by Richard Ades
"The Other Paper"
July 3, 1998

Not being an opera fan, I can't say how true Rent stays to La Boheme, the Puccini work that helped inspire it. At any rate, it's probably more useful to compare it to another work that inspired its creator - the late Jonathan Larson - Hair.

Let's see: Both rock musicals are set in New York. Both are about a group of rebels who thunb their noses at main stream society. Both have names with four letter words.

One obvious difference is the specter that inhabits the dark center of each show. Though there was nothing funny about the Vietnam War, which haunted Hair's hippies, protesting the war could be kind of a kick. A rousing chorus of "Hell, no, we won't go" would give your whole day a lift.

AIDS, the evil spirit that haunts Rent, doesn't give us even that small consolation. The result is darker work, though one that has garnered a frantically devoted following.

On opening night, certain characters, songs and even costume changes were greeted by screams of approval, and at one point an audience member could be heard singing along. All this is a city where the show has never appeared.

It's hard to say whether the musical's popularity is based more on its sometimes bitter, sometimes tender songs or on the relationships they describe, which undergo similar changes of spirit. Probably many are attracted to the show's rock concert-like energy and volume, which sometimes overshadow the story while rendering some lyrics indecipherable.

In case you don't already know the story, and are afraid you won't be able to figure it out just by watching the show (you won't), Rent is about a group of poverty-stricken artists. Most of the action takes place in the apartment of Mark, a filmmaker who's shooting a documentary about New York homeless, and Roger, a songwriter whose girlfriend killed herself after learning she had AIDS.

Also figuring in the loose plot are:

Tom Collins - a friend and ex-roommate.

Angel - a drag queen and musician who takes up with Collins.

Mimi - a junkie who lives nearby and takes a liking to Roger.

Maureen - a performance artist and Mark's ex-lover.

Joanne - Maureen's current lover.

Benny - Mimi's ex-lover and another of Mark and Roger's ex-roommates, who now owns the building they live in and wants to evict the homeless people who live in the vacant lot next door.

All of the parts are played well by the touring cast seen on the Palace Theatre stage, with the most engaging performance turned in by Andy Senor as the sweet and creatively dressed Angel. His love scenes with Collins (Mark Leroy Jackson) make up some of the show's warmest moments.

A rockier relationship is shared by the HIV-positive Roger (Adrian Lewis Morgan) and drug-addicted Mimi. Understudy Jasmine M. Baird sang and danced the part of Mimi (normally played by Julia Santana) with sultry passion on opening night.

Despite the skill of the cast-and also despite Rent's 1996 Tony Awards, including best musical-I have to admit I enjoyed the show more as a concert than as the definitive musical of the '90s, as some have termed it.

Maybe if the set, lighting and costumes weren't quite so industrial strength flashy, and maybe if the lyrics were easier to pick out, I could appreciate what it has to say about AIDS and poverty in post-Reagan America.

However, I suspect that, much like a rock concert, the show's main appeal lies in its energy and attitude.