Brennin Hunt breaks foot ahead of Fox broadcast of 'Rent'

Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Brennin Hunt broke his foot during the dress rehearsal for the live staging of the rock musical Rent, forcing Fox to use pre-recorded footage in Sunday's broadcast.

Hunt played Roger, one of the leads in the show, which co-starred Jordan Fisher, Tinashe, Brandon Victor Dixon, Valentina, Vanessa Hudgens, Kiersey Clemons and Mario.

While most of the scenes Hunt appeared in Sunday were pre-recorded, he and his co-stars performed "Your Eyes" live at the end of the show. Hunt was seen with his leg in a cast.

The stars from the original 1996 Broadway staging of Rent -- including Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Fredi Walker and Daphne Rubin-Vega -- also showed up to sing a stunning reprise of "Seasons of Love" with the newbies before the final credits rolled.

An appearance by the original Rent stars was rumored for days, but not officially confirmed by the network until Sunday.

Rapp posted an image Saturday, featuring the old and new stars of Rent posing together on a soundstage. The day before, Menzel shared photos of signs with the Rent logo and the initials: "IM," "DRV" and "FW."

"Squatting in Hollywood for a few days #rentliveonfox #rent," Rubin-Vega captioned a picture of a trailer with one of the signs with her initials on the door.

Based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning show is about artists struggling with AIDS, poverty and drug addiction in early 1990s Manhattan.

The musical's creator Jonathan Larson died of an aortic dissection before Rent began its Broadway run, which lasted until 2008. It played more than 5,000 performances. A 2005 movie adaptation starred most of the original Broadway cast.