by Terry Byrne
Boston Herald
June 16, 1999

"No day but today."

Despite the angst-laden story of misfits suffering from AIDS, loneliness, homelessness and despair, "Rent" is an incredibly joyful, hopeful and inspiring musical.

Three years have passed since its much-heralded opening just days after the tragic death of its composer Jonathan Larson, but time has not diminished the passion of its music nor its ability to create some very moving moments.

On a bare set, with a rangy metal sculpture serving as a Christmas tree and church steeple, the band clearly visible stage left, Larson creates a world of starving artists on the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the end of the millennium. Using Puccini's opera "La Boheme" as a guide, Larson transforms the tragic story to one about a young filmmaker capturing a year in the lives of eight friends.

The current touring company has a strong set of vocal chords, but in some cases, director Michael Greif sacrificed some acting chops for vocal prowess (on the last tour it was the other way around). That's too bad in the case of the all-important Roger, whose love affair with Mimi forms the crux of the show. Christian Mena is handsome and handles his vocals beautifully, but he never acts like a guy whose heart's broken, and who's feeling desperate about making a mark "to redeem his empty life". There's no edge to this failed rocker and that mutes some of the power of his performance.

As Mimi, Julia Santana takes a while to warm up. Her howl-at-the-moon number, "Out Tonight" never turned the heat up past warm. But by this second act, her aching rendition of "Without You" won me over.

The casting of Pierre Angelo Bayuga as Angel Schunard has the same weakness as Roger, Bayuga is vocally competent, but his big number "Today 4 U" should be an explosion of energy that stops the show, and last night at least, that just didn't happen.

The real winners among the company were Scott Hunt as the filmmaker/narrator Mark, whose geeky charm is irresistible, and Danielle Lee Greaves as Joanne, the new girlfriend of Mark's old girlfriend. This duo's version of "Tango Maureen " was one if the highlights of the show.

Horace Rogers, as Tom Collins, made the audience feel every emotion in both his songs and scenes. His number "Santa Fe" was a charmer.

Although the second act of "Rent" never quite pulls together all the characters and themes the first act introduced (this time around the program includes a goofy "note about the plot" with a "who's who" in case your can't figure it out yourself), it doesn't matter. The enduring strengths of "Rent" are Larson's stirring anthems: "Rent", "La Vie Boheme", and the tender "Seasons Of Love".

And what makes "Rent" come alive is the raw energy of its cast, These characters are dangerously familiar and refreshingly fearless. It's easy to understand why the young audience comes back to see the show dozens of time and greeted their favorite numbers with rock-show style shrieks. There's nothing else like it around.