Reviewed by James Karas
First, let me recognize the achievements of the late
Jonathan Larson, the composer of Rent which is
now playing at the Stratford Festival. He won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for
Drama, the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Richard Rodgers Award, all of
them for Rent. And that’s just a short list of the recognitions that he received
prior to his untimely death at age 35.
The opening night audience of Rent at the Stratford
Festival received the production with enthusiasm demonstrated sounds of
approval that reverberated throughout the evening. Opening night audiences are
not always a reliable measurement of a show’s appeal but I could not doubt the
passion and thrill that they greeted every song, every movement and everything
imaginable in a performance. They sounded like a theater full of young people
that were thoroughly familiar with the work and pumped up and ready to applaud,
yell, and make every noise to indicate approval and, I say it again,
enthusiasm.
I step into the confessional and admit my maxima culpa
and seek absolution for my unfavorable reaction to the rock musical. The
problem is with the chromocomposition of my deoxyribonucleic acid, an
unchangeable and incurable part of me that prevents me from enjoying most rock
music. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Rent bears some relationship to Puccini’s La
Bohème, familiar territory that I hoped would let me enjoy
Larson’s work. Starving artists in a cold attic in Manhattan is just like the
opening events in La Bohème. Larson’s people are far more colourful than
anything Puccini included but we accept the modern premise. We can follow Mimi (a spitfire Andrea
Macasaet) going into Roger’s (Kolton Stewart) apartment, her candle being blown
out and she and Roger falling in love. Well, Larson’s Mimi drops her stash of
dope and Roger tries to steal it, but let’s not get worked up about details.
Director Thom Allison tells us what type of people we
have in Rent and I quote him. “The characters in this show are artists, exotic
dancers, independent filmmakers, rock singers, anarchist professors, drug
addicts, gay people, people of colour, the unhoused, drag queens.” And he adds
that several of the characters have HIV/AIDS. That is a frightful array of
people who, according to Allison, “were not welcomed into polite society.” I
think some of them were treated almost like lepers.
The cast list names twenty performers including
three swings and they made it seem like many times more. But who was what
according to Allison’s list, with some exceptions, is beyond me. We move a long way from Puccini but we
maintain our composure as we listen to some, well, a lot of ensemble singing.
The problem is we cannot make out the lyrics. Some sing at the top of their
lungs and we wonder what if any voice they will have left at the end of the
evening let alone the run. Maybe it’s the heavy-duty mikes that make them sound
louder than they really are, but the
nagging thought remains.
The real issue is not the fate of the voices but the fact that we do not understand what in the world they are saying/singing or where the plot is exactly going. Yes, some points are clear and the end is like the closing scene of La Bohème but that is not enough.
I realize that the performers and artistic crew
deserve attention and credit but my overall reaction makes it clear that they
would not want to hear from me. Fair enough.
I may have been the only one in the theatre that did
not understand everything that was said, sung or hinted and did not react with
excitement. The audience knew every word and every nuance of what was happening
and they responded with utter elation before it even happened. The Stratford Festival
found all the aficionados of Rent and did not need to be concerned about
an ignoramus with inbred defects like moi.
__________________________
Rent by Jonathan Larson opened on June
2 and continues until October 28, 2023, at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario www.stratfordfestival.ca
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Clture of The Greek Press. This review appears in the newspaper
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