Everything is Rent
Final performance of Rent at Bangalow Theatre Company
Does this rock and roll musical still hold up in 2021?
I recently saw our local community's rendition of the musical, Rent, the show of my late nineties obsession and well into the noughties. If you didn't know, Rent is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera, La Bohème.
For fear of sounding like a theater snob, I went in a wee bit worried that the venue and small-town cast would be unable to meet my high expectations and that the musical might feel a bit dated in 2021, over twenty-five years after it's off-Broadway debut.
I can pleasantly report that neither of these were the case. Not only was the cast and live band on point, but the set design was as I remembered it, the choreography played true to its roots, AND the story resonated as powerfully to me now as it did when I first saw it.
Flashback...
To 1998 or so when I first saw the show performed by its original cast (lucky me!). Unless you knew people in all the right places and had coin to spare, seats at that time were impossible to snag. This led to my friends and I hauling sleeping bags to Manhattan's 41st Street to camp out overnight for the release of the weekly lottery.
Rent was the first show, at least in my memory, that released a set number of tickets (40?) each week for the front two rows of seats for that night's performance. Issued on a first-come-first-served basis, this was the only option for us broke and desperate theater-goers longing for the hottest ticket in town.
Fortunately, we got there early enough to make it within the first ten positions of the queue. Shortly later, the Autumnal chill had us snuggling up to the other campers on the cold cement sidewalk trampled over by NYC's relentless parade of tourists. I'm pretty sure one of us remained on street watch while the others did their best to sleep as city crime rates were still tapering off at that time.
After our morning pushcart bagels, street coffee, and a quick change of clothes at my friends' nearby apartment, we greedily scooped up the spoils of our late night efforts and were off to see the show everybody was talking about.
And did it deliver!
Rent seamlessly etched itself into the top spot of my favorite Broadway shows and drew me back to see it two times after that. It was the first musical I saw that showcased such a multicultural cast including realistic depictions of both gay and lesbian relationships.
On top of that, Rent put HIV/AIDS, the pandemic of that time and, moreover, the decade before it, into Broadway’s spotlight challenging the mainstream's fears of what was an uncomfortable topic and forcing us to accept that there were real people who suffered from and were still battling the disease.
For those with a weak spot for a tragic love story, the show tugged on our emotions and reminded us that addiction is also a disease.
Final thoughts
Going into this recent performance, I worried that Rent couldn't hold up in 2021. With such advancements in HIV/AIDS treatments, I wondered if the story would resonate with today’s generation as it did with mine some decades ago.
I left as satisfied with the show as I did in the nineties. Whether because of the memories it drew forth, the emotional demands of its incredible score, the strong cast and director who delivered on the goods, or the nostalgia I felt reminiscing over a version of New York City I got to enjoy that no longer exists, I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety. And based on the standing ovation from the crowd, it was easy to see I wasn’t alone.
I'd like to believe that Jonathan Larson, the show's composer and playwright who died the morning of Rent's off-Broadway opening, is looking proudly down at his accomplishment with full visibility into the impact this beautiful work has had on us both then and now, from New York City to Australia.
And as the songs of Rent continue playing in my head, this recent experience has me thinking, maybe someday I could summon some of my old high school band and songwriting experience to produce a musical of my own. Dare to dream.
Share your thoughts
Would love to hear what you think about Rent and the impact it’s had on you. Add a comment below or click/tap Contact to send me a message through the form on my website.