by James D. Watts, Jr.
Tulsa World
August 27, 2000

Here's one guy who had no problem playing the role of starving artist

'Rent' check Broadway "Rent" performers Marcy Harriell and Chad Richardson sing during a press conference last April at the Performing Arts Center. "Rent" opens in Tulsa Tuesday.

Cary Shields' acting career began because Mother knows best. Or because Mom just got fed up. One or the other.

For the past two years, Shields has been a part of the cast of "Rent," the acclaimed rock opera that makes its Tulsa premiere Tuesday at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Shields has performed some ensemble roles, but most of the time he has played the pivotal character of Roger, an aspiring songwriter who dreams of creating one great song that will endure long after he succumbs to the AIDS virus.

He had seen "Rent," when the show was in its original incarnation on Broadway.

"A lot of people were telling about this great rock musical, and that I had to go see it," Shields said. "I was pretty skeptical at first, because I didn't really think rock music and musical theater went together. But when I saw it, I thought it was just extraordinary.

"It was theater that related to people I knew, that told their stories in a way that was touching and funny and real," he said. "I really admired it, but it never entered my mind that I could be a part of it. It was like it was in a whole other realm from what I did."

What Shields did was play guitar and sing in a band called Thieves Crossing. The band gigged around Shields' native Toronto and even tried its luck touring Ireland. But Thieves Crossing wasn't setting the musical world on fire, and a couple of years ago Shields was back at home, sleeping on his mother's couch.

"One morning she woke me up, and said there was a call for me," Shields recalled. "And it was someone with the Canadian company of `Rent,' telling me I was to come to an audition that day. It turns out my mother had sent them a letter, as if I written it, telling them I was perfect for the role of Roger. She explained what she'd done, then sent me off to the audition.

"I guess I'm used to my mother doing things like that, because I don't remember being upset or all that surprised," he said, laughing. "She knows how lazy I am, and she's one of those mothers who will always find a way to look after her kids, even if it's a conniving sort of thing.

"But it was an opportunity to be a part of this show, so I can hardly hold it against her," Shields said. "And she's right -- Roger is the perfect character for me. I had a pretty good handle on the concept of the pathetic artist sitting around the house all day."

Shields has since portrayed Roger in the first national tour of "Rent," as well as in the show's Canadian production.

The current touring production -- the show's second national tour -- features Saycon Sengbloh as Mimi, the exotic dancer who becomes Roger's lover; Matt Caplan as Mark, Roger's roommate and an aspiring film maker; Mark Richard Ford as Tom Collins, the computer-age philosopher; Shaun Earl as Angel, the transvestite sculptor who becomes Collins' romantic partner; Jacqueline Arnold as Joanne, a lawyer, and lover of the performance artist Maureen, played by Erin Keaney. Brian M. Love portrays the thorn in these characters' lives, the landlord Benjamin Coffin.

"What I like about 'Rent,'" said Sengbloh, during a separate telephone interview from Houston, "is that the show itself is what's important. It's a true ensemble piece -- there's no star power thing going on."

Unlike Shields, who was hired for "Rent" immediately after his first audition, Sengbloh spent a year in limbo before being offered a role.

"When I did the audition in Atlanta, where I'm from, they gave me the music for Joanne," she said. "Then they called me back later that night, and I sang both Mimi and Joanne. And that was it, until a year later, when they called and asked me to sing Mimi. I don't think that's the way most shows operate, but I've been told that's the way 'Rent' works."

Sengbloh has done a great deal of theater in Atlanta, including a recent production of the musical "Chess," and has appeared in several TV shows and movies, including "Dawson's Creek."

"But 'Rent' is definitely the biggest thing I've done so far," she said.

The character of Mimi is much more of a stretch for Sengbloh than Roger is for Shields.

"Mimi is the complete opposite of me," she said. "I guess you could say I'm an extroverted introvert -- I can be outgoing when I have to be, when I'm on stage, but once I'm off stage I'd rather go home and read a book. Mimi, on the other hand, is always out there.

"Fortunately, everything about her is there in the words and music," Sengbloh said. "It's just an extraordinarily well-written piece."

While composer-lyricist Larson's goal for "Rent" was "to bring music theater to the MTV generation," to tell the stories and celebrate the lives of the people among whom he lived, Shields doesn't think "Rent" is a work that will appeal only to the 20-something crowd.

"I really think bigger than a generational thing," he said. "The message 'Rent' isn't lost on the audience that traditionally goes to the theater. They are as touched by these characters as the younger crowd.

"What's amazing is how this show has really opened the eyes of all sorts of people," he said. "Everybody who sees 'Rent' sees something they haven't seen before. It appeals to everyone -- it doesn't have any boundaries. It's really a magical show."