Saint Louis School has acquired the rights to Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking rock musical "Rent," becoming the first high school to stage the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.

The coup ties in with the Saint Louis Center for the Arts' new Summer Outreach Program. Participation in the show is open to all high school performers statewide, male and female. Casting will be completed in May, with rehearsals beginning immediately afterward.

Shows will start July 4, with a three-weekend run through July 19.

The musical, playing on Broadway since 1996, has been extended in New York through Sept. 7. The show is co-produced by Kevin McCollum, a former Islander. A national touring company of "Rent" visited the Blaisdell Concert Hall in 2000.

Saint Louis drama director Kyle Kakuno has secured other first-time productions at his "little theater that could," introducing Island audiences to "Aida" in 2005 and "Footloose" in 2002.

"There are a dozen schools nationwide securing rights to the play at this time," he said.

The version for high schools will be sanitized by omitting some explicit language. "They've cleaned up the language and taken out one song, to make it more accessible for high schools," Kakuno said.

"Rent" is based on the Puccini opera "La Boheme" and focuses on a group of eight struggling fringe artists in New York's Lower East Side, living a bohemian lifestyle but also struggling with money problems, the risk of AIDS and drug abuse. It won a Tony for Best Musical and remains a landmark show with its rock orientation and appeal to a young audience.

"This is the show that touched the MTV generation," Kakuno said.

The production will also tour to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, following other Saint Louis shows including "Aida" and "Chicago."

'RENT' AUDITIONS

1-4 p.m. April 27-28 and 4-7 p.m. April 29; callbacks May 3-4

Mamiya Theatre, Saint Louis Center for the Arts

Open to students attending grades 9-12 in the coming academic year

Must prepare two songs from "Rent" or contrasting songs to show off vocal range; may be sung a cappella, with sheet music (an accompanist will be provided), or with a minus-one CD

Information: Kyle Kakuno at 739-4886