Front Row Centre Review: RENT (Tour)

There is always an underlying sadness to seeing a production of Jonathan Larson's RENT.

Part of that comes from the material, owing much to its source, Puccini's LA BOHEME. But there is also the tragic cruel irony that took this talented and budding musical theatre writer from us just hours before RENT's first preview in 1996.

We will never know what changes he might have made or what re-writing would have been done had he lived.  The resulting show is very good and has certainly been incredibly popular, but it remains flawed. Some of the writing is too complex; the first act is overly long and the pacing uneven. Still, the best moments do pack a powerful punch and the second act is tighter and more focussed.

While no subsequent cast can ever hope to match the originals (most of whom re-created their roles for the recent film version) the cast of the current non-equity tour that opened in Toronto for a one-week run on Wednesday night (May 10^th) are quite fine.  The performances are energetic and several cast members stand out, notably Bryce Ryness as Roger, and Jed Resnick as Mark.

Altamiece Carolyn Ballard galvanized the audience with her scorching solo in "Seasons of Love" though the early parts of the song were marred by major sound system glitches. The sound mix was at times quite bad, losing key voices and allowing the band to overpower the cast in several of the ensemble numbers. Otherwise, the performance should please the show's many fans, pretty much copying what is seen on Broadway.

It's interesting that RENT is playing Toronto the same time as HAIR for while the latter is often billed as the first successful rock musical, it was actually RENT that effectively integrated rock music into a musical theatre piece.