Rent

Although Rent is often billed as a cult musical, it doesn’t have the largest fan base and the story is quite depressing for the average theatre goer.    However, there were plenty of fans in to see the show when I went, and they appreciated the performance.  I think it was quite a brave decision for SODS to do the show, it has never been one to appeal to a wider audience.

Based, loosely, on the opera La Boheme, it is the story of a group of hard up young people trying to eke out an existence in New York’s Lower East Side.  Threaded with themes of drug taking, Aids and interpersonal conflict, it shows the extreme downside of living in a big city with no money.

The cast were all very strong performers, Matt Miller played Roger Davis, the musician who gets and loses the girl.  Roger’s performance was very good, but we saw more of his profile than full face.  I appreciate that getting caught up with the story was important, but the audience have paid to see the actors and it is a pity when they spend almost the entire show sideways onto the audience.  His singing was strong but there seemed to be a lack of passion, in fact this seemed to be a recurring theme through the cast, plenty of ‘belt’ but not much real passion.

John Staines played Mark Cohen, who was, essentially, the narrator through the story, bringing the disparate parts of it together.  His performance was good, with clear diction and good control.  Jordi Tiney played Angel, and this was a ‘full on’ performance.  I know Jordi is a trained dancer and he really came into his own with this performance.  I have seen this show a number of times and I think this was the best Angel that I have seen, well done.  Luke Brown played Tom Collins well, his performance was strong and empathetic, particularly in the scenes after Angel had passed.  Lewis Carlisle played Benny Coffin, a relatively small principal role but he made his mark.

The female Principals were all strong, Maddy Lahna played Mimi Marquez, a very strong performance with plenty of attitude.  Samantha Coles played Maureen Johnson and this was another good performance.  Her pairing with Kirsty Buxton (Joanne Jefferson) was very well played and they made a believable couple on stage.

The ensemble worked very hard and the singing was superb, congratulations to MD Ashton Moore.  As I mentioned earlier, I did think there could have been more passion and not just belt in a lot of the songs, but the audience loved it and that’s the final judgement.

Direction, from Jonny Buxton was, in the main, effective.  There were a number of blind spots where speakers were masked by other cast members standing downstage and I felt it was real shame that the two soloists in Seasons Of Love, were not lit individually. I managed to pick out the female soloist, but I just could not identify the male one until the finale when he stepped forward.

The scenery was very basic and, in my opinion, lacked some stage dressing.  The dialogue actually refers to ‘tired posters on the walls’ but there were none and, after a time, the rostra failed to be effective, not giving the effect that is relevant for the storyline.  I felt it could have been used to better effect than for people just going up and down the stairs and standing (or sitting) on the top landing.

I was a bit bemused to see a chaise being brought on and then not used.  Or if it was used, it was so quick I missed it.  Ditto for the park bench which was sat on once and nearly tripped over a bit later.    Surely Mimi’s near death scene would have been better portrayed on a chaise and not on a tabletop that was far too small to accommodate her.

I also thought that Angel’s death scene was not was effective as it could have been.  He spent a long time shivering and then suddenly he had disappeared.  If I did not know the story, I might have been quite confused until later when it was explained.  With a relatively large cast I think it was shame that the scenery was moved by men in black, if the cast had done it would also have speeded up the pace which did lag a bit in the scene changes.

Having said all that, the performance was very strong, and the Principals and the Ensemble working very hard to produce the excellent singing and dance.  Full credit to choreographer Sarah-Rose Dunn for some edgy choreography, which the cast performed very well.  Lighting and sound were good, as I would expect from the professional technicians that were doing it.  Costumes were well done, I suspect that the cast provided their own and the girls certainly went to town, the nightclub scene, particularly, was effective with the range of costumes.

The audience loved it, and, in the end, that is the measure that the company need to take notice of.  I hope that the production, at least, broke even.  The cast certainly deserved it for all their hard work.  My thanks for the hospitality shown to us.

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