by Lou Harry
Bloomington Independent
December 2, 1999

Boy meets transvestite. Boy loses transvestite. Boy 2 meets drug-addicted prostitute. Boy 2 loses drug-addicted prostitute. Boy 3 loses performance artist to another woman, then becomes chums with his ex's lover.

Welcome to the world of Rent -not your father's musical theater hit. As a believer in theater as a series of questions one asks of a production and of oneself (and as someone meeting a tight deadline so that you can read this while the show is still in town) I'll dispense with attempts to write a coherent essay and, instead, address some of the questions raised by the show and its success.

Why has Rent proven so popular? Pure speculation here, but I'm comfortable guessing that few residents of New York's Alphabet City neighborhood (where Rent is set)  have dropped $50 a ticket to see the show that celebrates their lives. However, a lot of people who have romantic notions of the compromises they have made (and how cool life would be if they had stuck to their adolescent ideals) find some comfort here.

Are there better rock musicals? Yes, definitely. Next time you are in L.A., check out White Trash Wins Lotto, a show created by Indiana native and former Wall of Voodoo frontman Andy Prieboy. It's insightful, wicked and funny. Most important, it rocks.

Are there worse rock musicals? Don't get me started on the Broadway flop Marlowe, in which Christopher Marlowe gets high with William Shakespeare on weed that Sir Walter Raleigh scored from Pocahontas.

Does Rent break any new thematic ground? Tortured would-be artist is perhaps the world's oldest non-profession. And theater has been a haven for plays about AIDS. However, Rent shows the diseases as something that doesn't just affect an individual, but a whole community - pretty gutsy for a mass-market musical.

Are the head mics distracting? Since amplified musical theater has pretty much given up on the notion that we should actually hear a human voice coming out of a human head, the ubiquitous gadgets are actually less distracting than the pathetic attempts to hide body mics in other shows. (Don't get me started on that, either like the ones in the opening nude scene of Broadway's Passion.)

Does volume equal power? In order for the show to work, it does need to reach the decibels of a rock concert. But most concerts don't depend on the audience understanding and digesting the lyrics. If an action in Act 2 is, in part, explained by an unheard lyric in Act 1, the overall experience is diminished.

Are these actors first or rockers first? When this tour plays its last town, these folks aren't going back to their bands (except perhaps the woman playing Maureen). They'll be going for gigs in Les Miserables and West Side Story.

Has Rent had any effect on musical theater? It sure helped shake up a relatively dead Broadway season when it opened. But the jury is still out as to what the long-term effects will be. The youth-oriented shows to hit post-Rent Broadway have pretty much been limited to movie retreads (Saturday Night Fever, Footloose), hardly a breakthrough to be celebrated. It is nice to hear a different energy (and a bass line) come to musical theater, but if that's at the expense of coherent lyrics, then Rent will be an anomaly, not a trend-setter.

Does rock music need musical theater? In theory, rock thrives on spontaneity. Yet many concerts have higher production values then "legitimate" theater. With such gains in theatricality comes a balancing loss in spontaneity. When the sets are computerized, the set-list locked in and a light-board operator busier than some band members, there's little chance of off-the-cuff decisions anyway. So why not find forms whereby an entire concert can tell a story? The Who and others opened the door. Others will (and should) follow.

Would I tell a friend to go see it? Yes, although I can't say that I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped. The performers are terrific. Many of the songs are strong. There are some beautiful visual moments. But the show is never as emotionally engaging as it could be, perhaps because of its inconsistent pace (a rewrite might have taken Act 2's time-jumping style and shaken the lumbering Act 1). And call me a stick in the mud, but I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that maybe, just maybe, these self-professed bohemians should get a job and pay their rent.