by Todd Peterson
Las Vegas Showbiz
October 24, 1999

Scott Hunt's character, Mark, in the riveting Broadway show "RENT" is somewhat of a pariah, said Hunt. "He's the witness. He watches everything from a detached perspective."

But the story of the award-winning "Rent," which lands in the Las Vegas Hilton Theater, Oct. 27-Nov. 7, is hardly one from which audiences can remain detached.

From its debut early in 1996, "Rent" was immediately a story of tremendous success and crippling defeat when, on the eve of its premiere, Jonathan Larson, the show's creator, was found dead in his apartment--a victim of an aortic aneurysm.

Despite Larson's death, the show opened at the New York Theatre Workshop on Jan. 26. Nearly eight years in the making, the initial buzz for the show created a groundswell of support that quickly made "Rent" an off-Broadway hit.

Adapting Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera "La Bohème," Larson's "Rent" tells an updated version of the story. Focusing on a group of Bohemian artists living in the East Village in New York City, Larson figured in modern-day realities, including such societal difficulties as homelessness as well as the threat of AIDS. But, cautioned "Rent's" general manager John Corker, "the show's not about that. It's about these characters and they happen to be living in New York. They happen to be artists and creative people and some of them happen to be HIV positive."

The musical, explained Corker, is driven by the characters. He's a good judge of that, having joined the crew back in the New York Theatre Workshop, before the show had hit Broadway.

Now, as the general manager, his duties require him to "make sure that everything happens the way it's supposed to happen."

With one company on Broadway, another touring the country and a couple of European productions, "Rent" has skyrocketed worldwide. The popularity, said Corker, owes much to its encompassing theme.

"It just really resonates. These young kids searching for their identity and their place in the world and finding some sort of community both in the artistic community and in their search for 'family.' I think that's universal."

Actor Hunt agreed and pointed out that "Rent" also has managed to break many age barriers. "I have friends 10 years younger than me and 30 years older than me who have all walked out of the theater and pretty much felt that it was talking to them in some way, shape or form."

Hunt, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, has spent the past year and a half on the road with the touring company. He has been with the production nearly two and a half years.

For Hunt, his favorite nights, he said, are in smaller cities where the show is less likely to play to as many members of the cast's age group as it does in large met-ropolitan areas.

He likes those towns because they present an opportunity to demonstrate the power and performance of "Rent," to say nothing of the empathy it evokes.

"Literally, by the end of the second act, you can see not a dry eye in the house," said Hunt. "And every one of those people who would not be in our demographic are up on their feet cheering. And you just know that they've gotten it and it's broken down an age barrier. It's not about demographics, really, at all."

Corker confirmed that the show continues to impress audiences of all types. "It has been very well-received by subscription audiences all over the country," he said. And though he thinks that perhaps the message carries a bit more urgency for the 20-something crowd, he added, "I think that maybe the older generation goes, 'I'm not sure I get it all, but wow, can those kids sing."

Hunt agreed that it isn't just the theme that makes "Rent" a success story. "The music is so undeniably brilliant. The score has so many beautiful melodies and so many wonderful thoughts and feelings," he said.

Still, much of "Rent's" appeal is the uniqueness of the story itself. "It gives a voice to a group of people that society kind of marginalizes, that don't often get a voice in contemporary theater," he said.

"There aren't a lot of people out in Green Bay, Wisc., who had ever seen a musical that depicts a healthy relationship between HIV-positive males, one who dresses in drag and one who teaches philosophy. Those people aren't being spoken about in most contemporary theater."