ADAM PASCAL (LEFT) AND ANTHONY RAPP (RIGHT), original cast members of “Rent,” star in the Des Moines Civic Center’s production of the Broadway musical. photo courtesy of the DES MOINES CIVIC CENTER

The rock opera, “Rent,” which has been stuck in everybody’s head since 1996, is coming to Iowa along with cast members from the original production.

The Des Moines Civic Center will feature the smash hit musical “Rent” Nov. 10 through Nov. 15. Previous viewers as well as those who have never seen the production before are in for a treat, as the original Roger (Adam Pascal) and Mark Cohen (Anthony Rapp) act in the production.

Rapp will hold a question-and-answer session as well as a book signing in Sheslow Auditorium from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday.

When “Rent” opened on Broadway, it received 18 awards, including multiple Tony awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Drama League Award for Best Musical.

The writer of the show, Jonathan Larson, died tragically just before the show was set to premiere on Broadway, robbing him of his chance to see his work take off.

Rent’s opening depicts a few of the troubles the characters are dealing with, allowing the audience to become close to the protagonists. Fights, drugs and paying rent are just a few of the struggles the group of impoverished young artists and musicians face.

The first scene depicts Roger tuning his guitar and Mark, a filmmaker and the show’s narrator, filming him. During the jam/movie-making session, they receive several phone calls introducing other characters and exposing several of the conflicts in place. Mark’s girlfriend left him for somebody else. Tom Collins, a friend of Mark and Roger, gets robbed and beaten up in an alleyway. As storylines intertwine, the plot starts to come together.

The cast of characters is rich and full of colorful personalities. Mimi is an exotic dancer addicted to drugs. During the course of the play, Mimi barges into Roger’s apartment and seduces him, with surprising consequences. Another character deals with the looming threat of HIV, and by the time the curtain falls, others will have faced their own close calls.

While Rent may come across as being about death, drugs and dancers, the production is actually a show about friends handling their baggage while trying to live life to the fullest. Rent imparts a powerful message, reminding audience members through song lyrics to “forget regret, or life is yours to miss.” With the threat of death close at hand, there may be “no day but today.”