The musical that changed Broadway is playing tonight at the Center for the Arts. After a seven-year collaboration and constant reworking of the script, "Rent" enjoyed whirlwind success on the Broadway stage, ushering in a new wave of modern musicals.
Considered outdated by some and timeless by many, "Rent" has enjoyed continuing success on stages around the nation. It's initial appeal to the avant-garde audience spurred rapid enthusiasm, and its enduring truth still speaks to a variety of audiences.
Tuesday night's production of "Rent" might seem dated to those who are in touch with its story line and punky flair, but to a newcomer the play seems real and familiar in an early nineties light.
"Rent" is based in the slums of New York City, with phantoms of Kurt Cobain, the grunge revolution, the AIDS scare, and the shocking novelty of inter-racial relationships and homosexuality come alive.
Puccini's play, "La Boheme," whose storyline of frozen families, poverty, and the reality of incurable disease - to Puccini it was tuberculosis - inspired Jonathan Larson to create an updated version of the same trials that haunted people of the early 1900s. Director Michael Greif, realizing the play's innovative qualities, joined with Larson to create the play that won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards, among other notable achievements.
The play harkens to the first seasons of MTV's "Real World," when the way people actually behaved was a shock and reality-based TV seemed authentic. It offers a scope of life that most city dwellers still experience, though perhaps in a more Gap-influenced, hip-hop, complacent way.
Mark Cohen, played by Andy Meeks, introduces the audience to the scene of a barren warehouse apartment inhabited and traipsed through by the characters. This eclectic family of friends supports one another and "gets" one another. They speak the truth to one another and their emotions are real.
Mark's dream is to be a successful filmmaker, and the audience follows his coverage of his friend's lifestyles over an entire year. The cast endures a frozen Christmas, a lonely New Year's, frequent power outages, and each other all amidst the cold reality of misunderstanding, mistrust, hard drugs and the prominent threat of AIDS.
The 1990s cast of neon and scantily clad characters might seem a far cry from the original, but its portrayal of that time period rings true.
Introducing each of his compadres with a brief song-vignette, Mark stereotypes his friends with twisted but warm memories.
Thrust into the midst of their lives, Angel, a drag queen, seduces Tom Collins, close friend to Mark and his roommate Roger Davis (Dan Rosenbaum). Mimi Marquez proffers Roger's love as he deals with AIDS and she feeds her drug addiction.
Benjamin Coffin III, played by Mario Ferrell, is a now-foreign friend who has sold out this close-knit family for money. Joanne and Maureen quarrel through their new relationship.
The cast thrusts and gyrates across the stage, probably once a racy and shocking distinction, however such behavior is so common in present day media the novelty turns into mere recognition.
Fast paced and interwoven like a blitzkrieg soap opera, this story offers something for everyone. Those who have seen it before might find it a bit cozier on the smaller UB stage but appreciate it for its intimacy. The closeness of the setting allows for better understanding and interpretation of the play's clever writing.
The final performance of "Rent" at the Center for the Arts is tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
