by Michelle Henderson
Hoosier Times
December 3, 1999

You bet your bottom dollar they can, and Rent offered just that when its combination of quirky characters, frenetic energy and ear-catching melodies garnered a spontaneous standing ovation from the Indiana University Auditorium audience on opening night Tuesday.

Rent's overwhelming success comes from its ability to intermingle life's abominations with a healthy dose of love, passion, humor and pure grit.

But it's the music that puts this rock opera over the top; a killer score that will linger in your head way beyond the show's ending.

Set in New York's East Village, Rent follows the lives of eight struggling artists trying to survive amidst poverty, illness and unpredictable love.

Yes, keeping a roof over their heads and staying healthy are the pressing problems, but the struggles go much deeper. Each must fight with his or her own inner demons which threaten any chance of personal happiness.

Rent is a celebration of life — not death. Though some of its characters would rather hide from life, most are game to live it until the end.

The almost three-hour performance evoked plenty of laughter and tears in the audience.

From the beginning, when the cast walked onto an uncurtained stage while the auditorium was still lit, you could sense that something different and perhaps wonderful was about to happen.

Whether watching Collins' romantic affair with his transvestite, HIV-positive lover, Angel, or witnessing Joanne's quest for control over Maureen, her newly-converted lesbian girlfriend — this rock opera is all about the heart.

The hearts of people that want love even while being frightened of it — people wounded by love and trying to hold onto themselves.

Despite the premise, the first-half is light-hearted and wisely written to allow the audience to learn the characters.

At times, the character development became lost in the power and the volume of the music, but by the second half, the characters began to emerge.

It is during that second half that the clouds of death and fear begin to descend over the musical.

Though Tuesday's audience was overwhelmingly receptive, Rent is clearly a production that breaks along generational lines.

Some of the audience members seemed a bit shocked by the characters and the subject matter, and some said that it was both loud and depressing.

But for those young enough to relate to a world riddled with AIDS, Rent represents a most uplifting message. One that says life can be messy, painful and utterly overwhelming, but nonetheless worth living.