Rent

The debut production for MMY Graduates, the group of Manchester Musical Youth members (plus a few others they’ve reaped) who’ve outgrown MMY, is Jonathan Larson’s ground-breaking rock musical which took Broadway by storm in the mid 90’s, The ‘Hamilton’ of its time which made musical theatre cool again…this is of course, Rent.

The original Broadway production ran for some 12 years, I was lucky enough to see it just before it closed, though its original transfer to the UK ran for just 18 months, pro productions of the title struggle to take off on this side of the Atlantic despite several hideous attempts to make it appealing to the masses ‘Rent Remixed’ being the palpable scandal, yet community theatres over here continue to love it and obtain box office success from it.

A report from this particular performance cannot go without mentioning the sound problems experienced. It would probably have been wise to stop the show to attempt to rectify the problem rather than allowing the cast to struggle on with so many of the leading performers microphones completely cut out or sporadically jumping in and out of frequency (or so it sounded). For anyone who doesn’t know this musical (or the opera on which it is based) it’s not the easiest plot to follow but thankfully, knowing the show, the telling of the story wasn’t massively hindered though I can’t speak for anyone in this audience who wasn’t familiar with the narrative beforehand. Despite the technical drama, the cast were all professional in their response to it and I was impressed with how they didn’t allow their focus or level of performance to dwindle when such an obvious distraction was jeopardising the show. Each member of the cast did everything to ensure we still got their very best, regardless of the vast interference. Those whose microphones appeared to be unaffected by the glitch need to be commended for pulling back on their power to avoid drowning out those who were performing with zero amplification, this was utterly selfless and demonstrated exactly how to work as an ensemble cast, thinking on their feet putting the greater good of the whole production ahead of their own individual performance.

Puccini's ‘La Boheme’ inspires this plot and it follows it closely in outline, portraying a pair of struggling artists who fall in love, here a club dancer and an aspiring rock musician, determined to write one great song before he dies. Even the characters names are similar …Marcello – Mark, Colline – Collins, Benoit – Benny …you get the idea.  In fact, Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music and lyrics of ‘Rent’, wrote one great show before he died - literally the morning of the show's first New York downtown preview in 1996 (of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm, not AIDS or a drug overdose as rumours lead many to believe). So his own life was a prescient example of ‘Rent’s’ message, which is to seize the moment!

Unfortunately, Cameron Hall’s microphone was the one which suffered most from the technical failure which is a shame given his role (Mark) is a sort of narrator for the show. However, as indicated above, his performance didn’t appear to be phased by the issue and I did manage to enjoy the easy and mature interpretation of the slightly nerdy peacekeeper of the group.   

Keirah Kirton struck as The Bag Lady, her ‘moment’ was savoured perfectly with the ideal balance of humour and punch, a flash in the show which can so easily be over egged or not given enough to leave an impression but this tiny feature, which is meant to strike a chord, did just that and stood out for all the right reasons.   

Musically, Angel sits in an awkward place for many male voices which creeps into bass territory, spends most of its time in a tenor/baritone range but regularly jumps up into a falsetto register too. The difficulty of singing this part can often be disregarded when looking to cast the gigantic and demanding requirements of this role… a strong acrobatic dancer, percussionist, needs to look good / believable when cross dressing on top of the difficult score he has to deliver – it’s a tough one to conquer. Jack Gibson handled some of the problematic songs better than others, delivered the character to a respectable level but above all, it can’t be denied how he suited the appearance of Angel with ease. The biggest surprise of the night for me was Joseph Morgan as Tom Collins, the best I’ve seen him with a worthy rendition of the ‘I’ll Cover You’ reprise.

Emily Clarke paired with Sara Nelson were the tour-de-force as Joanne and Maureen. Apart, these two were excellent, shining in their own right but when the two joined together the shows notches revved up a gear.       

Chris Wagstaff’s range is well suited to Roger. His physicality and nuances were reminiscent of Adam Pascal’s performance it was just a shame his lack of clarity hindered parts of his performance, “Your Eyes” was most definitely his shining moment.  

Mimi, portrayed here by Summer-Kaia Mulready, appeared to be doing everything asked of her though at the more vital moments, when we see the extremes of Mimi - be it the wild at heart loose cannon or the tender damaged soul - she never quite delivered the rawness. I sense that Summer perhaps didn’t appreciate how much actually rests on her characters delivery, Mimi is responsible for providing the pulse of the production and although some sections of her performance were of a worthy calibre, “Without You” was particularly lovely, the majority felt safe and controlled, you can’t be afraid to un-hook any inhibitions to pelt it in a role like this one.      

The production was directed by Daniel Jarvis who stayed true to the shows original vision with this presentation in salute to it. I favour this choice for some productions and accept the decision to honour the original flavour of ‘Rent’ without getting too creative and riddling it with fresh ideas and alternative interpretations, it’s not ready for people to get overly clever with it just yet. On the flip side of that, some of the raw edges of the show may have become blunted by familiarity, but there's still so much to enjoy! I wasn’t so taken on the degree of the 1980’s imprint stamped throughout the costume design given that it’s set in the early 90’s “at the end of the millennium” with a lot of costumes in this production suggesting 10 years earlier / early 80’s.  

Despite the issues, the dedication of the cast to their craft to see them so composed and calm was truly notable. It’s not uncommon for devoted Rentheads to flock to see it, it’s one of those niche / cult shows though I didn’t get a sense of that in evidence on the night I attended.  

The group numbers were enhanced by the fact that each cast member was dedicated and devoted to the performance. The audience could feel an infectious passion emanating from the stage, particularly in the crowd-pleaser “Seasons of Love” which was, as it should be, a prominent highlight as the shows signature anthem, making it clear why that number has had such a huge and established success, however, what vocally left the biggest imprint of this production for me was ‘Finale B’.  

Congratulations to everyone at MMYG’s on your debut production.  

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