Broadway Theatre Guild
September, 1999

One thing you MUST be when taking in the role of Angel in RENT, as Pierre Angelo Bayuga has, is a "quick change artist." Pierre who wowed Grand Rapids audiences as Angel often only has a minute to a minute and a half to change from Angel, the drummer, to Angel in drag. Three assistants wait in the wings each night to accomplish this feat.

Pierre entered college in his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, enrolled in school of nursing but a call from Toronto, offering him a role in the Toronto production of MISS SAIGON, was all he needed to lure him into  theater. The 24-year-old actor is the eldest in a family of four children. Dad's an engineer and Mom, a nurse.

"My folks have traveled all over the country to see me in RENT," Pierre boasted. "When we were in New Orleans, my mom flew down for the show and then cooked homemade dinner for the whole cast. In Lansing the brought over a whole bus load of friends and coworkers---fifty in all. And my family will be here this weekend too."

"My dad and brothers don't have any troubles dealing with me playing in drag," the young actor shared. "They just don't feel it's me they're watching up there on stage." (Certainly this is a compliment to Pierre's acting
talents.)

Before taking the role of Angel in RENT, Pierre understudied the role of Thuy in the Toronto cast of MISS SAIGON for two years and then headed for
Stuttgart, Germany, for a year in the same capacity with the show.

"We learned the show in German phonetically. I was terrified that first show," Pierre confessed. "But eventually I learned to speak German well enough to get around and I loved being in Europe. We traveled every chance we had. Shopping was a real comedy, I'll tell you. The products in Germany are very different from those in Canada and the U.S. For a while. I wasn't sure what I was buying."

Pierre and the whole cast love their "RentHeads" - and, indeed there were "RentHeads" here in Grand Rapids. "Most "RentHeads" are young kids," the actor observed. "They're very dedicated and loyal to the show and always come back stage after a show to say hi. They're great! They get the audiences excited every night. The cast feeds off their energy I got hundreds of Christmas cards from them. I've never gotten so many Christmas cards!!"

It isn't all a bed of roses for Pierre playing drag. "In Cleveland, one of my spiked heeled, strapped shoes came off during that big number in the early part of the show," Pierre lamented. "I had to do the number on my knees. I couldn't walk or dance like that, and I didn't want the audience to see my dangling shoe. I've lost eyelashes - my wigs have gone askew. And I'll tell you, if you don't walk just right in those platform shoes, it hurts!!"