by Lawrence Wise
Gainesville Sun
January 27, 2000

The cast members quietly entered the stage at the Center for the Perfoming Arts.

Mark, one of the main characters in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway show, began to speak. Then, the opening song started.

Sensory overload accompanied. Cast members talked fast. Lights went on and
off.

They began to sing "Rent."

"How are we gonna' pay/Last year's rent?" Mark and his roommate Roger asked in beautiful harmony with the rest of the cast. Mark is played by Scott Hunt, and Roger is played by Cary Shields.

This opening scene was quick paced and dynamic, setting the tone for a masterfully written, masterfully performed musical.

The plot goes like this: Benny, who used to live with Mark and Roger, bought the building in which the troubled pair now live. It is Christmas Eve in New York City, and Benny is demanding rent money from Mark and Roger.

Benny, who is played by Stu James, also owns the lot next door. Homeless people live in the lot. The reason Benny is asking for rent is that he wants to turn both buildings into a high-tech cyber-arts studio.

Benny plans to take all the homeless people out of the lot next door and clear the tenants from the building to accomplish this goal. This includes Mark and Roger.

But, as it turns out, paying rent is one of the lesser problems for the diverse cast of bohemian characters. The characters' love, confusion and confusion about love create the theme of the show.

For example, take the case of Roger, who is HIV-positive, meeting Mimi, a drug addict.

Roger and Mimi, played by Saycon Sengbloh, meet to the song "Light My Candle." Mimi's power was turned off, and she wants Roger to light one of her candles. But the song takes a new, very sexual tone as the pair gets to know each other.

Later, Roger finds out Mimi used to date Benny. And that's only the start of the complicated lives of Gen-Xers who are trying to figure out where they are going with their lives. And it's done nearly exclusively through song.

At the same time, writer Jonathan Larson tackles a number of social issues during the show, including drug addiction, homelessness and coping with the age of AIDS.

The show is amazing because, though Larson tackles all these issues and intertwines them with a complicated plot, he carries it off perfectly. The audience is forced to think about the issues, but at the same time are thoroughly entertained.

The strongest performers were Shields, Sengbloth and Shaun Earl, who plays Angel. Earl's character is a drag queen who is HIV positive.

Angel does a hilarious and beautifully sung number called "Today 4 U." The song oozes with the empowerment of a drag queen: she is a diva. "Today for you/tomorrow for me," she sings, dressed in a tight Santa-like coat, black-and-white hose, platform heels and glitter lipstick. The entire cast gave impeccable performances on Tuesday night. There are scenes that make
you laugh, and some toward the end that make you cry. But I won't tell you why.

There were some sound problems during the show. Sometimes the performers' microphones would fade out for a moment, and at one point, the sound briefly went out entirely. The problems likely were because of opening night, and the show was being performed in a new city.

But the minor technical difficulties did not impair the effect of the production. It was awe-inspiring to watch the fluid way in which the cast members make the show sparkle. They bring the characters alive, and when they sing, you feel their emotions.

The show's Gainesville appearance ends Sunday.