Jennifer Weber’s production of “Rent” at New Hope’s Bucks County Playhouse works on so many levels, touches on so many themes, sheds light on so many facets and does all with such clarity and humanity, it is more than another rendition of a Pantheon musical. It’s a rejuvenation.
Never has “Rent” looked so good or been so exciting.
Or been so genuinely moving. Weber and her unanimously outstanding cast are a living, breathing 30th anniversary gift to a show that needed the rethinking, pulsating drive and unending heart they give it. I kept thinking if Weber’s was the “Rent” that opened on Broadway in 1996, it would have been a bigger hit than the original production and be celebrating a 30th consecutive year of uninterrupted performance.
It’s that good.
Except “good” would be an understatement. Weber’s “Rent” is one of discovery. It improves on the original by making Jonathan Larson’s characters more immediate and his songs more meaningful. Weber skillfully enlivens a work I thought never reached its potential. The 1996 “Rent,” its tours and the dozen or so other productions I’ve seen put concept over people. One could appreciate all Larson packed into “Rent,” but it retained the feeling of a spectacle. Little seemed pointed or highlighted. Full disclosure: I’ve never been a strong fan of “Rent.” I recognized its achievement, but I found productions muddy, impersonal and hard to follow.
I’ll say it straight out. Of all the groundbreaking musicals of the last 30 years, “Rent” was the one I liked least, the one that never appealed to me on a visceral or emotional level. It always seemed more intent on making a statement than bringing forth the romance, wit and deeper intelligence of the piece.
Jennifer Weber and company changed that. They not only give “Rent” a gift. They give Jonathan Larson a gift by bringing the show he labored on for so long, only to die of an aneurysm before he could enjoy its roaring success, to full, textured, vibrant life. This is a “Rent” that lets you see the hardship of the struggling and marginal but makes more of their camaraderie and accentuates relationships in a more focused, accessible way.
Weber’s approach makes “Rent” seem at once more monumental and more intimate.
In an even greater juxtaposition, it rekindles the ’90s and the bleakest, most benighted period of AIDS while commenting as cogently on current times. In Weber’s production, the past informs the present, and all seems immediate. Artists still congregate and often refurbish areas that give them a lot of space for little money or shelter until they have their hit, their glory, one-time or not, or hear ker-ching because someone with clout appreciates and champions them. They continue to mingle with others who scrape by, some contending with addiction, some who prefer “la vie bohème” to the conventional.
Even before Weber opened my eyes to all “Rent” can be, I admired all Larson knew about people living on the edge, people I call the marginals, and being on the scuffle until they found their break or succumbed to it never happening.
That’s only a segment of what Weber, her cast and her designers show us. They nail the hardscrabble existence of “Rent’s” characters and the various levels of ambition, discipline and ability to achieve their dreams. They also give a greater sense of community and care for one another. Characters that were interchangeable or indistinct in other productions emerge as individuals with their place in the story at BCP.
That ability to create the entire sense of a neighborhood and existence, the Alphabet City of Jonathan Larson’s time, while taking the time to give characters dimension and assert themselves as unique beings takes Weber’s production to one of theater’s highest planes.
Book scenes become clearer and more poignant. Duets that accentuate the romance or enmity between lovers, partners or persons of the moment have an intensity that was mystifyingly absent in other productions of “Rent.” Weber remarkably knows when to let “Rent” breathe and be personal and when to make it soar. Among sequences that stand out in her production is one where something different is going on in six sections of the stage, yet instead of a mishmash that doesn’t accentuate anything or tell you where to look, you take in the full stage and its various activities while being able to zone in on individual groups and vignettes.
Weber employs a lot to bring structure to “Rent” while making it seem freewheeling. All scripts of “Rent” have Mark, a video photographer with the makings of a journalist or documentarian, narrating different segments and telling what he’s capturing on film.
Weber uses this as a handy framework that gives more concrete shape to her production. Like Mark, you begin to see the link between scenes and the bigger story that comes from them.
Weber also emphasizes “Rent’s” action taking place within the span of a year. Naturally, that happens in every production, but none I’ve seen makes it clear what those 525,600 minutes comprise.
Mark’s commentary and the constant reminder of one Christmas heading toward the next Christmas ar e subtle and overt at the same time. They do a quiet but thorough job of giving “Rent” more to be about.
It’s a joy to see these transparent but potent devices at work. It’s also a joy to see how the love between Angel and Tom Collins develops, how the contradictory postures of Ben Coffin affect matters, how the romance between Mimi and Roger keeps going awry while remaining real, and how Mark, Maureen and Joanne are the survivors who can, even more than Ben, stay in Alphabet City’s milieu or go on to greener pastures they won’t have trouble finding.
See how complete this production is. And I haven’t even mentioned Weber’s smart use of space or her doubling as “Rent’s” choreographer, whose dances can be explosive or expressive but always capture the idea and rhythm of the moment.
Alphabet City is a busy place with a lot of people on the constant hustle. Weber’s dances and use of stage movement embody that.
Let’s make it clear. This Bucks County Playhouse production of “Rent” can easily be the Broadway revival that would put a capstone on the show’s 30th anniversary and be one more tribute to Jonathan Larson’s brief 36-year life and its lasting achievement.
From its leads to the actors who have a new guise per scene, Weber’s ensemble enhances the personal intimacy and pulsing energy that denote this production.
Sam Primack embraces the trust Weber gives him to let Mark be the guide to the denizens, locations and events in Alphabet City in the year depicted. Primack serves well as the documentarian pointing out what he’s filming and why while setting Mark aside as the person who can pursue his ambitions while being one of the gang, one who has to make a critical decision about his professional standing and future. Primack shows you Mark’s dilemma.
Austin Turner, as Roger, who wants to write one beautiful song before AIDS ends his life, shows a person who has been in rehab and one who strives but can’t overcome his angst and trauma enough to concentrate on what’s important to him. He is also genuine on all fronts, positive and negative, as Roger copes with his affection for but wariness about Mimi.
Tiernan Tunicliffe exudes both the narcissism and trendy cleverness of Maureen. Veronica Otto impresses with how steady and relatively in control she keeps Joanne, the character who can fit in la vie bohème or on a Hamptons yacht with equal aplomb.
David Louis Merino is a glorious Angel who conveys every aspect of the character who lives life on his own terms, who spreads his enormous compassion and sense of humanity to anyone he meets, and who has to cope with an unhappy end. Merino even makes it fun that Angel kills a dog to stake everyone to a festive Christmas and New Year’s.
Owen Scales makes Tom Collins the perfect partner for Angel, one who keeps his partner’s goodness going once Angel can’t. Kevin Trinio Perdido deftly negotiates the two, mostly false or expedient, sides of Ben.
Alysia Velez is a Mimi of the operatic proportion Weber weaves into this “Rent,” which is, after all, suggested by Puccini’s “La Bohème” (with Roger compulsively strumming “Musetta’s Waltz” on his Fender guitar as he strives to write his one hit). Velez is wily in the opening scenes in which Mimi finds ways to stay with Roger and beautifully fragile in later scenes when Mimi’s existence is at stake.
Jack Hopewell stands out as several characters. Dre Hinds, Aubrey Jones and JP Qualters make their respective solos memorable. Sunayna Smith and Lauren Soto find the right comic touches as leavers of phone messages while becoming the faces of Alphabet City in other scenes. Michael Marrero is another whose characters and acting in general give a tone to Alphabet City.
Tom Rogers’ set is a gem, the loft Roger, Mark and others share looking so authentic as a Lower East Side loft while all elements of the apartment versatilely move efficiently to create and make room for other settings. Nicole V. Moody’s costumes are excellent and give distinction to all the characters while staying firmly in ’90s mode. Yael Lubetsky’s lighting is as exciting and vibrant as Weber’s production. Its use of color, shading and mood helps this “Rent” establish and maintain its texture.
A shout-out to dramaturg Lynn Thomson, whom I haven’t seen since our days at Temple University, but whom I’ve always been proud to know, especially considering her work on “Rent.”
“Rent” runs through Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $44 to $79 and can be obtained by visiting www.bcptheater.org or calling 215-862-2121.
