BWW Reviews: RENT at Boiler Room Theatre

With a trio of powerful leading performances from Ben Van Diepen, Ciaran McCarthy and Laura Matula, the Boiler Room Theatre production of Jonathan Larson's Pultizer Prize-winning Rent may well be the finest interpretation of the groundbreaking musical we've ever seen. Certainly, we've never seen a more passionate or more engaging mounting of Rent and the cast assembled by director Corbin Green deserve every accolade possible for the obviously heartfelt rendering they give Larson's work.

Green's overall artistic vision for the piece - given the strong underpinnings of Jamey Green's expert musical direction, Lauri Gregoire's evocative choreography and Melissa Cannon's pitch-perfect costume design - breathes new and vibrant life into Rent, which in lesser hands could be dated and maudlin. But in this production, the cast and crew effectively skirt stereotype, refusing to take the easy way out and, in turn, deliver a Rent that resonates vividly for the new millennium. It is just the latest musical triumph from Boiler Room and another in a long list of oustanding productions from the company, which continues to aim for higher and loftier artistic goals.

The ensemble of performers bringing Rent to life night after night in the intimate confines of the Boiler Room Theatre is uniformly impressive and thoroughly committed to their jobs. While Van Diepen, McCarthy and Matula, as the play's three leads, deliver stunningly real and altogether fresh readings of their characters, all of the musical's roles are played at the same high level of confident theatricality, the larger-than-life moments kept real by the integrity of a cast determined to do more than simply recite lines or mimic a cast album. Instead, they present a unique visceral interpretation of Larson's seminal work which illuminates that certain period of time in which the play takes place and enlightens audience members with its intensely felt retelling.

Van Diepen's sensitive portrayal of Mark, the budding cinematographer/videographer at the center of this updated version of La Boheme, is multi-dimensional, the character's inherent sweetness underscored by a healthy cynicism that prevents Mark from becoming cloying or predictable. Van Diepen's onstage pairing with McCarthy (who plays Mark's roommate Roger, an aspiring and HIV-positive musician) is noteworthy - not just because the two played Jesus and Judas, respectively, in last year's Jesus Christ Superstar at the same venue - but because the two men are so dynamic onstage. Van Diepen's relative coolness balances perfectly against McCarthy's more tightly coiled energy to create tension that guarantees success. (Note to BRT's Messrs. Green: Someone should stage a production of Kiss of the Spider Woman with these two exceptional young men - with JoAnn Coleman as the perfect Aurora - sooner rather than later.) Watching Van Diepen and McCarthy onstage - whether together or separately - is nothing short of rapturous: Each man is surprising and compelling, seemingly unable to give a performance that is not inspiring and mesmerizing.

And then there is Laura Matula, whose beautiful voice gives new life to the doomed Mimi and whose exquisite portrayal is so genuinely conveyed that she gives, without doubt, the best reading of the role we've ever seen. Of the 525,600 Mimis we've seen in the past almost-15 years, Matula is definitely the finest. Paired romantically onstage with McCarthy (their "Light My Candle" is fun and sexy - and maybe just a little scary), she creates a memorable characterization and their scenes together are beautifully structured and heartbreakingly emotional.

To the director's credit, the entire cast of Rent measures up to the tremendously high level of professionalism and talent that is exemplified by the show's three leads. The supporting cast includes James Rudolph as Tom Collins; Mike Baum as Benjamin Coffin III; Michael Holder as Angel; Heather Trabucco as Maureen; and Valerie Navarre as Joanne. Rudolph and Holder have a very real chemistry as the gay lovers Tom and Angel and both men are given the opportunity to exhibit their exceptional range throughout their characters' narrative arc. Baum again shows his tremendous talent and ample charm as the somewhat dastardly Ben, perfectly capturing the character's yuppy smarminess while somehow retaining the audience's affection. Trabucco, cast as Mark's erstwhile lover-turned-lesbian, is ferociously self-absorbed and yet somehow completely entertaining, while Navarre's confident bearing is coupled with a winning vulnerability that ideally showcases her versatility

The remaining members of the ensemble, who play a wide range of characters in the musical's East Village environs circa the late 1990s, include Laura Thomas, David Williams, Karrah Tines, Jeffrey Williams, Alan Smith, Ryan Leyhue and Christina Candilora. They are, each and every one of them, spectacular onstage, playing their various roles with every fragment of their heart and soul, and each of them as talented and as focused as the show's leading players. Don't believe me? I dare you to listen to this company sing "Seasons of Love" and not be completely moved by their performance - and then try to figure out who among this exceptionally talented company has the most glorious voice. Quite frankly, it can't be done.

I've always thought reviewers who tell their readers to either "go see/don't go see" a show are either lazy or stupid. So say what you will about me, but I'm telling you this: Go see Rent at Boiler Room Theatre. It will completely change the way you look at the show and you will have newfound respect for the talent assembled on that tiny stage.

- Rent. Book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Directed by Corbin Green. Music direction by Jamey Green. Choreography by Lauri Gregoire. Presented by Boiler Room Theatre, in The Factory at Franklin. Though October 31. For reservations, call (615) 794-7744; for further details, visit the company website at www.BoilerRoomTheatre.com

Michael Holder, James Rudolph, Ben Van Diepen, Mike Baum and Ciaran McCarthy in Rent at Boiler Room Theatre. Photo by Rick Malkin.

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