"Rent" on Broadway Review

Last month, I was fortunate enough to catch "Rent" on Broadway during my three-day vacation in New York City.

I should preface this review by stating that I'm a Rent-head. I know the Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack and the movie soundtrack (the Broadway cast is better...it just is) so well that I got bored and started translating the show into Spanish (yes, I'm a bigger dork than you already suspected).

This was also my seventh time seeing the show live and my second time seeing it at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway. But this was my first time scoring front-row seats for the show on Broadway. Two hours before each show, people can sign up for a lottery where the winners have the opportunity to buy orchestra seats for $20.

On to the show! I don't know if it was because I was so close that I could actually see up people's nostrils, but this was the best performance of "Rent" that I've seen. And yes, that includes the ok-but-not-great movie.

In case you don't know the story, "Rent" is about modern-day (well, mid-1990's) bohemian artists living in New York's East Village, struggling with life, love and AIDS. Practically everyone has AIDS.


As much as I love the music of "Rent", I'm the first to acknowledge that neither the stage show nor the movie has the strongest plot in the world. The stage version, in particular, can be pretty hard to follow unless you'd memorized the soundtrack before seeing it for the first time (as I did).

Fortunately, the acting was so strong in this production that the sometimes jumbled multiple storylines were more easily conveyed.

Personifying this apparent emphasis on strong-acting was the performance of top billed Tamyra Gray (pictured, right, with her eyes closed with me) as Mimi. Seeing as she's best known as one of the best singers in American Idol's first season, expected her singing to be really strong, and her acting to be ok. I was pleasantly surprised to find her acting and dancing (during "Out Tonight") to be her strongest areas, while her singing was slightly out of control sometimes.

Still, the entire cast was at the top of their game.

Matt Caplan made for the moodiest and darkest Roger I've seen (darkest in the way he played his character, and certainly not because of his short bleached blonde hair) and I really enjoyed his interpretation of the character. He also had a strong voice, a familiarity with the songs (he's been performing "Rent" for years) and generally brought great depth to the role.

Beyond that, everyone was fantastic. Justin Johnston made for the very funniest and most charismatic Angel so that when ****SPOILER ALERT**** he died, I really felt it. Meaning I cried. I've seen the character die plenty of times on stage, and he still got to me.

Michael McElroy provided an impressive counterpoint as an imposing, but sweet Tom Collins, while Rodney Hicks probably did the most I've ever seen anyone do (including my boy Taye Diggs) with the smallish role of Benny. Finally, Harley Jay was extremely likable and funny, especially during the "Tango Maureen" as Mark, the filmmaker and de facto narrator.

What about the ladies? Well, I already talked about Gray as Mimi, so I'll just say that Nicolette Hart was perfectly out-there and completely delightful as Maureen. Her "Over the Moon" was particularly manic and extra points for being brave enough to show her ass to an audience full of strangers (in my experience, sometimes they show their ass, sometimes they don't).

Finally, Crystal Monée Hall's (pictured, left) made for a perfectly frazzled and appealing Joanne in her big numbers with Mark ("Tango Maureen") and Maureen ("Take Me or Leave Me").

It wasn't just the main cast who were on top of their game. I was impressed with how the rest of the ensemble (Caren Lyn Michel, Marcus Paul James, Maia Nkenge Wilson, Kyle Post, Telly Leung, Shaun Earl and Andrea Goss) played up their background characters, which were usually homeless vagabonds. I particularly enjoyed the homeless people's interpretive dance to "Santa Fe" and "Seasons of Love" soloist Maia Nkenge Wilson taking the one high note and going even higher.

The production also had a brisk, efficient pace which never allowed the 2 ½ hour show (including intermission) to drag.

The best part, of course, was after the show when I was goofing around and pretending like I'd joined the cast (pictured, right), and the real cast came out and I got to meet a few of them.


"Rent" on Broadway (Dec. 2007)...A