Review: Broadway San Jose's Limited Run of RENT is Glorious

Broadway San Jose's limited run of Jonathan Larson's RENT is a glorious time of raw-energy rock, as well as a heartrending reminder to measure your life in love. Billed as the "Farewell Tour," supposedly being the final time the original Michael Greif staging will travel North America, the show packs up its bags after Sunday, April 10 - and you do not want to miss it.

It's all there - the iconic Angela Wendt costumes for filmmaker Mark (J.T. Wood), guitarist Roger (Coleman Cummings), beloved drag queen Angel (Javon King) and of course stripper Mimi (Aiyana Smash) in her electric blue vinyl pants. Paul Clay's set design captures anew the cold desperation of the space and the tenants with his multi-level metal structure and paper moon. Urban decay is evident everywhere you look. And Jonathan Spencer's stark and garish lighting from the wings completes the picture. Sad and depressing, yes. Yet through it all hope bursts through in every song.

You might think that a story about young people dying of AIDS in 1990's New York City is a timebound piece that today's younger theatre-goers wouldn't really get, but that's just not the case. Though the horrific societal treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS isn't in the headlines anymore, sadly, there are other marginalized groups still suffering that same fate today. The show's thematic notes resonate across the generations. Resilience in the face of overwhelming trauma is always needed.

In the case of Jonathan Larsen's characters, they find acceptance by forming a family of friends, creating a community of compassion as they care for one another in sickness and health, a motley bunch just trying to live their dreams one day at a time.

Larson fashioned the show as a rock opera, but it is in the softer, tender numbers and the moments of facing death together that the show finds its heart. Because ultimately there's no getting around the fact that almost everyone is dying. But the show's message resonates loudly amidst the fear: Live in the moment with love. As Mimi sings to Roger, "There's only this. Forget regret - or life is yours to miss...No day but today." But it is Rent's signature song "Seasons of Love" that is at once gut-wrenching and heartwarming. "How do you measure a year in the life? How about Love? Measure in Love. Seasons of love."

There's always something new that resonates from the show - all depending on where you are in your life at the moment you see RENT again.

RENT the 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour
Broadway San Jose
Now thru April 10
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larsen
Directed by Evan Ensign
Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg

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