Review written by East Coast Guest Writer Chris Coculuzzi
(Chris has been involved in independent and community theatre for more than thirty years as a producer, director, performer, and playwright. He is also an educator, assisting hundreds of students over the last twenty-five years to bring their own creative expressions to life on the stage. Chris resides in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and is a member of the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre and a Drama Teacher for the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. )
This Neptune Theatre production marks the 30th anniversary since RENT first opened on Broadway, and it doesn’t take long before the performers break out into the title song number, which we can still feel the relevance. In “Rent,” Mark, the budding filmmaker (Geordie Brown), and his roommate, Roger, the struggling musician (Allie MacDonald) tell us they refuse to pay a year’s worth of rent that their once-friend-and-now-nemesis Benny (Kailin Glasgow) demands of them. Given that Halifax has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the country and has seen rent skyrocket over the past few years, I imagine many HRM attendees would love to jump on stage and join in the anthem.
The main plot follows a year in the lives of a group of struggling artists living in an industrial loft, and the central conflict revolves around Benny’s desire to gentrify a vacant lot full of homeless people into his own “Cyberstudio” and the artists’ attempt to block the development through protest. This provides more points of contact with today since gentrification, thirty years on, is mostly a fait accompli and Benny’s vision could easily be replaced by AI Data Centres.
Although we are first introduced to Mark and Roger, this is really duet and ensemble work as we follow various relationships. Mark has been recently dumped by performing artist Maureen (Kelly Holiff), who is now in a relationship with lawyer and activist Joanne (Madeleine Eddy). The drag queen and street percussionist Angel (Felix Turgeon) has recently come to the aid of former MIT professor Tom Collins (Todd Hunter), who was mugged and beaten up. 19-year-old Mimi (Chariz Faulmino) who struggles with addiction and works in a strip club, becomes enamoured of Roger, who is still dealing with the loss of his girlfriend, who took her own life. To complicate matters more, Angel, Tom, Roger, and Mimi, as well as many of the other supporting characters, are HIV-positive, so their artistic struggles are also existential as they try to burn their lives bright within Death’s enveloping shadow.
Despite composer and lyricist Jonathan Larson’s use of rock, pop, and Broadway-style music and lyrics, there are not a lot of memorable numbers. Because RENT is a sung-through musical, we must keep our ears attuned to catch plot and character information that can be challenging when sung at us. The first number that really allows for some breathing room and emotional connection is Mimi’s “Light My Candle,” where the flame becomes a simple metaphor for keeping love, life, and hope alive, as well as for a burgeoning relationship between her and Roger.
Entering Neptune’s Fountain Hall theatre, one is greeted by Jean-Pierre Cloutier’s intricate and overwhelming scaffolding set, with a wisp of fog suggesting Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which appropriately serves the dual purpose of both building up and confining. After all, the characters in RENT are struggling artists trying to create something special yet restricted by disease, addiction, and a capitalist structure bent on limiting their exposure or pressuring them to conform to mediocrity.
Musical Director Sarah Richardson gets incredible vocal performances from this rock-solid ensemble, whether it’s intimate ballads, a cappella telephone calls, or powerhouse group numbers. Under Richardson’s guidance, the songs added a colour and tone to fill out what could sometimes be an underwritten plot. Whether it was Richardson’s or director Jeremy Webb’s idea to place the musicians slyly on the balconies of the set instead of the usual pit under the stage was a very clever choice.
The entire cast performs with energy and intensity, and there are no weak elements in their voices; everyone gets a moment in the limelight to show off their vocal chops. Stand-outs include Brown and Eddy in “Tango: Maureen,” Faulmino in “Out Tonight,” Holiff in “Over the Moon,” and Hunter in “I’ll Cover You.” The most powerful vocal moment in the show comes in the seminal “Seasons of Love” due to the wonderful harmonies, but especially when the underutilized Thaydra Gray steps forward to give us not only heart but soul.
Given the limits of Fountain Hall’s stage, Alexandra Herzog’s choreography had to be efficient, and it really came alive during Faulmino’s solo performance of “Out Tonight,” where she athletically took over the entire set. The sharp chair choreography during “La Vie Bohème” was delightful. The costume design by Diego Cavedon Dias appropriately evoked the late 80s/early 90s of the time as well as the socio-economic status of the characters, but the singular standout was Angel’s deliciously vibrant Santa outfit, and her Keith Haring tights were a beautiful nod to the acclaimed New York visual artist and AIDS activist who himself succumbed to the disease.
I can’t say how much I appreciated Alison Crosby’s subtle but elegantly effective lighting design. It might be tempting to complement a rock musical with lighting appropriate for a rock concert, but Crosby consistently complements the scene and the story rather than upstaging them, whether indoors in the industrial loft, in a cafe, or in the exterior protest and street scenes. My favourite was how the window used for the AIDS support meetings became stained glass at just the right emotional moment in the show.
One would think, given how busy the musicians were, that there was not a lot for Arron Collier’s sound design, but that’s because, again, it was so subtly effective with the odd ambient sound, the use of era-appropriate telephone rings and answering machines and even vocal effects on voices. Collier had double-duty as video designer, and the decision to use simultaneous projections to make it look like Mark was live-streaming events was impressive. Often projected on three screens on Cloutier’s set, the effect reminded us of the rise of camcorder videographers of the 1990s, especially after the political and cultural impact of the video capturing Rodney King’s beating.
A special acknowledgment goes to intimacy director Samantha Wilson for safely evoking romance, love, tenderness, and tasteful erotica on stage.
Director Jeremy Webb successfully blends all these creative elements toward a common theme, which in no small part is a Christian one. This shouldn’t come as a surprise given RENT’s inspiration from Puccini’s La Bohème, as both use Christian themes of sacrificial love, forgiveness, and redemption through suffering. RENT constantly refers to Christmas, and Crosby provides tree lights to remind us, but Webb goes even further and gives us the usual Last Supper motif at the Life Cafe and the stunning visual of Angel as the Queen of Heaven for “Contact.” One would think, given how often Christmas is mentioned, that it would be scheduled for that time. But this is commercial theatre, and it was apt for Webb and the Marketing team to schedule it to coincide with Halifax’s July Pride festival.
RENT is considered a pioneer in musical theatre for its 2SLGBTQI+ representation. That said, it’s not without its detractors even within that community, since it has been argued that the sellout Benny, who serves as the antagonist, is African-American; there is the trope of the promiscuous bisexual in the character of Maureen, and the two central characters are White, heterosexual males. Personally, I think Larson should be cut some slack, given he was trying to write a commercial musical in the mid-1990s, and I believe the most endearing relationship that audiences are drawn to is, in fact, the one between Angel and Tom Collins.
The real tragedy is that Larson died at the tender age of 36 from an aortic dissection just before RENT opened on Broadway. Because of his sudden passing, RENT feels like it could use some editing and dramaturgy, so it will always feel like a snapshot in time. Neptune’s current incarnation of that moment is filled with energy, heartfelt sincerity, and love. And if a little bit of that infects the audience, it is worth attending.
Running time: approximately two hours and twenty minutes with one intermission.
The production runs to August 30 on the Fountain Hall Stage at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street, Halifax. For tickets: neptunetheatre.com or call (902) 429-7070.
NEPTUNE THEATRE presents
RENT
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Directed by Jeremy Webb
Music Direction by Sarah Richardson
Choreography by Alexandra Herzog
Set Design: Jean-Pierre Cloutier
Costume Design: Diego Cavedon Dias
Lighting Design: Alison Crosby
Video/Sound Design: Aaron Collier
Intimacy Direction: Samantha Wilson
Stage Manager: Jenn Hewitt
Performers: Colin Asuncion, Kih Becke, Geordie Brown, Madeleine Eddy, Nicholas Singh Fassbender, Chariz Faulmino, Dorian Fourner, Stephane Gaudet, Kailin Glasgow, Thaydra Gray, Kelly Holiff, Todd Hunter, Allie MacDonald, Felix Turgeon
