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by Carlie Nicastro |
Roger Davis, an HIV-positive musical struggling to write one last meaningful song before he dies. Roger’s roommate, Mark Cohen, an avant-garde filmmaker and video artist. Tom Collins, an HIV-positive computer genius and New York native who has just come back home. Benjamin Coffin III, the landlord who dreams of starting a multimedia studio. Maureen Johnson, a performance artist and Mark’s ex-girlfriend. Joanne Jefferson, a public interest lawyer, and Maureen’s lover. Angel Schunard, a transvestite street drummer also infected with HIV. And Mimi Marquez, an S&M dancer with AIDS and a drug problem. It’s a motley menagerie that Montreal native Dominique Roy calls her favorite so far. “RENT is so different, so passionate. There’s something behind it that’s so magical and moving that you can’t compare it to anything else.” That something is a cast of characters teeming with raw exuberance – one of whom is Dominique, as Mimi Marquez. The bewitchingly intense Dominique has performed in the Canadian and Angel companies of RENT and takes Mimi and company to Scranton this week. Speaking with the mesmerizing Dominique is like getting wrapped up in a finely spun web glistening with drops that beckon like diamonds. RENT’s premier tenant owns a soft, sensual voice filled with nervous giddiness, a powerful presence, and raw sexuality that will surely leave her audience breathless to extend the lease. EC: RENT marks your Broadway debut. How did you become involved? DR: I was filling in with the Angel Tour after the Canadian company closed and I went back home to Toronto and was looking for other gigs when my agent said there was a position opening in RENT, and did I want to take it again. I thought, okay, it’s over and this was a great experience, but then here I was getting called back! RENT is my first big breakthrough gig. My forte is dancing, but RENT is my first singing role and I had to catch up a lot with some of these cats who have been singing for a long time. It was a lot of work and stress at first because I didn’t consider myself a singer, but I gained so much. I started with the Broadway company as a swing. But I was thrilled to be a swing as well. We are like the little cockroaches of the theater. We see and feel and hear everything. EC: What’s your favorite part of the play? DR: I love the lyrics to “Another Day” when Mimi barges into Roger’s room and he tells her to leave. It’s a whole battle against darkness and light. It’s just so powerful and I think it’s the one thing for Mimi, in terms of vocal stamina that is the hardest. You’re singing at the top of your lungs, your one mission is to take him out, get him high, and – excuse my language – f*ck his brains out. And he pushes you away. At the end I’m shaking and sweating. It’s an adrenaline rush. I remember in rehearsal I would surprise myself. I had tears in my eyes and they were like “Yes! That’s it! Push it out” Even if you don’t live it exactly, something rings a bell that drives you and you find more and more little things to just motivate you: like keeping your eyes open at one moment and closing them the next. Everything matters so much. I’m still finding beauty and magic even though I’ve done it so many times. EC: What’s your worst renting experience? DR: I was in a haunted place in the Gate Ghetto in Toronto. This particular apartment had a spirit. There was a dragon on the ceiling. It was painted over, but you could see it. The whole time I was there, I was very dark, painting everything black. I never saw anything, but I could feel the presence, and I had nightmares. My boyfriend at the time had visions, and felt someone pulling him out of bed. It used to be a crack house, so maybe people OD’d in there. Later, I moved to an apartment upstairs in the same place and I was instantly different. I was Miss Décor all of a sudden! I absolutely adore black – but not for a place. You must have colors and a little bit of light. I think now I wouldn’t have lived in there knowing what it was because I’m very spiritual. I burn incense in my room to make sure the spirits are gone. EC: What do you miss most away from home? DR: My cats. We live in hotel rooms and I haven’t had a place in three years. I have had a couple sublets and I’m kind of numb to home and having a place, but I don’t want to go home right now. To see the States in such a grand manner is so beautiful. I miss my mom and friends but I think of my cats first. I miss cooking, too. I love making breakfast, not that I get up at 7 to eat it! And a fabulous lasagna. I like inventing. It’s very therapeutic to me and I do it when I can’t sleep. EC: What is your life philosophy? R: Carpe diem, seize the day! I’d like to say “no day but today” but I don’t want to sound so RENT-ish, but really. Or Excess in Moderation. That’s an even better one and it’s so me. EC: What possession are you attached to? DR: My sex toy. I’m so kidding. Actually, I’m not. But I’d say my CD player and speakers and my music. It weighs a ton but I have to carry it around everywhere. We must have music – even before the clothes and shoes. EC: RENT is a tearjerker; what makes you cry? DR: Anything. It could be joy or it could be sadness. I’m such a crybaby at movies, so a movie, a thought, anything that really gets me, makes me cry. We’re in Detroit right now and it’s very demolished – like a ghost town. It used to be a hot city but now businesses are abandoned and the town has a really strange vibe. I was doing laundry and a lady walked in, and you can tell she’s homeless, and I just looked at her and she kept looking at me and she was dropping her bottle of bleach into the machine and being very loud. I felt so much compassion for her that it brought tears to my eyes. I had to look away. Little moments like that just kill me.EC: What makes you happiest in life? DR:: Being in love makes me very happy or being alone and being surrounded by a sense of beauty. I love those little things that make you feel so happy that they make you cry. There’s that scene in “American Beauty” where the boyfriend is filming that bag just tumbling in the wind. When I saw that I said, “Oh my god, that’s it!” The little moments in life that last three seconds but could last three hours are beautiful. A lot of people are too worried about their worries. You should really wake up and say, “today a miracle will happen! Today is a great day!”, because you don’t know what tomorrow will hold. EC: Rent is at once all about – yet nothing about – being able to meet the rent. The true tale behind the musical embraces the wild abandon of youth’s tumultuous fears, intense passions, spiraling troubles, and valiant struggle to hold tight to hope. RENT is rich with meaning and symbolism, and so is Dominique. Electric Current played a quick game of word association with the ravishing Dominique Roy. “You don’t mind if I stumble, do you?” she asked, flustered. With a voice as rich as velvet, a magnificently ethereal presence, and a body that slices across the stage with enough energy to ignite the theater, we never dreamed she could. TRUTH: Me. |
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