Rent

Rent

National Tour
Buell Theater
Denver, CO 
November 14-19, 2017

It’s hard to believe that the groundbreaking musical Rent is celebrating its 20th anniversary. After all this time, the storyline has begun to show its age, although it is nostalgic to see phone booths in New York City! The storyline has become a time capsule for the 1990’s, much like South Pacific is for the 1940’s.

The music of Rent, however, is timeless. The humor of “The Tango Maureen” hasn’t diminished a bit. “Will I? is still heartbreakingly beautiful.

The cast of the tour is a strong one. Marc was the glue holding the whole story together and he did it perfectly. While Roger’s singing was a bit of a disappointment. He handled the crescendos of “One Song Glory” with style but the quieter parts were underwhelming. The duet between the two “What You Own,” however, was spectacular.

The supporting cast brought much to the show. Angel was charismatic and engaging, making her death even more devastating. Maureen was a force to be reckoned with. Her character is larger than life and the actress delivered a performance that lived up to her own hype.

The multi-level set continued to set the standard of how to use all the theater space you can. It gave many playing spaces and took the audience to the cold and poor side of New York.

The brilliance of Rent always makes me sad in a way. The show’s author Jonathan Larson dies shortly before its Broadway debut. I wonder what other amazing shows he would have written if he had the chance.