You can trust Rent is in some good hands.
"I feel like I've been a Renthead for a while," Vanessa Hudgens told E! News at a rehearsal for Fox's Rent: Live.
Hudgens, who is playing Maureen in the live musical telecast, previously did a production of the acclaimed show at the Hollywood Bowl. "I remember learning the play through doing it. And falling in love with the music through the fact that we'd be singing it over and over again," she said. At the time of her first brush with Rent, Hudgens said she and her sister just constantly sang the songs.
"It's so exciting to come back to it and realize how the songs are still so ingrained into my brain that I have not forgotten them, that the messages still so real, so relevant, so strong. It's just a wonderful story about community, which is something I feel is overlooked," she said.
Jordan Fisher is taking on the role of Mark, a role he's had his eye on since he was 14 years old.
"Literally manifested that," he said about his goal to be the first. "We were talking about pipe dreams and goals and I said, ‘I want to be the first Mark Cohen of color on Broadway, and here we are!"
Brennin Hunt said Roger, his character, has always been his favorite and Rent was the first show he saw on Broadway.
Click play to hear more from the cast, including Brandon Victor Dixon's relationship with the show.
Rent airs live on Fox at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27.