Part Broadway musical, part rock music video, part social commentary, Jonathan Larson’s critically acclaimed “Rent” delivered all of these with passion and precision Tuesday night at the Hult Center.
The 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning story traces the lives of a group of artists over the course of a year, as they struggle to survive the hopelessness of living in New York’s East Village.
The group is attempting to save their dilapidated apartment building from building owner Benny (Brian M. Love), who has threatened to turn it into a cyber arts studio and evict the current tenants.
When the musical opens, it is Christmas Eve, and Mark (Matt Caplan) is attempting to lift the spirits of his HIV-positive roommate Roger (Joshua Kobak), who is mired in depression after his girlfriend’s suicide.
Roger has all but given up when he meets and falls in love with Mimi (Saycon Sengbloh), a drug-addicted S&M dancer.
Notable performances included Erin Keaney as Mark’s overly dramatic ex-girlfriend Maureen. Keaney’s rendition of “Over the Moon” had the audience in stitches. Shaun Earl’s performance as Tom Collin’s drag queen lover Angel is also outstanding.
“Rent” has always existed under the dark cloud of creator Larson’s unexpected death of an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, less than a month before the play’s world premiere.
Larson never knew the success his work would achieve.
Although the cast gets tired from touring, Horace V. Rogers, who plays Mark and Roger’s ex-roommate Tom Collins, says that it takes little more than the thought of author Larson to get him inspired.
“I want to honor the artist’s work. Jonathan literally gave his life for this. It was the last work he did. I think for someone to give that much to a project, you owe it to that work to give the best,” said Rogers, who has been with this cast for almost a year and a half.
Social issues including AIDS, drug addiction, homosexuality and poverty are at the heart of “Rent.”
“Many of the social issues we haven’t resolved, like hopelessness,” Rogers said. “In any given city you can go and you’ll see that.”
AIDS is an issue that is not receiving the same attention that it did when Larson was penning the musical, Rogers said.
“The face of people who have HIV and AIDS has changed since Brian White,” Rogers said. “He looked very haggard and wasting away. Now we have the poster child of Magic Johnson and the like who look fairly healthy and are living pretty quality lives. But that is an economical thing. How can you pay for those drug therapies if you don’ have the money or the insurance to pay for them? These issues have not gone away. HIV has not gone away, AIDS has not gone away.”
The play is based on Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera “La Bohéme.” “Rent” examines bohemian ideals when faced with the grim realities of poverty and disease.
The mantra “No day but today,” is similar to the Latin phrase “carpe diem.” It is in this message that the characters find hope.
The strength of “Rent” is how it effectively combines weighty social issues with a witty sense of humor without coming off as trite.
Any one of the characters has the surface persona of an MTV veejay, but still manages to reach deeper to reveal their human side.