The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical is now at Cain Park, and under the direction of Nathan Henry it’s a substantial success, with only a couple glitches marring its gleaming surface.
As usual, it takes place on a set dominated by a two-level structure of pipes, cross-braces and narrow steps reminiscent of low-rent fire escapes attached to buildings in the dregs of Manhattan’s East Village circa the 1990s. This is where Mark, a wannabe filmmaker and Roger, a discouraged songwriter diagnosed with AIDS live in a seedy flat surrounded by equally poor but aspiring young folks along with a collection of drug addicts, drag queens (cover your delicate eyes, Ron DeSantis), and others of various persuasions. Larson pulled many of the play’s elements from Puccini’s opera La Bohème, with the plague of tuberculosis replaced by HIV/AIDS.
With more than 45 songs, sung voicemails and other interstitial tunes, this is a heavy lift for the director, choreographer Kenya Woods, and band conductor/keyboardist Bradley Wyner. And most of those challenges are met thanks their combined talents and a 17-person cast that features several stand-out performances.
Carrying the roles of those two central dudes are Benson Anderson as Mark and Shane Lonergan as Roger, each of whom sing well as their characters juggle their urgent need for overdue rent money along with their artistic goals and their romantic entanglements. Mark’s girlfriend Maureen just dropped him to take up with a girl (cover your fragile ears, Ron DeSantis), while Roger just met fellow hovel-resident Mimi and he finds a spark there.
As Mimi, Alexa Lopez has plenty of sinuous moves in her miniskirt plus the sultry voice to go with them in “Out Tonight.” And Zoê Lewis-McLean brings Maureen to life through her solo performance of “Over the Moon, a surreal spin on the nursery rhyme “Hey-Diddle-Diddle.” Later, Maureen and her gal-pal Joanne (an excellent Kechanté) contribute one of the show’s near-showstopping moments in their duet “Take Me or Leave Me.”
Of course, the most evocative duo in Rent is formed between gay man Tom Collins and Angel, a street drummer and parttime drag queen who flutters his way into Tom’s heart. Jason Eno absolutely owns the role of Tom in his tender song “I’ll Cover You,” both in the initial, hopeful version and in his latter, shattering version following a tragic event.
Tobias Yeung carves out a special space for his character Angel, appearing in Santa drag and other inventive feminine duds (cover your entire head, Ron DeSantis), doing the splits, and otherwise providing the production a force-of-nature level of energy. Unfortunately, either his mic wasn’t functioning or he wasn’t using it properly, but many of his lines and lyrics were inaudible. (It wasn’t me. I can hear a mosquito fart in Ashtabula.) In addition, other mics in the company displayed a wide range of clarity.
Another small irritant was having too many songs staged on the second level of the pipe structure, which limits the performers’ ability to move and winds up blocking their faces as they stand behind this pipe or that cross-brace. Why do that, when the perfectly serviceable stage is available just a few feet below?
Those small wrinkles aside, this Rent is professional and spot-on throughout. And that is proven in the signature group song, “Seasons of Love,” which begins Act Two with a reprise later. It is topped off in stellar fashion with Dayshawnda Ash’s brilliant solo turn that pushes a gorgeous song into the stratosphere.
Rent is now an honored, modern classic in the Broadway canon. And it’s a pleasure when it is revisited with the power, grace and attention to detail that director Henry and his troupe bring to the task.
Rent
Through June 25 at Cain Park. 14591 Superior Road between Taylor Road and Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, www.cainpark.com.
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This article appears in May 31 – Jun 13, 2023.
