RENT: Better than Broadway

Having seen RENT on Broadway over a decade ago, I was concerned about how it would fit on the smaller New Rep stage. It’s such an enormous, explosive show! I needn’t have worried.

The Charles Mosesian Theater has cleverly been transformed into a persuasive replica of a mid-90s New York City street and loft, complete with endless colorful posters dotting the walls of the set and extending into the audience area. This intentional rupturing of the “fourth wall” continues throughout the performance, as the actors draw the audience in through song, direct address, and, at one point, collaborative mooing. The gritty, industrial set is the first clue that, if you come to see RENT, you’re in for a wild ride.

Know this before you go: RENT is not for the faint of heart. It’s an energetic show, one that demands heart and soul from both its performers and its viewers. The musicians and actors/singers in New Rep’s staging of this classic are top-notch, across the board. For the most part, the opening-night audience was right there with them; only a few poor, startled souls left at intermission shaking their heads. RENT is a raunchy, joyful, foul-languaged, heart-wrenching, nudity-strewn, make-you-laugh-and-cry-at-the-same-time kind of show. You have to know that going in.

Once you accept (dare I say love?) the swearing, sexual fluidity, the transvestism, the unflinching look at AIDS and death and drugs, the ribaldry, the in-your-face-ish-ness of it all, you can start to appreciate the high quality of this particular performance. It’s better than the one I saw on Broadway, all those years ago, which, then several years into its run, had grown stale and somewhat rote. New Rep’s version quivers with new energy, fresh pain, and a whole lot of talent. Never mind that most of these actors were babes-in-arms when AIDS began to ravage the gay, street, and artistic communities portrayed here; they have taken up the mantle and gestalt of that time and reawakened it for all of us.

Kudos to the director, the musicians, and the actors. Of particular note are the star performers, not a weak link among them. John Ambrosio as Mark carries the show, moving it along at a rapid clip with nary a voice falter (although, unfortunately, the sound system was not so steady; here’s hoping that will be fixed shortly). Eve Kagan, recently seen in “Passing Strange,” is achingly young, jittery, and haunted as Mimi, who brags that she has the “best ass below 14^th street.” That title is contested by Maureen in her skin-tight black pants and chains. (What a joy to see Aimee Doherty get to play the bad girl for once!). Robin Long is pitch-perfect as the whip-smart, jealous Joanne, while Danny Bryck is perfectly sleazy. Robert St. Laurence is appropriately angsty and moody as Roger, and Maurice Parent slips smoothly into the skin of Tom Collins. But really it is Nick Sulfaro, in his New Rep debut, who steals the stage. His playful flamboyance lights up the stage whenever he makes an entrance but doesn’t obscure his wisdom and good heart as the others revolve around him.

~ Shauna Shames, with Johanna Ettin