This late Jonathon Larson’s Pulitzer Prize winning musical still has what it takes close to twenty years since it premiered.
Larson’s tale of the resilience and integrity of the human spirit is set at the dawn of the 1990s in New York City’s East Village, home to a young, vibrant bohemian community, threatened both by the onset of the AIDS epidemic and large scale property development which tried to push them out.
Legend has it that when the show opened off Broadway in 1996 there was a kind of stunned silence when the performance finished and then a gentleman at the back of the theatre stood up and shouted ‘thank you Jonathon Larson’ and the audience then broke out in spontaneous applause.
The reaction was similarly buzzing at the show’s latest remounting at the Hayes theatre. The audience rose to their feet to applaud another memorable production helmed by Shaun Rennie with musical direction by Andrew Warboys.
Rennie’s brilliant creative team- wonderful choreography by Andy Dexterity with his ‘signature’ use of sign language, set design by Lauren Peters, costumes by Georgie Hopkins and lighting by Ross Graham– brought the world of the play to life for a dazzling team of actors to work their magic in.
Stephen Madsen (Heathers The Musical) played the role of Mark, a struggling documentary filmmaker and best friend of Roger, an HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction played by Linden Furnell, who makes his Australian musical theatre debut. Loren Hunter (Strictly Ballroom, King Kong) plays Mimi, an HIV-positive stripper and dancer who is also a heroin junkie and Roger’s love interest.
Laura Bunting (The Voice, Wicked) plays spunky performance artist Maureen, who is Mark’s ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend of Joanne, a tough, headstrong Harvard-educated lawyer played by one of Australia’s most celebrated female indigenous stage and screen stars, Casey Donovan (The Sapphires, Flowerchildren).
Collins, the HIV-positive philosophy teacher, friend and former roommate of Roger, Mark, and Maureen is played by Nana Matapule. Chris Scalzo (Dr Zhivago, Wicked) plays the role of Angel, an HIV-positive drag queen with a heart of gold and Collins’ love interest. Benny, played by Matthew Pearce (Home and Away), is the former friend and landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi’s apartment.
Completing the cast were Denise Devlin, Josh Gardiner, Jack O’Riley, Monique Sallé, Kirsty Sturgess and Chloe Wilson.
Larson’s wonderful score is the heart and soul of RENT…Before finishing just have to rave about the delivery of two of the stand-out numbers…..
The singing stand-off between Casey Donovan and Laura Bunting in the song Take Me or Leave Me as the two ladies showed off their tremendous voices pretty much brought the house down.
Oh and Rennie’s decision to heart start the show’s second half with the cast beginning their rendition of Seasons Of Love in the foyer was inspired and then the full delivery of the song in the theatre, complete with Andy Dexterity ‘signed’ choreography just took one’s breath away…
A final note. Something I have been thinking for a while. Yes, it is great to see the big musicals in wonderful, resplendent theatres like the Capitol, the Royal and the Lyric with their great decor and ambience. And yet sometimes it is better, much better, to see them in a really intimate venue where you are up close and personal with the actors and you can really get into the show. Thank God for venues like the Hayes!
This RENT is well worth paying a visit. A Highway Run production in association with the Hayes Theatre Company, RENT, is playing the Hayes Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Potts Point until 1st November. Performance times are Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm, Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 5pm. Bookings- heayestheatre.com.au or 80657337.