor, a young woman hires Holmes to sort things out in this comedic mystery. The twin’s dying words? “It was … the speckled band.”

Through March 27, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila. Some $10 tickets available. 215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org. Vaccination proof and masks required.

What if colonial U.S. President Thomas Jefferson was instead a dean at a modern Southern university, and what if Sally Hemings, an enslaved person and Jefferson’s longtime mistress, was a student? What if the dean loved the student, but not vice versa? Philadelphia playwright James Ijames explores a complicated history and a complicated relationship in “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever” at Theatre Horizon. Sean Close plays TJ and Syndey Banks stars as Sally in this regional premiere directed by Lauren E. Turner.

Feb. 24 through March 20, Theatre Horizon, 401 DeKalb St., Norristown. 610-283-2230 or theatrehorizon.org. Mask and vaccination proof required.

So many adventurous dangers in video games! Isn’t it nice to be safe and snug at the controls? But what would happen if you suddenly fell into one of those games? That’s the premise of the world premiere of “Other World,” a musical presented by the Delaware Theatre Company Somehow the two lead characters are magically transported from a garage on Earth to the innards of a favorite video game, where they are trapped and racing against a clock to survive. It’s a humorous story (with avatars) of friendship, family, and connections. The book is by Hunter Bell, and music and lyrics are by Jeff Bowen and Ann McNamee.

Feb. 23 through March 20, Delaware Theatre Co., 200 Water St., Wilmington. 302-594-1100 or delawaretheatre.org. Masks and vaccination proof or a recent negative COVID-19 test required.

Just in time (we hope) for some kind of lifting of this pandemic, a group of Philly theater professionals is starting a new theater company, Humble Materials, based in Philly PACK, a South Philadelphia community theater and dance education and performance space.

Humble Materials’ mission? To build a physical theater collective that produces large-impact, small-budget, and femme-centric work. Its first production? “Medea,” the story of a Greek goddess who first helps her lover and then plots revenge against him when he abandons her. In Humble Materials’ production, created by playwright Monica Flory with movement design by choreographer Jessica Noel (Philly PACK’s owner), each Greek chorus member takes on an aspect of Medea’s complicated and passionate personality.

Feb. 25 through March 5, Philly PACK garage theater, 233 Federal St., Philadelphia. 215-703-8617 or phillypack.org/pack-events/. Masks and vaccination proof required.

Two veteran improvisers, Kristen Schier and Philadelphia’s Nick Gillette, draw on the traditions of Edward Albee, Eugène Ionesco, and Samuel Beckett to bring “The Wadsworth Constant: Improved Absurdist Play” to the Plays & Players Theatre, presented by Crossroads Comedy Theatre.

March 4, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St., Philadelphia. 215-650-7360 or xroadscomedy.com. Masks and vaccination proof required.

janevonbtheater@gmail.com.