BWW Reviews: Intimate Staging of RENT Brings the Characters Into Sharp Focus

Based on Puccini's La Boheme, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical RENT with book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson is a rock opera that tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in the East Village alphabet city streets of New York during the 1990s. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates, trying to figure out just what they want to be. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, AIDS, and modern day life, all wrapped up in one powerful story.

This iconic show is about relationships, friendships, and living life in a world that's collapsing all around us. Now, as much as ever, we need to be reminded of the life-affirming messages in this show. There is truly, "No day but today."

RENT at the intimate Hollywood Cupcake Theater features a rotating cast of industry professionals. This review will cover the talented cast at the performance I attended: nerdy love-struck filmmaker Mark Cohen (Joel Halstead); the object of Mark's affection, his former girlfriend, Maureen Johnson (Kelly Dorsey); Maureen's Harvard-educated public interest lawyer and lesbian lover Joanne Jefferson (Carmen Jackson) Mark's roommate, HIV-positive musician and former junkie, Roger Davis (Jokull Jonsson); Roger's new girlfriend, the HIV-positive drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi Marquez (Fatima Poggi); their former roommate, HIV-positive computer genius Tom Collins (John Devereaux); Collins' HIV-positive drag queen street musician/lover Angel (William Venturini); and Benjamin Coffin III (Rashad Davis), a former member of the group who married for money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for.

As their lives intertwine, you can see just how much things change or don't change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year. The cast's enthusiasm and joy filled the intimate theatre with fully realized characters up close and personal, all with remarkable voices and stage presence.

So realistic are their performances, I am still trying to figure out if Roger (Jokull Jonsson) was really playing guitar or just mimicking it. But there was no doubt about John Devereaux's heartfelt sorrow as Tom Collins during Angel's funeral and the exuberance of the cast during "La Vie Boheme" which ends Act I. Jonsson and Joel Halstead harmonize beautifully in their duets as do Halstead and Carmen Jackson in "Tango Maureen." Then again all of the songs are so good, I could go on and on about each and every one of them! And kudos to William Venturini whose drag queen Angel was played as a real person trying to deal with life as he/she lives it, not just a caricature - allowing us to see the person beneath the outrageous costuming.

The emotional score was performed by outstanding musicians Dr. James Lent, Alec De Kervor, Grant Royer and Andrew Bilotti. Their raucous music celebrates the joy and heartache inherent in the show. But it was a shame the band often made it difficult to understand the words being sung due to their exuberant volume.

RENT is currently playing until March 22 at Cupcake Theater, located at 6520 Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. The cast features a rotating cast of industry professionals, directed by Jessie Linn Norman and produced by Michael Pettenato.

Performances on Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 3pm & 7pm; Sundays at 3pm and 7pm through March 22. $25-$45 tickets available at www.cupcaketheater.com/tickets

Make sure you use the special discount code "SANTAFE" when you purchase your tickets!

Photos by Kat Kaplan

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