by Mike Ross
Edmonton Sun
November 4, 2000

The road to stardom hasn't been easy for Christian Mena.

Since the Edmonton singer left a popular local band called Maracujah to take the lead role in the touring production of Rent three years ago, he's wrecked his knee, nearly lost his voice, suffered headaches, exhaustion and, in the first year of the show, cried every night.

Man. This must be one gruelling gig. The run in Edmonton - Nov. 7-12 at the Jubilee Auditorium - is just one in a seemingly endless road trip. Rent has been a smash hit since it opened in 1996 on Broadway in New York (where it still plays), winning the Pulitzer Prize and sweeping the Tony Awards in the process.

Then again, this isn't any ordinary musical. It's aimed at a younger generation than Phantom of the Opera, say, and tackles themes few musicals have ever dared to. For someone with little acting experience coming in, dealing with Rent on a nightly basis is the theatrical equivalent of a punch in the stomach.

"The first year was really hard for me," Mena says. "I wasn't a trained actor so I didn't have the experience to know that at some point you have to shut yourself off from it. I'd come home every night and have a hell of a headache. I'd cry during every show. So that would obviously take its toll on my voice as well. It wasn't just me. It was a lot of people. And because it was the first incarnation of this show in this company, everyone was really close and really felt everything.

"But the more you do it, the better you get at it and, by the same token, the less you have to think about it. So I don't cry during every show anymore. Once in a while. I don't get nearly as emotionally involved as I used to."

There's lots to get involved about. Mena plays Roger, an HIV-positive rock musician whose only goal is to write that one perfect song before he dies. He's numb over the death of his girlfriend, who killed herself after she tested positive for HIV. Other characters include an HIV-positive junkie, an HIV-positive drag queen, a lesbian lawyer and the yuppie landlord demanding the all- important rent. Hence the title. There's also a little dog that barks itself to death. The story follows this ragtag group of misfits and artists trying to get by on the mean streets of New York. Putting it all into a full-blown rock 'n' roll musical - and one based loosely on La Boheme, no less - may seem like an absurd stretch, but Mena says that while the setting may be alien to white-bread America, the message is universal.

"The show is really about celebrating life and all the tragedies and triumphs it brings. And it's not set in a normal, everyday situation. I think that's one of the reasons it's great. It shows the average person, the people in Edmonton, Alberta, that transvestites and rock 'n' roll singers and artists who live in New York deal with life the same way that everyone else does."

The Chilean-born singer says he's learned a lot from the show.

"You have to take life as it comes," he says. "Oftentimes it directs you in ways that you don't expect, but that's kind of like the beauty of life, you know? And also the message of the show: Measure your life in love. It's not about the material possessions that you get, but more the relationships. The other really strong message in it is, there's no day like today. You don't have a lot of time to do what you want to do, so you shouldn't just keep putting it off because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. The writer who wrote Rent (Jonathan Larson) is a perfect example. He's got this huge show that's about to be produced. He had just done the dress rehearsal, he went home to do some rewrites and he died of an aortic aneurysm just short of his 36th birthday. And that was it."

Taking the message to heart, Mena admits he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life doing Rent. Now married and living in Vancouver, the 30-year-old singer left the show to get surgery on his knee (he'd jumped off a table in one of the first scenes, landed wrong and had to finish the show as his knee swelled up like a balloon) and learned how not to blow out his voice from noted vocal teacher Ron Anderson (who's given lessons to everyone from Eddie Vedder to Pavarotti). Movie and TV roles beckon. Mena will also be recording a CD as soon as his stint with Rent is up. Don't expect more Maracujah.

"I love the music, but I don't want to do Latin music anymore," he says. "I don't want to be Ricky Martin."

For now, he'll settle for being Roger in one of the most acclaimed musicals of the '90s. That's nothing to cry about.

THE MENA EVENT

 We could just regurgitate blurbs from reviews, like this from the Kalamazoo Gazette: "Compare Christian Mena's ferocious reading of Roger to Adam Pascal's comparatively meek original interpretation ... by any standards - vocals, stage presence, acting - Mena wins."

 But where the heck is Kalamazoo? We're interested in what his old friends in Edmonton have to say, his former bandmates, his music teachers, his parents. Besides, he claims he doesn't read the reviews anymore. "How can you believe the good ones and discredit the bad ones?" Mena says. Get set for some serious log-rolling:

ESTER MENA (mother): "It wasn't what I wanted for him. That career has too much stress involved, but if he's happy, we're happy. I saw him in Los Angeles at the opening and I thought he was great. I hope he'll go far."

Elsie Hepburn (voice teacher): "He was a tremendous talent, full of drive and determination to go along with the voice that he had. It's not all that frequent a combination in this business. He was just one of those people that you knew was going to succeed at whatever he decided he was going to do."

Darryl Mork (manager): "I've always thought he was extremely talented. He has an incredible voice. On and off stage, he has a lot of charisma. He's doing extremely well and I'm positive he will continue to do well."

DAVE BABCOCK (bandleader; gave Mena his first professional gig singing with the Devotees in 1994): "When we first started playing, he didn't have a lot of professional experience, but he brought a lot of raw talent and energy. He has a real personal charisma and charm on stage. It was quite a refreshing change from the norm. I thought he had all the tools to go far. It was just a matter of getting the opportunity."

KATHY KIRBY (sound technician for Mena's second regular band, Maracujah): "I've seen him in this Rent production, actually. I think he has all the elements of a star. He's certainly got the drive and the talent and the devotion, and he's got huge talent. I think they were ahead of this Latino pop explosion. I think he's a far better singer and dancer than Ricky Martin."

Michael Hamm (Tv commercial producer; gave Mena some of his first acting experience): "He was an extra in an Edmonton Power spot. We needed some hip, progressive looking guys and Christian showed up. He was also a principal in a Capital Health commercial. In our side of the thing, we often look at the look first and then see if he can pull off the bit. He's hit it every time we've used him."

JEFF HENDRICK (Maracujah bandmate): "Working with him - and continuing to - was good, because we're both tense and really passionate about music. He wants it so bad. He's kind of a born leader in terms of music and that's always suited him well. As far as seeing him in Rent, which I finally got a chance to do in Las Vegas, I think he was born for the role. I'm not sure he'd like me to say it, but he's got a gift for musical theatre. There's no doubt in my mind that he could be on Broadway if he wanted to."

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OPENED: Feb. 13, 1996 at the New York Theatre Workshop, off Broadway; moved to Broadway on April 29.

PLAYWRIGHT: Jonathan Larson, whose works include Superbia, Sitting on the Edge of the Future, J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation and the one-man show tick, tick ... BOOM! Also wrote music for Sesame Street and Steven Spielberg's An American Tail and The Land Before Time. Died just weeks before Rent was due to open.

RENT AWARDS: 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama; best musical, best score, best book (script) and best actor at the 1996 Tony Awards; plus numerous critics awards, Drama Desk and Obie awards. It's the most honoured musical since A Chorus Line.

TOURING PRODUCTIONS: Two, dubbed "Angel" and "Benny," after two characters in the musical. We're getting the Benny production, which opened in La Jolla, California, in 1997.

RENTHEADS: The name given to fans who have seen Rent numerous times. One New York man claims to have seen the show more than 500 times.

CHARACTERS (actors): Roger, HIV-positive rock musician (Christian Mena); Mark, struggling filmmaker and Roger's roommate (Matt Caplan); Mimi, HIV-positive heroin addict who falls in love with Roger (Saycon Sengbloh); Maureen, Mark's ex-girlfriend who turns out to be a lesbian (Maggie Benjamin); Joanne, lawyer and Maureen's lesbian lover (Jacqueline B. Arnold); Tom Collins, HIV-positive philosophy teacher (Mark Ford); Angel, HIV-positive drag queen (Shaun Earl); and Benny, yuppie landlord (Brian Love).

MENA'S RESUME: Feature films: Rat Race, Bad Faith, After Shock; Television: Beggars & Choosers, Back to Black; Talk show appearances: Rosie O'Donnell, Cindy Crawford's Later Show; Bands: Maracujah, the Devotees; is also the voice of Chile's national airline, Lan Chile Air.