Mark (Daniel Berryman) and Roger (Aaron C. Finley) in RENT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Tracy Martin |
That kind of relevancy in a time of intense fear and moral judgement led to the spectacular success of RENT and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama it won the following year. It quickly reached the heights of acclaim, and Broadway, where it ran until 2008. Now Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre presents a revival of RENT July 21 through August 19 and this begs the question of whether or not people still care about its original themes.
Producing Director Bill Berry believes they do. He wants to give viewers the profound experience he had when he saw it decades ago. RENT still tells the story of a group of young artists, writers, actors, and musicians—some straight, some gay—living a Bohemian lifestyle in an abandoned building in Manhattan's Lower East Village during the late 1980s, the height of the AIDS epidemic. The story begins on Christmas Eve. They still have no heat, still can't pay the rent, and face eviction, even while many of them are weakened by the disease. It's a relatively simple plot but holds powerful messages.
The company of RENT celebrates “La Vie Boheme” at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Mark Kitaoka |
Berry didn't need to worry about relevancy when he directed, with such perfection, the delightful musical First Date—which debuted at A.C.T.—A Contemporary Theatre in April 2012, a co-production with The 5th Avenue. Everything about that smart, witty and very current comedy guaranteed a hit. But in some ways, RENT is just as current. HIV/AIDS hasn't gone away. Neither has the rebelliousness and risk taking among our nation's youth. And the idea of young lives being cut short remains as tragic as ever.
In these days of the Occupy movement, high unemployment, deep divisions in politics and ideologies, and a general sense of frustration, we find ourselves surrounded by evidence of the gaps between rich and poor, culture and counterculture, young and old, the powerful and the powerless, government and anarchy. That evidence pervades our national consciousness.
Mimi (Naomi Morgan) and Roger (Aaron C. Finley) in RENT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Mark Kitaoka |
Aaron C. Finley as Roger in RENT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Mark Kitaoka |
Those strong young voices met the demands of the score, generally speaking, and with exceptional power and poignancy in some cases. In both singing and acting, Aaron C. Finley, as Roger Davis, and Naomi Morgan, as Mimi Márquez excelled, especially on Davis' One Song Glory and their shared performances on Light My Candle and Without You. In the story, both characters suffered from AIDS, and Mimi from addiction, meaning they knew they had little time together, even as they fell in love.
In spite of that drama, I could not romanticize these young characters to the degree some might. Although I appreciated both their desire and their right to pursue the artistic life and be true to who they were, at times, my practical side wanted them to quit defying convention, grow up, take better care of themselves, and find more security for their own sakes. But the tragedy of their lost futures moved me deeply, not only as a human being with compassion, but also as a parent.
And that brings up one of several problems. I could not relate to the characters representing the parents, all of whom seemed terribly stereotypical and shallow in the intermittent "voice mail" segments. Whereas I would normally appreciate the contrast between seriousness and humor, in this case the humor often came across as just plain silly and superfluous, adding extra bulk to a production that bogged down at times during its three long hours. In addition, those three hours contained too many moments that seemed like dramatic climaxes, but weren't. By the end, I felt at least as drained by the length and intensity as I was appreciative of the messages. But the acting and singing deserve praise.
Mark (Daniel Berryman), Collins (Brandon O’Neill), and Angel (Jerick Hoffer) in RENT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Tracy Martin |
Angel (Jerick Hoffer, center) and the company of RENT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Mark Kitaoka |
Tickets start at $29.00 and can be ordered by phone at (206) 625-1900, at the box office at 1308 5th Avenue in Seattle, or online through the online box office.
2 comments:
Not to snub you or anything, but "Rent" was definitely not the first play about HIV/AIDS. "The Normal Heart" premiered 9 years prior, and that was only the first to garner major acclaim.
Hello,
Thank you very much for enlightening me on this point. I have made the correction but will let this comment stand because I want readers to know I appreciate their contributions of more thorough or accurate information. I want Good Life Northwest to stimulate conversation. We can all learn. I always aim to be completely accurate and carefully check my sources, but apparently I misinterpreted this bit of information. I apologize to everyone.
Thanks again,
Candace
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