The curtain is about to come down on Act 1. Voices are soaring. Hips are shaking. Hair is flying. It's "Rent," the long-running Broadway show, and the singers and dancers are at highest rev, pumping out pure musical theater. They're climbing up on a platform, belting "La Vie Boheme," and Franchelle "Frenchie" Davis, the allegedly humiliated "American Idol" contestant booted off the TV show in February, is blasting away with that famously rich voice.

Another Season of Love: The Original Cast Reassembles for a 'Rent' Anniversary
by ANTHONY TOMMASINI for the New York Times

Another milestone came on Monday night. The original Broadway production of "Rent" opened at the Nederlander Theater 10 years ago this Saturday. That production, directed by Michael Greif, was an almost-intact transfer of the initial production at the New York Theater Workshop, which had opened three months earlier.

published: April 26, 2006