Turtle Lane Playhouse's
current show is "Rent". The show is a Tony Award and Pulitzer
Prize winning rock musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan
Larson. It opened on Broadway on April 29, 1996 and closed on
September 1, 2008, after a 12-year run and 5,124 performances.
"Rent" is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera, "La Boheme" which
premiered in 1896. The musical centers on a group of
impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive
and create in New York's Alphabet City in the last days of the
Bohemian East Village, under the shadow of AIDS. "Rent" is
considered revolutionary for it bringing controversial topics
and counterculture to a traditionally conservative medium, and
is credited with increasing the popularity of musical theater in
the younger generation the same way the musical "Hair" spoke to
the young people of the 1960's. The show starts as Mark, a
filmmaker and narrator of the show, decides to begin shooting an
unscripted documentary about his friends on Christmas Eve and
the show follows their lives for a whole year, mixing comic and
poignant together into a triumphant epic musical. Director James
Tallach picks the best performers for these 17 roles with
topnotch musical direction by Bethany Aiken and energetic dance
numbers by Donald Gregorio. They are rewarded with laughter,
tears and a thunderous and well deserved standing ovation. This
powerful show is stunning in James' presentation, making it the
must see show of the spring season.
James does a dynamite
job with directing and blocking this show. He has his cast use
every inch of the two story set. Other shows I have seen James
direct have been "Pippin" in 2005, "The Best Little Whorehouse
in Texas" and "The Producers" last year. He infuses his cast
with high energy and plays up the humorous moments in the show
to balance out the poignant ones in the second act. The
marvelous dances by Donald include modern, jazz, tango and a
very sexy dance for Mimi using the upper level and spiral
staircase. Musical director, Bethany conducts a 5 piece
orchestra and plays lead keyboards for the show. She makes the
harmonies of the group numbers soar with this talented
cast. John McKenzie and his beautiful wife Michele built and
painted the New York set for this show. Costumes are by Richard
Itczak and Kimmerie Jones. Stage manager Harry Rothman keeps
things running smoothly all night long.
The two leading men in
this show are awesome actors with Michael Foley as
Roger Davis and Eric Desnoyers as Mark Cohen. Roger is an
HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction
and is Mark's roommate and Mimi's love interest. Michael is
dynamite as Roger. His powerful tenor voice soars in "One Song
Glory" which is his desperate need to write one great song
before he dies of AIDS, "Your Eyes" which is the song he finally
writes as he thinks Mimi is dying in Act 2, "Light My Candle", I
Should Tell You" and "Without You" with Mimi. There isn't a dry
eye in the house after this last song which is sung as Angel
dies onstage and this duet stops the show with its power and
intensity. Another powerful duet is "What You Own" with Eric as
Mark where Roger and Mark have an epiphany as he finally finds
his song in Mimi and Mark finds his film in Angel's memory. I
first reviewed Michael as the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast"
in 2005. At times Michael sounds like Judas in Superstar. Mark
Cohen is a struggling documentary filmmaker who creates a final
movie which details his friends lives and journeys throughout
the show. Eric Desnoyers is fantastic as Mark with his tenor
voice soaring in his many numbers and is also an awesome actor
who narrates the many scenes perfectly whether they be comic or
touching. His many numbers include "Tune Up", "Rent","La
Vie Boheme","Happy New Year", "Halloween" and the powerhouse
duet "What You Own with Michael and the comic duet "Tango
Maureen" with his ex-girlfriend's lesbian lover, Joanne. Eric
and Nella perform an energetic tango during this comic number.
The villainous
landlord Benjamin Coffin III who turns off the heat and
electricity trying to turn Alphabet City from an artistic
community into a technical based one is played by Bill Toll. He
plays this weasel of a character wonderfully. He shows off his
tenor voice in "Tune Up", "Rent" and "Goodbye Love". James Casey
as Tom Collins and Chris Casello as Angel Dumott Schunard are
topnotch in their roles. Tom is a professor of computer science
and anarchist with AIDS who finds love with Angel, a street
drummer who strives to spread his surprising optimism among his
friends. James uses his wonderful baritone voice which he uses
to move you to tears in his terrific solo "I'll Cover You" that
he sings at Angel's funeral. He sings it earlier in the show as
a duet with Chris as well as "You Okay Honey". I last reviewed
James as Jerry in "Full Monty" which he will be performing in
next year at Turtle Lane. The character of Angel is a drag queen
percussionist/musician who is one of the most likeable
characters in the show. Chris shines in this role and his
interactions with the other performers and his death scene
are terrific. Angel also has a funny scene where he mentions
that he has killed Benny's noisy dog. Samantha Brior-Jones who I
first reviewed when she was in "Ragtime" in 2003, plays Mimi,
an HIV-positive S&M dancer and heroin junkie who is Roger's love
interest and used to date Benny. She is a stunning, statuesque
brunette who is gut wrenching as Mimi. Samantha shows off
her singing voice in her duets with Michael especially the tear
jerker song "Without You" and her solo "Out Tonight'' where she
wears a gold spandex pants and does a dynamite sexy dance,
executing a split on the table at the end of this number. She
shines as this drug addicted character.
The two lesbian
characters, Joanne, a Harvard educated lawyer and Maureen, a
performance artist who is also Mark's ex-girlfriend are
excellently played by Nella Mupier and Melissa Gates who both
have gorgeous voices. Nella makes Joanne, a sassy broad who
takes no crap from anyone especially Mark and Maureen. Her duet
with Eric while they tango together is hilarious while her duet
"Take Me or Leave" with Melissa when Joanne and Maureen are
breaking up is breathtaking. Nella also uses her soprano range
for a section of "Seasons of Love" which mesmerizes the audience
with the power of her voice. Melissa is a hoot during her solo
called "Over the Moon" which is a thinly veiled criticism of
Benny using a metaphor of a cow and a bulldog, taken from "Hey,
Diddle Diddle". She moons Benny in the closing song of Act 1
which helps lighten up things before the somber second act. The
most well known song of the show "Seasons of Love" opens the
second act with Kira Cowan and Jared Walsh on lead vocals,
showing off their awesome voices. The choral sound of this show
is stunning.
So for a fantastic
rendition of this contemporary musical be sure to catch "Rent"
at Turtle Lane. Tell them Tony sent you.
RENT
( 14 May to 6 June, 2010)
Turtle Lane Playhouse, 283 Melrose Street, Newton, MA
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