by Paul Hodgins
O.C. Register
January 24, 1999

STAGE: After a hiatus to pursue other interests, Daphne Rubin-Vega rejoins 'Rent,' the show that made her famous.

After a hiatus to pursue other interests, Daphne Rubin-Vega rejoins "Rent." 

At the moment, Daphne Rubin-Vega is striking a relatively safe pose, sitting placidly in the lobby of the Shubert Theatre as a makeup artist works on her puckishly beautiful face. It's a marvel to see her sitting still.

As Mimi, the edgy, HIV-positive gamine who stole hearts in the Broadway production of "Rent," Rubin-Vega stopped the show with a sexy number, "Out Tonight." Raw, sexy, provocative, it was a defiant raspberry in the face of death and a party song for the ages. The diminutive actress performed it high above the stage on a precarious-looking railing, delivering it as if she might fling herself off as an act of sheer self-confidence. Mimi's the kind of girl who probably believes that even the laws of gravity don't apply to her.

Rubin-Vega, on the other hand, has a healthy instinct for self-preservation. When a photographer suggests she pose on a staircase railing high above the Shubert's lobby, her reaction is decidely un-Mimilike: "Oh, God!"

Rubin-Vega thought long and hard about her character, which she reprises in the new production of "Rent" at the Shubert. It's the first time she has done the role since leaving the Broadway show in April 1997. The railing dance is integral to our understanding of Mimi, Rubin-Vega believes.

"That dance is designed to be scary, in a way. I don't want to upset people, but Mimi is a risk-taker. That's the point. You're more worried for her than she is for herself. She knows she'll survive. And what better way to express that than to swing on a railing?"

Refamiliarizing herself with the role she originated and made famous has sometimes been an ordeal for Rubin-Vega, bringing back old fears. Heights, for example.

"Don't believe for a second that I'm not scared (stiff) up there. Every so often there are times when my heel slips or something. Yes, getting back up there and playing with those bars, it's been an interesting thing." She smiles broadly. "Very interesting."

SO NOT FUNNY

Rubin-Vega's story resonates in intriguing ways with that of Mimi and other "Rent" characters. Jonathan Larson's musical, based loosely on the opera "La Boheme," concerns the lives, loves and yearnings of a group of young East Village artists, all trying to achieve fame. Rubin-Vega, too, was a struggling New York artist — at least until "Rent" came along and changed her life completely.

"I'd been trying seriously for 10 years," says the Panama-born actress-singer. "I did anything and everything. I was in a Latino comedy show. It was pure hell. Everyone else was funny, and I was just so not funny. I couldn't tell a joke out of a paper bag."

Rubin-Vega's big break was a complete accident. She was working hard on her singing career and had no plans to audition for a Broadway show.

"I was never a big fan of Broadway musicals. I lived in the neighborhood, and somebody said, 'You should try out for this (role). You can sing and you want to act.' I said, 'No, I don't want to mix my singing and my acting.' I had a plan.

"But this person said, 'Well, it's a rock opera.' I said, 'No, I don't want to do a rock opera.' She said, 'It's based on "La Boheme" and your character is a junkie with AIDS who dances in a sex salon.' And I thought, 'Hmmm, this is getting very interesting.' I knew that my dad, who is an absolute opera aficionado, would just gag if he saw this. Completely. So I had to do it. I was motivated out of vengeance."

Rubin-Vega was with "Rent" from its beginnings as a modest workshop production and stuck with it through its development into a full-blown Broadway hit in the 1995-96 season — a triumph tempered by the untimely death of creator Larson, only 35, on the eve of its premiere. Within a year, she was vaulted from obscurity to the cover of Newsweek magazine. That roller-coaster period left her breathless and a little intimidated.

"I still would like to find the right way to describe what that experience was like. It's like a cosmic joke. The word 'fickle' comes to mind. And 'precious' also. Life is fickle and precious. If you do your best, somebody might like you, but there are never any guarantees. For a minute you start to think, 'Wow, maybe I have some sort of Midas' touch.' And then you come back to Earth and realize that there's just no explanation for anything."

Rubin-Vega still finds it hard to talk about Larson's death but believes the tragedy somehow affected "Rent" for the better.

"Everything changed when Jonathan died. It soldered the show, fused it, made it really clear. There was a new purpose behind it. Everything ordinary became extraordinary. I knew that I loved the show, personally, and it was always satisfying to me. But after Jonathan's death, in a really sick and twisted way I noticed that everyone started to pay attention. It meant something much more to all of us."

Rubin-Vega has been busy during her "Rent" hiatus, taking on some movie and TV parts (including a well-crafted, very non-Mimi supporting role in the popular film "Wild Things") and recording a solo album. But she feels the pull of playing Mimi again like a siren's call.

"I have so many fond memories from (the Broadway production) — friendships that were born out of the work, and the tragedies that we experienced together.

"And I love the experience of really communing with an audience, really feeling that people get it. In the workshop production, people used to, like, walk out constantly, in indignation. You know, 'Two men kissing, two women kissing, AIDS, how awful!' But to see blue-haired ladies and kids sitting next to each other and enjoying the show, what Jonathan created — well, that's something I wanted to experience again."