Vanessa Hudgens is returning to FOX for another epic musical event. RENT: Live premieres Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. Vanessa is playing Maureen Johnson in the 3-hour musical. RENT: Live also stars Tinashe, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kiersey Clemons, Mario, Valentina, and Jordan Fisher. This isn’t Vanessa’s first live musical event. She also starred as Rizzo in Grease: Live — and so did Jordan! They also co-hosted Freeform’s Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary special in Oct. 2018. Vanessa loved getting the chance to work with Jordan yet again.
“Jordan is so amazing,” Vanessa at the show’s press junket in Los Angeles. “The fact that he had said that he wants to be the first Mark of color and him being able to do this and us doing it together, it’s magical. I feel like we both have such a love for musical theater and a lot for RENT, even before we came to it. I think that it really just translates. Also, the fact that we have a relationship already and Maureen and Mark have had a relationship in the past. It all goes hand in hand. It all works perfectly.”
Idina Menzel played Maureen on Broadway and in the film version. Exploring the character on her own has been a real treat for Vanessa. “It’s been so much fun finding Maureen within myself because she is loud and loves being the center of attention, and I am a performer. I love having all eyes on me, and she expresses herself in a way that is unique to her own, and she’s an artist and I feel like that’s what I aspire to be like as well,” she said.