RENT
Company
Theatre's second show of their 31st season is
"Rent". "Rent" 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 is base 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 bringing
controversial topics and counterculture to a
traditionally 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 rousing musical
masterpiece about life and acceptance and the joy of
creating things together. Its powerful message
resonates to this day and is not only poignant but
joyous and life affirming, too. Directors Zoe
Bradford and Jordie Saucerman pick the best cast to
perform in this show with expert musical direction
by Michael Joseph, energetic dance numbers by
Sally Ashton Forrest and they are rewarded by
laughter, tears and thunderous applause at the
curtain call.
Zoe and
Jordie are well known for directing epic shows at
Company Theatre and this show is just one more
feather in their cap. They had 90 people audition
for 16 roles in this show. Zoe and Jordie block each
scene perfectly, making the show flow along all
night long. Zoe and James Valentin designed the set
for the show. Michael Joseph taught over 30 musical
numbers in this show. The harmonic balance and blend
of voices is outstanding with the group numbers
"Rent", "Another Day", "Santa Fe", La Vie Boheme and
"Seasons of Love" leading the pack. He plays lead
keyboards, leading his five piece combo on
stage. Sally supplies the marvelous dance numbers
for the show including modern, jazz, tango with
"Santa Fe" dance, "La Vie Boheme" and 1960's style
dance as standouts. Bob Grazioso and his crew built
a two story New York building set with spiral
staircase while Michael Clark Wonson creates the
fantastic lighting for this topnotch production and
Jennifer Spagone creates the colorful costumes for
the cast. The powerhouse film at the end of the show
was created by Michael Hammond who is also a
fantastic actor and director/choreographer. The film
is emotionally draining as is this whole splendid
show.
The two
leading men in this show are unbelievably
multi-talented with Ken Bayliss as Roger Davis and
Joel Maki is Mark Cohen. Roger is an HIV-positive
musician who is recovering from heroin addiction and
is Mark's roommate. Ken is a fabulous actor with a
terrific tenor voice which soars in his many
musical solos, duets and group numbers. Some of them
include "One Song Glory" about Roger's desperate
need to write one great song before he dies of AIDS,
"Your Eyes" as he thinks Mimi is dying in Act 2,
"Light My Candle", "I Should Tell You" and the show
stopping duet he sings with Mimi as Angel dies
onstage. There isn't a dry eye in the audience at
the end of their rendition. Ken recently played the
comic part of the Jester in "Once Upon a Mattress",
showing he is adept at funny roles as well as
dramatic ones. Mark Cohen is a struggling filmmaker
who creates a final movie which details his friends
lives and their journeys during the show. Joel
recently toured in the professional company of
"Hairspray" but was in Company Theatre's first
version of "Footloose" and commuted from NYC for the
rehearsals. He has an excellent baritone voice which
grips the audience with its power in his many
numbers and is fantastic actor who narrates the many
scenes poignantly. Joel's numerous songs include
group numbers "Tune Up", "Rent", "La Vie Boheme",
"Happy New Year", "Halloween" and the powerhouse
duet that stops the show with its intensity, "What
You Own" where Roger and Mark have an epiphany as
Roger finally finds his song in Mimi and Mark finds
his film in Angel's memory. Joel has a comic duet
"Tango Maureen" with his ex-girlfriend's lesbian
lover where they execute a perfect tango. Bravo to
both these performers on doing a superb job in these
two demanding roles.
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 portrayed by John King. He plays this
smarmy creature beautifully, showing off his tenor
voice in "Tune Up", "Rent" and "Goodbye Love". I
last reviewed John as the comical Mitch in "Spelling
Bee" which shows he can handle both comic and
dramatic roles with ease. Joe Rucker as Tom Collins
and Shawn Verrier as Angel Dumott Schunard are
terrific 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.
Joe uses his magnificent bass voice to tug at your
heartstrings in his fabulous solo "I'll Cover You"
which is sung at Angel's funeral. He sings this song
as a duet with Shawn earlier in the show and they
also sing "You Okay Honey". Joe also sings the lead
in "Santa Fe" with a mellow sound and has a solo in
"Seasons of Love". I last reviewed Joe in "Big
River" at Company in 2004. The character of Angel is
a drag queen and is one of the most likeable
characters in the show. Shawn is fantastic in this
role especially in his death scene which tears your
heart out at its dramatic impact. Angel also bumps
off Benny's dog which is funny moment in the
show. All of his interactions with the rest of the
cast are topnotch and his vocal prowess is heard in
all of his solos, duets and group numbers, too.
He has an awesome falsetto, too. Mimi, an
HIV-positive S&M dancer and heroin junkie who used
to date Benny and is now Roger's love interest is
sensationally played by Charisse Shields. She was
chosen out of 100 women who auditioned for this
role, is as sexy as hell as Mimi and she knocks your
socks off in her duets with Ken especially the
poignant song "Without You" and her solo "Out
Tonight" stops the show with her powerful rendition
and she dances up a storm on the second level of the
set during it. Charisse does a dynamite job as this
drug addicted character. The two lesbian characters,
Joanne, a Harvard educated lawyer and Maureen, a
performance artist who is also Marc's ex-girlfriend
are wonderfully played by Sara Seals and Jenn
Kenneally. Sara, a pretty blonde, makes Joanne, a
brassy broad who takes no crap from anyone
especially Marc and Maureen. Her duet with Joel
while they tango together is hilarious while her
duet with Jenn, "Take Me of Leave Me" when the girls
break up is gut-wrenching. Jenn has many dramatic
moments but she is a hoot in her solo, "Over the
Moon" which is a thinly veiled criticism of Benny,
using a metaphor involving a cow and a bulldog,
taken from "Hey Diddle, Diddle" and has the audience
yell out Moo at the close of this scene. She moons
Benny during the closing song of Act 1 which is
hilarious and it lightens up the upcoming somber
events of Act 2. The most well known song of this
show opens the second act with the whole chorus'
harmonies soaring in it. Tracy Silva's powerful
voice solos during it and she sells the best known
song of this show "Season's of Love". I have
reviewed Tracy many times including "Ragtime" and
"Showboat" at Company and she always delivers
stunning vocals all the time. The whole show is
breathtaking and powerful with its impact on the
audience. Kudos to everyone involved in this
dynamite show which boasts Broadway style
performances and production values.
RENT (19 March to 18 April, 2010)
Company Theatre 30 Accord Park Drive, Norwell,MA
1(781)871-2787 or www.companytheatre.com