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Nelson Presley Washington Post May 11, 2000 |
It's rather amazing that
"Rent," the rock musical that has been playing on Broadway and the road for four
years, isn't stale yet. The company that opened at the National Theatre Tuesday night for
a month-long run doesn't exactly come blazing out of the gate; this young crew takes
casual acting to an almost dull extreme. But there's no soft-pedaling Jonathan Larson's
gutsy score, and you can feel Larson's passion willing the cast to life as the evening
goes on. The lesson: If you can find performers who can sing the stuffing out of the
songs, "Rent" just might be foolproof. The downsides of the musical--which sets Puccini's "La Boheme" in 1990s Manhattan, exploring love and idealism among a counterculture of struggling young artists--are more apparent than ever. It's deeply sappy; despite the constant youthful bickering, almost every character has a heart of gold. The plot is full of unlikely contrivances, like the former roommate turned evil yuppie landlord who threatens the heroes and temporarily makes off with the leading lady. The script deals in stereotypes, most notably the angelic drag queen (named Angel, natch) whose munificent spirit serves as an example to everyone else. The music's heavy amplification, of both the onstage rock band and the singers, now and then makes it all but impossible to understand the lyrics. Yet the things that "Rent" doesn't do well are overwhelmed by the things it does splendidly and uniquely. Rock is still a little-explored idiom on Broadway, partly because Broadway belters ape rock badly and partly because there hasn't been a composer yet who really understands how to write rock songs for the theater. That was the late Larson's greatest gift; his musical intelligence remains the single most impressive thing about this show. The score includes driving rock, breezy calypso, Prince-like funk, power ballads, a comic tango and a heartbreaking gospel lament; Larson sprinkled in a little Puccini, then blended it all together with the savvy of an experienced stage composer. "Rent" may be full of dramatic cliches, but musically, it's one restless surprise after another. As "Rent" ages, it's becoming apparent that these strengths are sufficient to overcome certain weaknesses in the performance. There isn't a lot of chemistry between Cary Shields's Roger and Saycon Sengbloh's Mimi, the show's AIDS-afflicted young lovers. The rough-voiced Sengbloh, gyrating for all she's worth in blue vinyl pants, looks awkward snaking down the fire escape during Mimi's randy "Out Tonight." The number is clearly beloved by the vocal "Rentheads" in the crowd, but it's not one of choreographer Marlies Yearby's finer moments. Shields has a strong, clear voice--most of the young actors here do--but his acting (like almost everyone else's) is inexplicably cautious and low-key. Shaun Earl almost whispers his way through his role as Angel; Matt Caplan and Horace V. Rogers are hardly more animated as Mark Cohen (a documentary filmmaker) and Tom Collins (a streetwise scholar). "Rent" is a show about young people on fire; for some reason, these disciplined young singers show it only when the music's playing. But they sure get it right then. Rogers has an easy baritone voice that slides wonderfully into the reprise of "I'll Cover You," the emotional centerpiece of the show. Shields and Caplan belt with authority, while Jacqueline B. Arnold (as a lesbian lawyer) and Erin Keaney (as a bisexual performance artist) growl at each other effectively in "Take Me or Leave Me." By the second act, when the
romances get complicated and disease takes hold of two characters, everyone's performing
at a fever pitch. You can't play "Rent" any other way; what accounts for its
success possibly above everything else is the fact that it never rests. "Rent"
may never have the nine zillion lives of the soon-to-close "Cats," but it has
the heart of a dozen musicals. |
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