A show like RENT, which relies heavily on acting and vocal strength of a few key characters, can be a major hit or miss. But, Cardinal Theatrical’s presentation of Jonathan Larson’s rock opera was nothing if not a smash hit. I went to the production thinking it would be a mediocre community theatre-type performance, but once the actors stormed the stage with a powerful opening number, I was gripped for the whole musical. The entire cast’s vocal ability was some of the best staged singing I’ve heard in a long while, including the Broadway touring companies I’ve seen perform. The singing quality was matched by acting and the two aspects of musical theatre paired with each other perfectly. Stand-out performances can be credited to Harley Wood in the part of Roger and Kinaundrae Lee as Angel. Both Wood and Lee stayed true to the original characters, but added a deep, intense level of emotion that I’ve never seen in any other production of RENT. In addition, Wood along with Jamecia Bennett, who played Joanne, offered up the most powerful vocals by reaching and holding notes with ease and specific intention to the roles they portrayed. This previous statement is not to discredit with rest of the cast, especially the talented ensemble members that impressively supported the character parts. A true moment of perfect cast unity was during Angel’s funeral scene which starts off with a bass solo and builds to robust ensemble backing the soloist. An ensemble member from our very own University of Minnesota theatre arts department, Maisie Twesme, sang a beautiful run echoing the dark emotions of the soloist with a perfect harmony. The cast conveyed the scene wonderfully by expressing true sadness at the loss of a friend, but yet pure love that they all felt for their friend. Although the dancing was minimal, the choreography was executed flawlessly. For instance, Maria Isa’s dancing in her rendition of “Out Tonight” would fill any stripper with jealousy. Finally, all the actors really understood the arch of their character and depicted them in such a way that the audience wanted to go along for the ride. All in all, RENT was an extremely well done production that contained amazing singing, dancing and acting by a cast of all Minnesota performers.
The design elements of the show did not disappoint either. The set was composed of steel scaffolding at various levels making the space adaptable to any setting the play requires and also represented the poor conditions of the characters. This set design is also true to the original design in the off-Broadway and Broadway productions. I think it is important to keep the set recognizable to the first production because a paying audience will go to the show expecting that set design and may be disappointed otherwise. The lighting design was also very simplistic, but not as successful as the set design. Since the action of the musical occurs in many places at one time, the show relied on spotlights to draw the audience’s attention from one character to another. While the technique was effective for grabbing the audience’s interest, it left the light visually unappealing and repetitive. The sound, in this case being the musically accompaniment to the songs, was excellent. The musicians were masters of their craft and played the songs beautifully. I do not think a note was missed or misplayed. My only criticism is that the accompaniment was a little too loud and sometimes overshadowed or covered the voices of the performers. While very little media was used in the finale song and was filmed with a low quality camera, it captured intimate moments between cast members and matched the mood of the show. The media recapped the lives of the characters and helped to bring a sentimental end to the musical by re-emphasizing the unity of the cast and characters.
RENT was performed at The Lab in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis from February 3 to 21, 2010. Tickets are highly priced at $46.50, fortunately I could attend a rush performance for the low price of twenty dollars.
Recommendation: See it!
