by William Gayle
Providence Journal-Bulletin
June 10, 1998

The cast is great, both plaintive and strong.

The music is straight ahead rock 'n' roll.

And the show is based on one of the world's great stories, Puccini's La Boheme.

So why is it that Rent comes over as some kind of down-and-dirty yet insubstantial fantasy, a look at self-indulgence combined with the more dangerous behaviors around drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll?

There are a number of answers to that question. They are the reason for this dissenting opinion about Rent, one of the biggest hits of the 1990s, which arrived at the Providence Performing Arts Center Tuesday night.

This writer appreciates the show's power, its liberating performances and its dynamic score. But, in the end, Rent is much ado about not that much. For all its high energy and pyrotechnics, this re-setting of La Boheme from 19th-century Paris to late-20th-century New York has a very loose story line.

The writers of the libretto for La Boheme had the good sense to focus on just three characters; the late Jonathan Larson's book for Rent is all over the place.

There are three main folks: Mark, the talented filmmaker; Roger, the songwriter; and Mimi, the S & M bar performer. But other characters abound; escapades run in all directions; subplots are everywhere; and Rent suffers because of all this diffuse storytelling.

We probably all know the beginnings. Larson's life on New York's rough and rocking lower East Side. His burning desire to document the times of people beset by AIDS, by their own drug use, who were still genuine folks. And then Larson's death at 35 from an aortic aneurysm that helped spark Rent 's climb to Broadway heights.

But Rent has a line of self-indulgence in it.

Sure, Mark is talented and won't sell himself to make commercial dreck. But he's also from a comfortable family in Scarsdale. He ignores them, but he always knows he can sail home to peace and quiet.

Finally, La Boheme had the grace (and realistic view) to know it was a tragedy. Mimi's death from tuberculosis in Paris is mirrored in New York by Mimi's death from AIDS. Except not. When Mimi returns, after seeing a great white light, well, Rent is false.

With all that said, let us add that the show is also a power shower. Larson's score, strong and unwavering, is terrific stuff, and this cast plays it to the hilt.

They have been directed by Michael Greif, Rent 's New York director, who has definitely re-created the pulse of the original production for this touring company. (One thing: I've seen Rent three times now, and only in the production that toured to Boston were the lyrics understood easily.)

As Roger, the Welshman Adrian Lewis Morgan finds a real touch of the loner/poet. When he repulses Mimi's advances, he is a rough dude. When she gets through to him, he shows his softer side. And Morgan, who is slated to become Roger in London later this year, brings vibrancy and feeling to some of Rent 's best numbers, especially One Song Glory , Roger's prayer about writing a successful song before he dies of AIDS.

Julia Santana brings a husky voice and certain sweetness to Mimi. It is one of Rent 's points that you do what you have to do, such as be an S&M performer, and Santana makes it easy to take.

As Mark, the Scarsdale Galahad, Kirk McDonald manages genuine angst over whether to sell out and make commercial films. Mark Leroy Jackson as Tom Collins is very fine throughout, and terrific on the reprise of I'll Cover You.

That is one of Rent 's strong points. The term means, "I'll take care of you, we are family.''

That is felt throughout Rent. But for this observer, the show's strong points don't overcome its weaknesses.