Review: Otterbein Delivers Solid Interpretation of RENT

There are some shows that a director just doesn't mess with. However, RENT, Jonathan Larson's urban reworking of LA BOHEME, is more pliable than a pizza.

Since its release in 1996, many theatre companies have served up their version of RENT. I've seen it more than a half dozen ways and each time it was different.

Otterbein University's production of RENT is well worth a look. A strong ensemble cast, led by Connor Allston (Roger) and J.T. Wood (Tom Collins), takes the audience through a year in the life of the residents of New York's Alphabet City.

The show has its final weekend Oct. 1-3 at the Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall (30 S. Grove Street in downtown Westerville).

The show centers on Roger Davis, his roommate Mark Cohen (David Buergler) and their assortment of free-spirited friends trying to survive in the 1990s Big Apple. Roger and Mark live in a crumbling building owned by their former roommate Benjamin Coffin III (Connor Cook), who has eyes on turning the building to a cyber-arts studio.

Roger, an AIDS-stricken rock star who is trying to write one great song "before the virus takes hold," often comes across as a very flat character. Allston gives Roger a biting sense of sarcasm as the singer rediscovers his spark after reluctantly falling for Mimi (played by Monica Brown), a dancer with inner demons of her own. Brown and Allston create a chemistry that is both intoxicating and toxic as the two fall in, out and in love again through the show.

Buergler plays Cohen, a struggling filmmaker who captures the lives of his friends for his latest project, with a cool detachment at first. Director Melissa Lusher has Cohen in the backdrop of many of the key scenes as he provides his take on the action of his friends. However Buergler brings Cohen out of his shell by the spirited "La Vie Boheme" at the end of the first act.

Most of the characters in RENT have exceedingly complicated relationships with the exception of Collins and Angel (Luke Stewart). Stewart's silky smooth reprise of "I'll Cover You" near the end of the show as heart-wrenchingly honest and one of the highlights of the show.

As always in an Otterbein production, there are many standout performances. Morgan Wood (Joanne) and Erin Ulman (Maureen) are the perfect foils for each other as a drama-filled couple. Joanne plays a high profile lawyer struggles as a sub servant stage director for the divaish Maureen. Ulman's take on "Over the Moon," Maureen's performance art protest, was entrancing and one of the pivotal pieces of the show.

Cook is as also extremely strong as Benny, who struggles between a life with security with Muffy, his well to do wife who provides a life of stability, and Mimi, who provides him with the passion he needs.

Lusher and musical director Lori Kay Harvey put their own unique thumbprints on the production, most of them involving the sound and the staging of the musical. For example, whether it was intentional or not, the moment where the artists' table in "Le Vie Boheme" was motionless looked uncannily like da Vinci's Last Supper.

In her notes in the RENT program, Lusher writes the show's underlining theme is the need for a sense of community. The same could be said for Otterbein's production. Without the strong presence of its ensemble cast of Alex Armesto, Tommy Betz, Dana Cullinane, Lauren Kent, Chris Marth, Natalie Szczerba and Aubree Tally and its band of Lori Kay Harvey (keyboard), Dennis Davenport (keyboard), Chad Greenwald (bass), Bradley Mellen (bass), Karl Wohlwend (guitar) and Tomasz Jarzecki (percussion), the production would be indistinguishable from other performances of RENT.

RENT's final three shows are 8 p.m. Oct. 1-3 at the Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall (30 S. Grove Street in downtown Westerville). Call 614-823-1109 for details.