THIS RENT'S PAID UP IN FULL
The Toronto Sun, December 8th, 1998
by John Coulbourn
* * * * * (out of 5)
Well, this should hush the mouths of all those doomsayers who have been
prematurely mourning the death of theatre.
Generation X has finally taken out a lease on the future of theatre, and
it looks like they'll by more than able to pay the Rent.
That's Rent - as in Jonathan Larson's Broadway baby from the wrong side
of the racks; Rent, the musical that took centre stage last night at the
Royal Alexandra Theatre, a production of Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum,
Allan S. Gordon and David and Ed Mirvish.
And it's everything you've heard about it - and more - as director
Michael Greif superimposes his New York production on a Toronto cast in
a seamless union that allows the best of both worlds to shine through.
Loosely adapted from Puccini's La Boheme, Larson's Rent is a sprawling
retelling of a year in the life of a group of Gen X-ers living in and
around a nearby derelict industrial loft in New York's Alphabet City.
At its very core, Rent, is three love stories, played out in fevered
time against a world plagued by AIDS, homelessness, drug abuse and the
death of compassion.
Aspiring filmmaker Mark (Chad Richardson) still loves Maureen (Jenifer
Aubry), even though the performance artist has thrown him over for a
lawyer - and a lady lawyer (Karen LeBlanc) to boot.
His friend Roger (Luther Creek) loves Mimi (Krysten Cummings), the dope
addicted dancer who lives downstairs - and she loves him. But they're
both afraid of what the virus living inside of each of them will do.
Tom (Danny Blanco) has that virus too but when an Angel (Jai Rodriguez)
appears to him on Christmas Eve, with a message of hope and love, he
finds his heart and follows it.
In Rent, the late Larson - he died just before the play became the toast
of Broadway - has created a powerful, unflinching portrait of both place
and time. His is strong medicine and it's not cut with any of the sugar
syrup normally associated with musical theatre. No staircases rise to
the heavens and no chandelier plummets to the earth. Rent invites
comparisons with another generation's Hair, only to dismiss them as if
to say: In a world where there is nothing new, re-invention is far more
important than the wheel.
What Rent has in abundance is music - mostly raw-edged rock 'n' roll
like Out Tonight, interspersed with haunting melodies like Seasons of
Love and I'll Cover You.
There is also a powerful youthful cast, some 15 strong - and not a
clunker in the bunch, as they team up to rocket through Marlies Yearby's
choreography of life with a terrifying but joyous commitment.
And finally, Rent has heart - a big, bold human heart that is filled
with hope, compassion, and tolerance as it beats in preparation to take
over the life of an ailing world it didn't create.
If the purpose of art is to reflect life, then Gen X finally elbowed the
baby boomers aside and got a good look in the mirror last night.
So did the rest of us - and it was thrilling.