PHOTOS - click here
CAST/PRODUCTION PERSONNEL - click here
REVIEWS
High-impact, Credible Characters
Reviewed by Bobbie Nicholls
Knowing nothing about this musical I did some research before the opening night and discovered it is the second longest running musical in New York after Phantom of the Opera.
Its extended 12 year season will eventually finish off-Broadway in September this year. It has spawned a film starring the original cast and has a strong following among the teens and 20s.
Described as a modern day version of Puccini’s opera La Boheme, it is a rock opera, with very little spoken dialogue. It requires better than average voices to sustain the very difficult music, and a good band – both of which this production achieves under musical director Al Warren.
The set is clever, with several levels achieved with scaffolding, and a pseudo Christmas tree built of junk.
RENT is the story of a group of impoverished artists living in a New York loft. At the beginning they are facing eviction by their formed friend, turned landlord, Benny (played by director Scott Andrew) on a cold Christmas Eve and despite the passage of time through the year, the weather never seems to get warmer. The cast spends almost the whole show wrapped in coats and scarves.
In contrast, Liam Taylor, who plays transvestite Angel, has the best costumes and provides relief from the depression and financial problems of all the other characters.
It is not surprising drug addict and dancer Mimi (amazing newcomer to the Abbey, Edan Hunt) freezes to death, since she wears very skimpy clothing.
Mark (played by Phillip Gurney) provides a necessary commentary as he films the lives of his friends. Mimi’s on again, off again boyfriend, the HIV positive Roger, is another valuable UCOL graduate, Richard Scott.
It would be unfair to pick out any one of the main actors for special mention because all are superb in their roles. My best accolade is that I believed in each character.
Backed up by an able chorus of voices, the ensemble work was particularly impressive. All the cast are wired for sound which was well balanced against the band.
However, I think the audience missed out on the full impact of this show because of the size of the theatre. So much was happening at times it was hard to take in the overall effect, and the stage was, at times, crowded.
However, the use of tables and chairs as props was impressive.
A magnificent production obviously enjoyed by the cast.
Passionate RENT Sensational
Reviewed by Richard Mays
RENT is absolutely astounding!
It’s a rare production that pushes all the right buttons and bangs all the drums, and succeeds in such an engaging way. Director Scott Andrew and his committed cast, with Al Warren’s magnificent band, have nailed the complications of this sophisticated rock musical and its complex characters, with passion and aplomb.
The set perfectly enhances the piece, and allows maximum movement on the Abbey’s constricting stage, with scaffolding and levels, appropriate lighting, and a formidable pile of industrial sculpture climbing up the rear corner of the stage.
Based loosely on Puccini’s La Boheme (there’s a bunch of HIV positive, junkie, arty types freezing their butts off in an industrial loft, and one of them is called Mimi), RENT is Jonathan Larson’s answer to those who regard musical theatre as effete and irrelevant. He wrote a gritty grungy piece about people living on the edge, coping with poverty, rejection, personal crises, addiction, different sexual orientation, illness, politics and the temptations of success.
Far from being depressing, the show and its musical are an inspiring look at life, love, friendship, community and humanity in the face of adversity. Director Andrew himself takes a part as Benny, a former flatmate who is now the loft’s landlord, fully compromised by the outside world. As homosexual philosophy professor Tom Collins, Richard Rewa plays the superbly realised role of his life. He is abetted by Liam Taylor’s Angel, who embellishes the role with a genuine note of ungainliness. Edan Hunt as junkie Mimi, is both spectacular and fragile, delivered with crystal clear vocals.
The pairing of dynamic Renee Pink as bisexual performance artist Maureen with Janine Bonny’s lesbian lawyer Joanne provide one of the song highlights in Take Me Or Leave Me. Anchor characters film-maker Mark and musician Roger, played by Phillip Gurney and Richard Scott, do well making their doubts and personal baggage believable.
The characters may be misfits with adverse personalities, hang-ups, fetishes and diseases, but these performers in this production make sure we care about them. RENT, with its double meaning of payment and tearing apart, is a beautifully realised production.
RENT Rich and Emotional
Reviewed by Tina White
I haven’t been able to get the words “525,600 minutes” out of my head since halfway into the Abbey Musical Theatre’s opening performance of RENT, the rock opera/musical last night.
The lyrics are part of Seasons of Love, one of the show’s most poignant songs.
There are 525.600 minutes in a year, and the story tells of 12 months in the life of a group of modern day “bohemians” – men and women, gay and straight, living with poverty and AIDS in New York’s east village district in the 1990s.
There’s Angel, the angelic drag queen; Collins, the drop-out professor; Roger, the one time rock star scarred by tragedy; Mimi, beautiful but seemingly doomed; Joanne, in love with the outrageous bisexual flirt Maureen; and Mark, who is making a movie about their lives. In this atmosphere, their anthem can’t help but be, “no day but today”.
The scenario might sound grim, but RENT, with its multi layered vocals, lovingly drawn characters and evocative setting, is a rich, powerfully emotional experience – and one its young cast amply delivers.
At the start of last night’s show, the players seemed to take a moment to gather themselves together, like the run up to a leap; then wow! The leap became a soar.
Led by director Scott Andrew, who also plays landlord and ex-flatmate Benny, the ensemble has passion and confidence and will grow even stronger throughout the season.
Even the support players are right there in the moment at all times on stage.
There are wonderful voices in this production and even where some are not quite as strong as others, it’s made up for in presentation – a tribute to the director and to musical director Al Warren.
Choreographer Rocky Rowland has also managed to create a seamless flow of movement on the Abbey Theatre’s small stage.
The core characters are Phillip Gurney (Mark), Richard Scott (Roger), Edan Hunt (Mimi), Richard Rewa (Tom Collins), Liam Taylor (Angel), Renee Pink (Maureen) and Janine Bonny (Joanne).
A modern take on the classic opera La Boheme, RENT is a show with a now legendary history – writer-composer-lyricist Jonathan Larson spent many years, if not exactly in a garret, then certainly in a freezing New York studio apartment, honing and workshopping his musical project, only to die of an aortic aneurysm the night before the show’s triumphal 1996 opening.
RENT’s still running on Broadway to this day (it’ll finally close in September after 12 years).
The programme has a full synopsis of the story for anyone not familiar with the show - but run, don’t walk, to book a seat at this production.
I plan to go again.
