Review: Theater West End's RENT Lovingly Preserves the Urban Fantasy That Influenced Generations of Musical Acolytes

Regardless which generation you belong to, there's no denying the optimism and sheer will we all have that the actions and choices in our twenties will have a lasting impact on the rest of the world. Looking back on it now, it's a pivotal decade in life where our friends become family, as the relationships made across those years define our future more than we expect. Although it's been romanticized and idealized in sitcoms like "Friends," the wilderness years of the modern twentysomething has been most accurately captured in Jonathan Larson's seminal work RENT. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1996 and subsequently became a phenomenon that's influenced virtually every musical to follow in its wake.

Larson sadly never got to see just how successful the fruits of his labor would become, having died of an aortic dissection the morning of what would have been the show's first Off-Broadway preview. Posthumously that same year, he'd win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Musical, a testament to just how monumental this musical was in its time as only four other musicals (three before and one since) have managed such a feat. It's not difficult to see how much of that momentum remains twenty-six years removed from RENT's debut, given that it would take another twenty years for another musical (Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton) to take home both prizes. However, we must remember that critical acclaim is only ever half the story of the enduring success of a show. After all, the second musical to win both the Pulitzer and Tony was 1960's Fiorello!, a political narrative that's never been revived since its original run and mostly remains a historical curio today.

The success of RENT lies not just in how good it is at threading a compelling narrative across a year in the life, but in how it's emotionally connecting with an audience who find some aspect of themselves reflected back into the characters. The characters that make up RENT run a wide range of ethnicities, sexualities, and socio-economic status: narrator Mark Cohen (Bryan De Souza) is an idealistic filmmaker always hiding behind his video camera, his roommate Roger Davis (Nicholas Matthews) once fronted a successful band but is now an ex-junkie coping with HIV. Roger had once been involved with Maureen Johnson (Anneliese Olivia Banks), a public-protest performer always looking for the next cause and crusade. She's with the admittedly-uptight lawyer Joanne Jefferson (Kim Oliver), while Roger's in a bit of a situationship with fellow HIV-positive addict Mimi Marquez (Alexis DeLaRosa). Mimi used to be involved with Benny Coffin III (Jacob Gates), who left the bohemian lifestyle of his friends for a more promising yuppie career and marriage. Rounding out the group is anarchist Tom Collins (Ayò Jeriah Demps), an avant-garde professor and former roommate of Mark and Roger, who's taken an interest in the drag queen Angel Dumott Schunard (Tevae Vontrell Shoels).

These eight main characters are not your typical heteronormative cisgender roles. Two couplings are homosexual. One character is trans, with pronouns changing based on how they present, and characters addressing them as he or she. For a 1996 audience, this was groundbreaking. PGP's have become more of a mainstream hot-button issue in the past decade, but was otherwise unheard of twenty-six years ago. RENT also puts half its characters in various stages of affliction from HIV and AIDS, making the topic less of a "Movie of the Week" social issue and more of a relatable reality that thousands of individuals faced day-to-day at the time. But it also captures the fright and the worry of its time, as deaths from HIV-related illness reached its peak in the mid-90s with nearly 42,000 individuals passing away from the disease. On top of all these characters, there's also the underlying criticism of the continued gentrification of New York City, with valuable real estate in Manhattan getting appropriated for the next big thing: cyber studios, the internet, and digital domains. RENT tapped into so many prevalent issues of the '90s cultural zeitgeist while also being eerily prescient of issues yet to come. Ironically, it makes the now-dated aspects of its late-1980s time period feel more timeless and fantastical as time goes on.

The story opens on an undated 1980s Christmas Eve in Mark and Roger's ramshackled loft apartment as they await the arrival of their friend, New York University professor and professional anarchist Tom Collins. Instead of Collins, they come across Benny, their former friend who married into wealth and became an affluent businessman. Despite a handshake agreement that Benny would take care of the rent in the building (his wife's family owns it), he instead insists Mark and Roger pay back rent for the previous year, or get out before the new year begins. To prove his point, he shuts off power in the already cold building, hoping to drive them out. Nevertheless, Mark and Roger are resolute in keeping their apartment ("Rent"). Mark then leaves to meet up with his ex-girlfriend's Maureen's new girlfriend Joanne, while Roger laments that his writer's block prevents him from writing the "One Song Glory" he will be remembered by. Soon after, Roger encounters Mimi, looking for warmth as the entire building's power is out. Although they'd seen each other before in passing, this is their first time really conversing ("Light My Candle").

Collins eventually arrives, with Angel in tow, the latter having found and rescued him from muggers. Angel has come upon a windfall thanks to the... assisted suicide of a rather bothersome akita named Evita ("Today 4 U"). Benny shows up again with an offer: if Mark can convince Maureen to cancel her planned protest, he'll continue to let them live rent-free. Both turn it down, knowing the deal would likely sour even if Maureen agreed, with Mark once more meeting up with Joanne to assist with some technical issue for Maureen's protest. The two significant others unexpectedly bond over their mutual hang-ups on Maureen and little things she'd do that always bothered them even though they still love her ("Tango: Maureen"). Meanwhile, Collins and Angel attend a support group for those afflicted with AIDS; Mark eventually arrives to document footage for posterity. Mimi tries to get Roger to go "Out Tonight," but Roger is fearful of making any new connections with people, lest he lose them because of his own HIV status.

Eventually the gang make their way to Maureen's protest, an off-beat metaphorical song ("Over the Moon") involving the old nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" as a commentary on the dangers of the new cyber realities. It has to be seen to be believed. After Maureen's show, the gang head over to the Life Café to celebrate a successful protest. Benny is there, with investors, and snootily declares to them that their bohemian lifestyle is dead. Mark rallies the troops in the Café in a joyful elegy honoring their avant-garde lifestyle ("La Vie Bohème"). Amidst their celebrating, the protest had become a riot and Benny has arranged for their building to be locked up. Everyone is too caught up in the revelry and optimism of the night as Act One comes to a close.

The pacing of Act One almost makes it go by in an interminable time, as we get a slow burn and buildup for every character, getting to know them at different points of the entire day. Yet, when we see how Act Two unfolds, that leisurely pace the audience enjoyed for the first eighty minutes suddenly goes at breakneck speed. In less than an hour, Act Two shows the follow-through of an entire year for these characters after that one day. Mark's footage of the riots propels him into a whirlwind, but soulless, career. Roger and Mimi get together, as do Collins and Angel. Maureen and Joanne split. Compared to the slower pace of the first act, we see all of this mainly through fleeting glimpses of scenes showing how these relationships either strengthen or break down, how they pull apart or come back together, how they cope with the relentless stalker of Time.

Yet, through it all, the characters never lose sight of one thing: if life must be lived, let it be lived with love ("Seasons of Love"). Love carries them through the entire year that is Act Two, even through the bad decisions and the arguments ("Take Me or Leave Me"). Love influences them even when they don't want to acknowledge it ("Goodbye Love"). Most importantly, love finds them in their tragedies ("Without You," "I'll Cover You," "Your Eyes"). The heaviness of Act Two is countered by the simple optimistic credo it tells the audience almost immediately: "Measure your life in love."

As someone who's never seen RENT on a live stage before, much of my opinion on the show has been largely influenced by the cast's performance on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show", 2005's ill-directed film adaptation and 2008's pro-shot final performance on Broadway. Aside from the talk-show appearance, both films unfortunately always felt like 60% of a perfect picture: the film serving up a gritty, urban reality beyond the stage rendition, but never fully invested in the performances. Likewise, the pro-shot does a serviceable job of recording that energy on the stage, but its cameras never get close enough to truly capture the nuances of every performer. As such, I never really considered myself a RENT-head the way other acolytes of the show often label themselves. More of my appreciation for the musical has always been in its "driving music and karaoke choices" show tunes, divorcing myself from the story and characters while reveling in its instantly hummable songs.

Thus, the characters' journeys never fully gelled with me until I saw it on the stage. At the same time, seeing it on stage with eyes that have lived through the twentysomething decade perhaps is also what makes me more appreciative of the message of RENT. I'll never get my twenties back, nor will I ever get to redo some of the decisions and regrets of that decade. But there is a gratefulness that comes with surviving your twenties, with knowing that even some of the mistakes could have been the right decision to get to the proverbial present that is "no day but today." I should consider myself fortunate that this first-time stage viewing occurs at Theater West End in Sanford, Florida. Every show I've seen in this venue has always enhanced my love and appreciation for the material they produce, whether it be recent fare like A Chorus Line or an older production of theirs like The Bridges of Madison County. Shows at Theater West End never fail to surprise me, because they find ways to draw new comprehension and greater admiration for shows folks may have seen before. Their production of RENT continues this tradition by offering an intimacy to the story that brings these characters so much closer to home than ever before.

It begins, as is often the case, with Theater West End's musical preludes before the show begins. Rather than open their shows with traditional overtures, as every patron is personally escorted to their seat in the theatre, era-appropriate music plays on to mentally prepare the mind for the journey into the past they're about to embark. Thus, making my way to Row D meant I was listening to Nirvana while taking in the set design. Show director Derek Critzer also designed the set for RENT, opting for a multi-level stage that emulates both a mid-century fire escape on the side of a building, as well as the sparsely-furnished loft apartment somewhere in Greenwich Village. Spread out among the set are five, old-school CRT-TVs that seem like they're on the fritz, but simply set to show the white noise in between broadcast signals. It's a thrifty way to date the show as the squarish aspect ratio of older televisions keeps us with one foot in the past.

As mentioned before, metal railings and stairways on the stage are meant to suggest urban fire escapes, mid-century mainstays that over the years have gone out of fashion, and increasingly see usage for anything but escaping a fire. Characters come and go freely from the two stairways, providing added dimensionality to this tiny space and connects us to the character. Theater West End's exposed brick wall has never looked as good as it does here. It's a pragmatic part of the building, but one that doesn't always figure into the shows at hand. Though I've always loved seeing it in previous shows, with RENT, it feels the most appropriate. Within the tiny downtown of Sanford, we are now pulled into that urban fantasy of New York City in the 1980s. Not exactly the Martin Scorsese urban decay á la Taxi Driver, but perhaps more of the rom-com wistfulness of Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally or Sydney Pollack's Tootsie.

Theater West End's four-piece house band, directed by Michelle Procopio, are nestled nicely in an upper balcony that is mic'ed up well enough for every audience member to hear their music. The sound mixing in this theatre can be hit-or-miss, but having a live band contribute to the rock and roll of RENT's score adds extra layers of energy to the performance. You can almost feel the vibrations reverberating from the speakers. At times, the music sometimes overtakes the vocals, but never in a way that drowns them out. After all, we can already here the performers singing pretty well with or without their microphone. But the mixing on the sound board could be better served if the vocals were a notch or two higher than the band. I would hate for the performers of RENT to feel they're competing with the band and strive to sing louder as a result, especially on a show as vocally challenging as RENT.

Singing in general tend to do a number to one's voice, as there's various and distinctive styles of delivery, sustained notes, and intensive care of the vocal chords to ensure as little damage as possible. Likewise, singing as a natural talent must still be practiced and finessed over time to deliver performances worthy of both the song and the singer. When it comes to musical theatre, and RENT in particular, some roles are more vocally demanding than others. Predominantly, anyone cast as Roger Davis must have the vocal chops to deliver a gentleness to "One Song Glory" just as easily as the gruff intensity of "What You Own," only to balance both in the eleven o'clock number "Your Eyes." For the duration of Theater West End's production of RENT, the show had cast Walt Disney World mainstay Natale Pirrotta as Roger. I've seen Pirrotta's work before, primarily through productions from Encore! Performing Arts. So I knew already what a powerhouse performer he can be. Unfortunately, Pirrotta was absent at Saturday's performance, but his understudy - Nicholas Matthews - turned in a fantastic performance in his stead.

Understudies have always been the unsung heroes of the stage world. They must know the lines, the blocking, and the choreography just like the leads, but also juggle smaller roles in the ensemble. They maintain a strong discipline in balancing both the mental head space and physical needs of various characters so they can jump in at a moment's notice. Matthews is regularly listed among the ensemble for this production of RENT, but filled in as Roger as if he had been playing the role for years. He carried himself with a so-very-90s swagger across the stage, as comfortable in the shoes of the character as he was in his own. Vocally, too, he made us believe he'd been a rocker all his life. Even playing the guitar came naturally to him. On the live stage where things must always be real, Matthews strummed that guitar like it was an old friend, and sung along to those familiar RENT tunes like he'd written them himself.

Likewise, Ayò Jeriah Demps' portrayal of Collins was a standout, particularly with his vocal range. For much of Act One, Collins tends to have the more mellow songs in the show. The character doesn't really get to shine vocally until Act Two, with a featured solo in "Seasons of Love" and a reprise of "I'll Cover You" delivered with much more gravitas than when first sung. Demps' voice delivers these songs so, so beautifully in Act Two.

Although I'll never quite get the appeal of the comedically awful song "Over the Moon," Anneliese Olivia Banks plays it straight the whole way through. Embodying the radical energy of Maureen to a T, she goes through that six-minute ordeal with as much gusto and diva-dom as her predecessors Idina Menzel and Eden Espinosa, but with a knowing sense of "this is ridiculous" as well. Banks also wisely chooses to approach Maureen more comically than Menzel and Espinosa, leaning into the absurdity of the character's melodramatic moods and flirtatious nature, but still giving the character heart. Thanks to Banks' portrayal, you truly believe that both Mark and Joanne will always long for the affection of that jonquil Johnson woman.

Every member of the cast gets their big standout moment, not just among the main players but also within the ensemble. Songs like "Life Support" and "Christmas Bells" come alive with performers such as Eve Montilla, Joel Hunt, Kristin Paradero, and Jeffrey Lane Sadecky taking on some prominent vocal parts. Notably, Nessa Dominguez absolutely dominates her "Seasons of Love" solo opposite that of Ayò Jeriah Demps.

Acknowledging the importance of the ensemble cast, when it came time to take bows at the end of the show, the performers stood in two rows that intentionally put the ensemble at the forefront. These performers are the backbone of this production of RENT, not only supporting the main cast, but embodying every role required to paint the musical portrait of RENT's various characters and background players. The nine members of the ensemble put on a variety of hats in this show, playing scared members of a life-support group, cynical bohemians trying to make an honest living, homeless scrappers attending the protest, and the ones actually pushing Mark and Roger's dancing staircases in "What You Own."

Thinking back on my history with RENT and the next chapter that's now been written thanks to Theater West End, the show's approach to how friendships form a chosen family rings true much more so now than it did in my youth. I will always love my family, make no mistake. The seasons of love that's defined life in Florida for me has also been tightly woven around a close set of friends, some who I've known for decades now, others only recently. For lack of a better word, "characters" have also come and gone throughout my life like a rotating cast on television, yet the important few that stick around have become my Rogers and Maureens and Angels and Joannes. Not so much in the literal sense of who those characters were, but moreso in the ideals that they present. Perseverence. Courage. Strong Will. Discipline. Theater West End's production of RENT reminds the audience just how important the chosen family can be in one's life. RENT belongs on a stage. Theater West End's brick-wall room with a surfeit of confetti on the floor became the perfect stage for me to revisit what I thought I knew about RENT, whilst still experiencing it all for the first time.

RENT is currently playing at Theater West End from October 2 through October 16, 2022. Tickets can be acquired online or at the box office, pending availability.

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