RENT
Bay Colony's opening production of this year at the Orpheum Theatre
Foxboro is the Boston premiere of the musical "Rent". It won the 1996
Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and took
home four including Best Musical. "Rent" is a rock musical by Jonathan
Larson, opened on Broadway on April 29, 1996, ran for 12 years and is
based on Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme" which premiered in 1896.
Larson wanted to remind people that there is "no day but today". He
tragically and unexpectedly died before the show opened. 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 bringing controversial topics and
counterculture to a conservative medium, and is credited with increasing
the popularity of musical theater in the younger generation like the
musical "Hair" spoke to the young people of the 1960's. "Rent" begins 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 moments
together into a musical masterpiece. Director Dori Bryan chose the most
talented performers for this show and they are rewarded by laughter,
tears and thunderous applause, making this one of the must see shows of
this winter season. Run do not walk to buy yourself a ticket.
Dori not only directs this show creating tableaus and picture
postcard moments for every scene but she also choreographs it
splendidly with a mixture of dances including the tango, modern and
jazz. The "Santa Fe" dance and "La Vie Boheme" 1960's style
dance are standout moments and her theatrical staging of the company
numbers is outstanding as Dori uses the ensemble wonderfully
throughout the show, staging each scene perfectly. Esther Zabinski
not only taught the cast over 30 numbers in this huge score but
plays lead keyboards and conducts her four piece combo. The
harmonies soar in the group numbers with "Rent", "Santa
Fe" and "Seasons Of Love" as standouts. Set designer
Michael Teixeira creates an outstanding set with easily moved set
pieces to depict NYC. He also designed the lights and as stage
manager keeps the show flowing from one scene to the next
splendidly. Ed DiMarzio handles the sound while Gail Gilman supplies
the many props for the show. The multitude of topnotch costumes are
by Daniel Kozar. This premiere musical boasts high standards in all
aspects of its presentation, winning it a spontaneous standing
ovation as its reward at the curtain call.
The two leading men in this show are fabulous with Kevin Hanley as
Roger Davis and Eric Desnoyers as Marc Cohen. Roger is a
HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction and is
Marc's roommate. Kevin is an excellent actor who has a
marvelous tenor voice which soars in his many musical numbers,
solos, duets and group ones. Some of them include "One Song Glory"
about Roger's desperate need to write one great song before he dies
of AIDS, "Your Eyes" is the song he finally writes as he thinks
Mimi is dying in Act 2, "Light My Candle", "I Should Tell You" and
the show stopping duet "Without You" which he sings with Mimi as
Angel dies onstage. There wasn't a dry eye in the house after it. I
first reviewed Kevin when he played Joseph as a senior in high
school in 2004 with Uncommon Theatre. Marc Cohen is a struggling
filmmaker who creates a final movie which details his friends lives
and their journeys throughout the show. Eric is a senior at RIC, has
a fantastic tenor voice which soars in his many numbers and is an
excellent actor who narrates the many scenes wonderfully. Eric's
numerous songs include group numbers "Tune Up", "Rent", "La Vie
Boheme", "Happy New Year", "Halloween" and the powerful duet
"What You Own" with Kevin that stops the show with its intensity
as Roger and Mark have an epiphany as Roger finally finds his song
in Mimi and Marc finds his film in Angel's memory. Eric has a
comic duet "Tango Maureen" with his ex-girlfriend's lesbian lover
where they do a fantastic tango. I first reviewed Eric in "Fiddler
on the Roof" for Community Players back in 1999. Kudos to these
young men on their superb performances in these very demanding
roles .
The villainous landlord, Benjamin Coffin III who turns off the
electricity and heat in the building to try to turn Alphabet City
from an artistic community into a virtual and technical based one,
Chauncey Moore tackles this cad-like creature with gusto He shows
off his powerful voice in "Tune Up", "Rent" and "Goodbye
Love". Michael DiMascolo and Albert Jennings as Tom Collins
and Angel Dumott Schunard shine 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 amongst his friends. Michael uses his powerful
bass voice to tug at your heartstrings in his magnificent solo "I'll
Cover You" which is sung at Angel's funeral. He sings it as a
duet earlier in the show and also sings "You Okay Honey" both
songs with Albert. The character of Angel is a drag queen and one of
the most likeable characters in the show. Albert excels in this role
especially in his death scene which is splendidly done. All of his
interactions with the other characters are fabulous and he possesses
a fantastic voice which is heard in the duets and group numbers,
too. Mimi, an HIV-positive S&M dancer and heroin junkie who used to
go out with Benny and is Roger's love interest is played by Jess
Andra who I reviewed as Sally Brown in "You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown for Bay Colony last fall. She displays her singing voice in
her duets with Kevin especially the tear jerker song "Without You"
and in her solo number "Out Tonight". Jess' performance as this drug
addicted character is touching. The two lesbian characters, Joanne
Jefferson, a Harvard educated lawyer and Maureen Johnson, a
performance artist who is also Mark's ex-girl friend are wonderfully
played by Leeta White and Shanya Ross who makes a dynamite debut on
stage. Leeta makes Joanne, a sassy broad who doesn't take crap from
anyone especially Mark and Maureen. Her duet with Eric while they
tango together is hilarious while her duet with Shanya when Joanne
and Maureen break-up, is stunning. Shanya, a gorgeous blonde has
many dramatic moments but is a hoot in her solo, "Over the Moon"
which is a thinly veiled criticism of Benny through a metaphor
involving a cow and a bulldog, taken from "Hey Diddle, Diddle". When
she grabs her breasts and thrusts her butt towards Benny during the
song is hilarious. It lightens the upcoming somber moments in the
second act. The most well known song which opens the second act is
"Seasons of Love" with Liz Harmon, Bill Cunningham and Michael Evora
as the lead soloists. make it into a powerful one. The excellent
sound of the whole chorus in all of their numbers is breathtaking.
Kudos to everyone connected with this show. So for a Broadway style
performance, be sure to catch "Rent" at the Orpheum in Foxboro.
RENT ( 29 January to 7 February, 2010)
Orpheum Theatre, 1 School Street, Foxboro, MA
1(508) 543-2787 ext.4 or www.orphuem.org