Review: RENT at The Muny

Jonathan Larson’s RENT opened Off-Broadway in January of 1996 before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre on April 29th of that same year. It ran for 12 years and is still stands as the 11th longest-running Broadway production. RENT, an updated retelling of Puccini’s opera La Bohème, is the story of poor and struggling artists living in Manhattan’s dilapidated East Village during the height of the AIDS epidemic. During its original run RENT became a Broadway phenomenon and was both a commercial and critical success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and Best Featured Actor.

For the second season in a row, The Muny premieres a show that its audience has long been asking to see on the Muny stage. This production of RENT arrives with massive expectations, just as did last year’s Muny premiere of Sondheim’s SWEENEY TODD which Broadway World called “A Muny Masterpiece.” Credit Muny Artistic Director and Executive Producer Mike Isaacson for his work over the past 11 years to significantly elevate the quality of The Muny’s productions. His tenure has brought the Muny audience some of the most beloved and transformative works of the American Musical Theatre.

Director Lili-Anne Brown follows up her magnificent production of last season’s THE COLOR PURPLE with a poignant production of RENT and the story of friends who are coping with the extreme circumstances of life-threatening disease and poverty. Her treatment of Jonathan Larson’s RENT remains true to the intimacy of the original production.

Brown and her gifted cast milks every bit of emotion out of Larson’s powerful story. Vincent Kempski (Roger), Lincoln Clauss (Mark), Adrian Villegas (Angel), Terrance Johnson (Tom Collins), Ashley De La Rosa (Mimi), Lindsay Heather Pearce (Maureen), Anastacia McCleskey (Joanne), and Tré Frazier (Benny) meld together as a cohesive ensemble to tell a heartbreaking story.

The main story of RENT focuses on the relationships and love stories between the characters, but it is the HIV/AIDS epidemic backstory that drives each character’s emotional transformation. Larson penned the lyrics, “Will I lose my dignity? Will someone Care? Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmare?” Those are the questions that the characters Roger, Mimi, Angel and Collins are forced to ask themselves as they face their own certain mortality. It is that emotional burden that Vincent Kempski, Ashley De La Rosa, Adrian Villegas and Terrance Johnson depict so effectively in this production of RENT. Their authentic portrayals give this production its emotional core as they convincingly convey the grim reality of their disease and how it alters their relationships over the course of a year.

Anastacia McCleskey is a standout among the ensemble. Her and  Clauss’ “Tango Maureen,” her duet with Pearce on “Take Me or Leave Me,” and her solo work on “We’re OK” are all superb. McCleskey’s rich voice and undeniable stage presence make her performance unforgettable. Standby/Understudy Terrance Johnson aptly stepped into the role of Tom Collins for tonight’s performance. The Collins character is the heart of any production of RENT, and he aptly delivers “I’ll Cover You” with both loving optimism in the First Act and with profound grief in the Second Act reprise. Angel is the soul of the piece, and Villegas embodies the character’s optimism and warm affability that draws the friends together. It is Angel’s spirit in life and death that teaches her friends to live in the moment and appreciate the time you have.

This is a touching production of RENT that any devotee, known as a Renthead, would applaud. For those who haven’t seen RENT, this emotional production provides an opportunity to see the show that brought a new generation of patrons to the theatre and gave those with HIV/AIDS a voice. The Muny’s moving production of RENT runs through August 10th in Forest Park.

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