REVIEW BY JANE KERNS / Special to the Star-Advertiser
The rock musical “Rent” is shaking things up at Manoa Valley Theatre. The three-week extension is selling rapidly. Better act quickly to score a ticket.
‘RENT’Presented by Manoa Valley Theatre» Where: 2833 East Manoa Road Honolulu, HI 96822 |
For the uninitiated, “Rent,” with book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, is the groundbreaking 1990s hit musical intended for the MTV generation. The multi-award winning show ultimately appealed to a much broader audience during its 12-year run on Broadway.
Borrowing from Puccini’s opera “La bohème,” “Rent” relocates to Manhattan’s crime-ridden Alphabet City. Larson’s own artistic lifestyle and loss of friends due to AIDS are the show’s inspirations.
The character-driven story explores the relationship challenges of the young, struggling Bohemians, and the importance of community in coping with life’s inequities.
Mark (Kaimana Ramos) is the earnest filmmaker and show’s narrator. His ex-girlfriend is Maureen (Leiney Rigg), an exuberant performance artist, now partnered with a successful lawyer, Joanne (Kim Anderson).
Roger (Garett Taketa), Mark’s roommate, is a once-successful guitarist and singer. He is an HIV-positive ex-addict who longs to compose one important song before dying. His newfound love is Mimi (Shawna Lynn Masuda), an HIV-positive, heroin-addicted S&M club dancer.
Benny (Lavour Addison), Mimi’s ex-lover and former roommate of the guys, is now their landlord. Former roommate Tom Collins (Kyle Malis) now lives with an AIDS-infected drag queen named Angel (Geovanté Joseph).
Sounds like a socially-impaired group – that is, until you get to know them. Their salvation is love, the kind that plants hope right in the middle of the fear of dying. The message is about living in the now, and “Rent” is an exuberant celebration of friendship.
Director Paul Mitri has drawn together an impassioned team of Hawaii’s most talented actors and singers. The eight principals pour their hearts out as they take turns sharing their personal stories. Eight ensemble members are equally devoted to their collage of characters.
Together, all of the performers channel a steady stream of intense emotions through the show’s music and often-radical choreography. Their onstage use of percussive devices to enhance the music’s rhythms is another inspired decision.
Stage elements come together beautifully – from the graffiti-laden walls and serviceable poles and platforms, to hair colors and costumes, to just the right touches of light.
Larson called “Rent” a “rock opera,” infusing it with forty-two edgy and spirited numbers. Music director James Mares and his six-member band, placed onstage behind a brick-wall scrim, provide a soulful outpouring of many music styles for numbers that range from fun to sensuous to exquisite. Taketa’s and Masuda’s poignant duets and Rigg’s outrageous rendition of “Over the Moon” are especially memorable moments.
The story behind the show is also hard-hitting. Larson, after working seven years to bring “Rent” to fruition, died from a massive aortic aneurism the night before the off-Broadway premiere. How could he foresee the impact his dream project would make?
HIV/AIDS and drug addiction remain grisly facts of life, and audience members have likely faced these issues directly or supported others who have. Larson’s story becomes our own and its message resonates powerfully.
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Jane Kerns is doctoral student in musicology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, holds degrees in theatre and vocal performance, and has performed as an actor and singer in New York City.