Rent Returns to the West End with Gaten Matarazzo at the Tom Stoppard

Gaten Matarazzo, best known as Dustin Henderson in the Netflix series Stranger Things, makes his West End debut as Mark in a new 30th-anniversary revival of Jonathan Larson's Rent, now playing at the newly renamed Tom Stoppard theatre in London until 27 March.

Matarazzo plays the film-maker Mark, who documents the lives of his friends in New York's East Village, including his roommate Roger, played by Travis Ross. The Guardian published the first production photographs by Tristram Kenton on 2 October.

The revival is directed by Luke Sheppard, who won an Olivier award for Paddington: The Musical. Sheppard previously directed Rent at Manchester's Hope Mill theatre in 2020. Tom Jackson Greaves is the choreographer, with lighting design by Howard Hudson, set design by David Woodhead and costume design by Gabriella Slade.

The cast includes Alexa Lopez as Mimi, one of the characters who is HIV positive in the musical, set during New York's Aids crisis. Danielle Fiamanya and Lazy Violet play the couple Joanne and Maureen. Jeevan Braich and Billy Nevers play Angel and Collins, another central relationship in the show.

Rent was created by Jonathan Larson, who died aged 35 on the eve of the musical's first preview off-Broadway in 1996. The show went on to win a Pulitzer prize, four Tony awards and run for more than 5,000 performances on Broadway. Its popular songs include Seasons of Love, which asks how you measure a year – whether in minutes, sunsets, cups of coffee or love.

The musical was inspired by Puccini's opera La Bohème.

The production runs at the Tom Stoppard theatre, formerly the Duke of York's, which was renamed after the playwright in July. With a Netflix star headlining a 30th-anniversary revival under an Olivier-winning director, the production positions Larson's show for a new generation of West End audiences through the spring.

Photographs: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian.