by Amanda Gauthier
Bakersfield Californian
February 24, 2000

Bakersfield soon will get its chance to find out why the American musical "Rent" earned four Tony Awards, the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama and numerous other top critical awards after becoming a megahit on Broadway four years ago.

The show arrives Wednesday for seven performances at the Bakersfield Convention Center.

The musical, written by Jonathan Larson and directed by Michael Greif, is based on Puccini's "La Boheme," and characterized as a rock opera, though the music ranges from gospel to hard rock.

The situations also are updated from "La Boheme," although several "Rent" characters use the same names. One is Mimi, who had tuberculosis in "La Boheme," but is dying from AIDS in "Rent."

Despite it being critically acclaimed and playing to audiences in sold-out venues across America, Rent is by no means popular with everyone who sees it.

"This show is controversial," said production stage manager Mark Tynan, who has been on the road with "Rent" for 2½ years. "It is not for everyone. People do walk out. I think even if they do walk out, they are affected by the show."

The musical addresses issues such as AIDS, homosexuality and homelessness, but those social dynamics are the modern textures on a canvas painted mainly with love, hope and finding joy in life's struggles, according to actress Jacqueline B. Arnold, who plays lesbian attorney Joanne in the show.

"It's a universal story," Arnold said from her hotel room in New Haven, Conn. "It will speak to absolutely anyone on any level. A child understands what love is. We've had 8-year-olds (come to the show) and they've loved it."

The drama plays out as a community develops between artists and others living in the same New York City apartment building.

"It's life. It's probably one of the most real musicals you will ever see," Arnold said.

"Reality in it is heavy, so you are faced with the ugliness of real life but then you're also cuddled with the happiness of life ... how much good and how much love can be in a person's life."

The characters include Mark, a filmmaker and the show's narrator; Mark's roommate Roger, an HIV-positive musician; Mimi, an HIV-positive dancer and junkie who lives in the same building; Maureen, a performance artist and Mark's ex-girlfriend; Joanne, Maureen's girlfriend; Collins, an HIV-positive philosophy teacher who falls in love with drag queen/street musician Angel; and Benny, the yuppie landlord of Roger and Mark.

"It's about camaraderie between the 15 people on stage," Arnold said. "It's basically about relationships and everything that goes along with that."

In terms of community, Arnold's life has paralleled her character's since she joined the touring cast four months ago.

"I walked in here and everybody seemed to bond immediately," she said. "I didn't have to feel like I was a new person. It was like walking into a family."

Her character, whom Arnold describes as a high-strung lawyer straight out of "The Cosby Show," becomes a part of the apartment community through her girlfriend Maureen.

Arnold, an only child whose family lives in Lancaster and Los Angeles, chose to play Joanne as an only child as well. (No siblings were written into the story originally.)

"As an only child, my friends are very important to me; they were often my brothers and sisters," she said. "(Joanne) doesn't really fit into the bohemian lifestyle, but ... she finds a family of freedom in these people."

Like Joanne, Arnold, 26, has found a family away from home in her fellow cast and crew members, many of whom are also in their 20s.

Tynan said the young cast creates powerful energy between the audience and the stage, inspired by the thought-provoking themes that ring true for a younger generation of theatergoers.

"Rent is an extraordinary show to be involved with in that it really, across the country, has moved people and affected people's lives," said Tynan. "It really is a moving, thought-provoking show."