RENT Non-Equity Tour Review (Birmingham, AL)

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 12:12am

Hello All.

I went to see the matinee show today of the RENT tour. I was a little afraid considering it was non-equity and the past two non-equity shows I saw (Cats, 42nd Street) were less than under-whelming. But I figured RENT lent itself well to being "scaled-down." And for the most part I was right. The show held up well. I was excited to see that I could get student rush seats, so I sat front row middle. It was really cool to be so close to everything. Especially for a wanna-be actor, it was cool to see how everything worked. I could see the actors waiting to enter for their scene, or talking with the band, or talking to the tech guy before they entered.

So I get to my seat, and the excitement didn't really hit me until I saw the set and how close it was to me. I could see all the intricacies of it. The "tree" was a bit scaled down, but it still gave off the same effect. My only probelm with the student rush seats was the fact that I was surrounded by the people I didn't like - the "Rent-heads." Now I'm a fan of this show, but I don't feel the need to show everyone how much I love it. Sitting next to me were two siblings, about 8 or 9, one dressed as Mark, the other dressed as Mimi. Now, my first question to this young lady is, do you realize who Mimi is? And the second would be the same question to her mother. I don't think a stripper,druggy diying of Aids would be the best role model for a child, but to each his own. But I can't help but think that they don't fully understand the show. Anyways, sitting on the other side of me were a group of girls who were squealing and gushing about cute boys. Then they talked about Wicked and about how it was "The best musical - ever." This made me want to just haul out and slap them, but I resisited. (Of course this is sarcasm, for those of you who don't pick up on it). But the cool thing was that there were three understudies sitting behind me. The guy who u/s Mark and Roger was talking about how he was on last week as Mark and the guy playing Roger's pants split - I think I remember reading a review about that. I talked to them and they were very nice and open to questions. However, once the squealing teens and the siblings realized what was going on, it got insane. So, the girls ask her "Are you good?" "Can you sing for us" - to which the lady replied "That wouldn't be too profressional of me." And then the teenager replied, "Wait, you're not a professional?" Again, I wanted to slap somebody. And then the girl dressed as Mimi turns around and says, "What do Mimi's pants feel like to wear" - What?! - and the lady replies "tight." - ha.

As for the performances...I lost my playbill, so I don't know names, but here goes:

Mark - He was good. The guy playing him, who I remember as being named Harley, had a really unqiue look to him. He didn't look like the other Marks. He had dark hair, that was stylish and hip. I thought what he lacked vocally, he made up for acting wise. I thought he gave a strong performance. However, I think he, as well as some of the other cast members, gave some poor line deliveries. They made the words so softly spoken that it just came off as mumbling. Even from the first row, I couldn't understand some of the lines.

Roger - He was obviously - as some people pointed out - the weak link. I didn't mind the British-ness, though I'm not sure why they would cast a Brit in the role when there are plenty of capable Americans, but whatever. I just didn't care for his acting. It was all one note. And he didn't seem to be enjoying himself at all. Even when it was just him and Mark, who are best friends, he seemed cold and distance. He needs to lighten up a bit. He's given a lot to work off of from the other actors, even in "Light My Candle" he was stern and angry. His vocals were okay, but he did this weird rocker thing where his whole face was shaking for even the simpliest of songs/words. He seemed to be in a different play then everyone else. He had no chemistry or history with anyone.

Mimi - She was great. I really liked the way she looked. She was cute and innocent, but then when you realize who she is and what she does, its like "oh, not so innocent." She could sing beautifully. I've heard a lot of people refer to "Without You" as the boring song, or the throw away song, but she kept my attention the whole time. She was a great actress as well. I believed her death. It wasn't over done. Her "Out Tonight" was pretty good, it could have been a little better vocally, but when she sang the "spanish babies cry" part, I thought she sounded beautiful.

Joanne - I thought she gave a stellar performance. She has a great voice and great acting chops. Not much else to say, I thought she did a great job.

Angel - Angel was...okay. I hate the song "Today 4 U" anyways, but I really didn't like his version. He didn't have the stamina for the song. He ran out of breath half-way through, which means we coudln't really hear the lyrics at all. And his "Contact" was just "eh." Nothing great about it. Though, sitting up so close, I could see the tears streaming down his face during "Without You."

Collins - I don't know why, but I didn't really like him. He just seemed so out of place to me. I mean he did a great job, but I don't know, something about him just didn't make me drawn to his character. I thought he singing was good, but the faces he made kind of detattched me from the songs.

Benny - Okay. The part kind of sucks, but I thought he did a good job with it. I didn't get "Taye Diggs" as some people had said. I thought he did it justice.

Maureen - She was by far my favorite part of the show. She was nice on the eyes, and she could sing with some power. Her "Over the Moon" was hilarious. And to counter that, during "Seasons of Love - Part 2" she had tears in her eyes, but instead of crying, she was fighting to keep them back, which I thought was a much stronger acting choice than crying, considering Maureen is a very strong individual. Her voice was easy on the ears. She had a great belt.

The ensemble was great. I really liked the girl with the huge puffy hair. And the girl who played Mark's mom was fun to watch as well. It was kind of cool to see how some of the ensemble people had formed their own characters, like two guys always were hugging and talking to each other, as if their charcters had been friends, etc.

Overall, I'd recommend seeing it. If only they'd kick out the British dude. He's a rock singer, not a musical theater performer. I think they updated the look of the show. Most of the cast had pretty hip hairstyles. I didn't care for the British dude's mohawk. It looked like he closed his eyes and closed it himself.

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 12:18am

Well I am glad you liked it. Thanks for the review.

[Broadway Dancer]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 1:26am

Thanks for the review! I saw the tour last week, and I completely agree with you about Harley, Declan, Krystal, Chante, & Tracy.

[wackjack132]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 1:33am

Yea I just came from seeing the 8 o'clock show and pretty much agree with everything you said. Except for at my showing, I thought the Roger did a very good job. He was a little more stern during the 2nd act than was probably necessary, but other than that I thought he did a very good job.

And yes, Maureen was definetly the strongets link.
Updated On: 11/12/06 at 01:33 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:18am

You didn't think there was a lack of complexity to the character? How close were you sitting? Maybe it's because I was sitting so close but everything he did just came across as "stagey" and not honest. I just felt like he didn't dive deep enough into the character and the way he sang bothered me. He didn't even sing, he screamed most of the notes, which will ruin any chance he has at pursuing a real career in this.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:19am

Hey, I gotta question for ya - did you happen to notice if there was a Douglas Lyons in the cast? He was at the Ogunquit Playhouse this summer and I remember he was saying how he got into a non-Equity tour of RENT.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:22am

Maybe wackjack will know, but I lost my playbill from the theater to car, I don't know where it went. Sorry. Do you know what part he was suppose to play or planned to play?

[wackjack132]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:22am

Just checked the Playbill and sure enough he is the 2nd (I think) Understudy for Collins and Benny.

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:29am

Just to let you all know, no one saw Harley as Mark. It was his understudy. He is out sick, his voice is gone.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:30am

What's Harley's full name? I want to check out his website.

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:32am

Harley Jay

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:33am

"Just checked the Playbill and sure enough he is the 2nd (I think) Understudy for Collins and Benny."

OOh awesome!

I just rememebered he was in it... because he had to leave Cinderella early in the run.

I have a friend in Birimingham... I'll ask if she's seen it yet.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 2:35am

Any idea where his cabret show was in Birmingham? Hm.

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 8:17am

Angel was my theatre counselor at US Performing Arts Camp (best thing ever) It’s a shame that he didn’t do too well…

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 11/12/06 at 12:08pm

Rentboy, thanks for the review. I'll be seeing the show soon and am anxious to see how it compares with the original cast on this leg. I know that the transition has been very difficult so it should be interesting. By the way, there have been many Marks over the years with dark hair, including Jed Resnick who was Mark on this tour until September. It's not unusual at all. :)

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 1:11pm

I went back last night and saw the last performance, and I go to see Harley Jay as Mark and the u/s for Mimi. I didn't really care for either of them. Harley seemed to throw all his lines away, which doesn't make sense considering Mark is the one that explains what's going on. It was really hard to hear what most of the cast was saying, and the show's already hard to follow as it is.

I've got a question. During "Contact" - exactly what are the people doing on stage right? The girl is sitting there w/ a phone in her lap and one goes on it, talking. What's that suppose to be? And the dancing on Stage Left during Contact is a bit....cheesy?

[Oh, and this time, the girls sitting next to me talked about Wicked, and the mother asked her daughter if she had read the book and the girl said, "Yes, it was perverted and disgusting, I didn't like it." Oh, man. If only the stage show had reflected the dark tones of the book. Oh well]

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 11/17/06 at 9:47am

I SAW THE TOUR in Birmingham this past weekend ALSO !!!!!

I'm not even going to give a full review because I really don't feel like it...but I went on Saturday night..they were ALL Great and believe it or not I liked that Roger had a British accent it gave it something different.

I agree with Mimi....DAMN..is all I can say. She was AWESOME.

I enjoyed Joanne also...and Collins seemed vocally tired but he made up for it in the I'll Cover You(Reprise).

I LOVED THIS SHOW.

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/17/06 at 12:39pm

Good review, but I've noticed something about RENT and how people react to the RENT fans--

"the other dressed as Mimi. Now, my first question to this young lady is, do you realize who Mimi is? And the second would be the same question to her mother. I don't think a stripper,druggy diying of Aids would be the best role model for a child"

I doubt that people who dress up to come to the theatre (regardless of show) are looking for fictional role models--they're simply looking to enhance their experience.

The more disturbing part is the assumption that someone who's addicted to drugs, strips and is dying as a "bad" person not to be emulated--there are other values in life that supercede occupation and cause of death.

I don't mean to attack you--I'm not, because you aren't the only person who's made a comment of that nature--it just kinda makes me sad.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/17/06 at 12:45pm

Of course she has good values also, but she's still a stripper who does drugs, right? Everyone has some redeeming qualities, but I just found it weird that this 8 year old would dress up as her. My whole comment was just that, I don't think the kids understood the show at all. I doubt they understood what sodomy was, or AZT, or any of those references.
Updated On: 11/17/06 at 12:45 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/17/06 at 12:50pm

Oh, I'm sure they likely didn't know what it was either, but that's not really the point. Why is being a stripper bad? Why is doing drugs bad?

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 7:25am

To RENTboy:

Even if she may or may not understand the show that doesn't mean she doesn't have a valid reason for doing it. Perhaps she enjoys the music, or loved watching the movie and thought it would be fun to dress up as her favorite character. A lot of people do that, just because you dress up doesn't mean that whoever you're dressing as IS your role model.

Updated On: 11/18/06 at 07:25 AM

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 10:28am

Role model or not, dressing as a character when you attend the theatre is inappropriate.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 10:52am

in my opinion, if the parents want the kids to see a show, and the children want to dress up like a character from it, there's only one solution:

Disney On Ice! haha.

not even Disney on Broadway shows should have kids dressing up! it's theatre, not a costume party!

[KQuill]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 10:56am

Yes, Doug Lyons is in the show, he is a swing. I don't know him but we go to the same school (not right now though obviously).

EDIT: i just noticed ur question already got answered Updated On: 11/18/06 at 10:56 AM

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 11:07am

In regards to you saying Roger is not a musical theatre singer...I should hope not. When they were originally casting the show ten years ago, they specifically asked for no musical theatre-esque singers. Now, I can't account for his acting, but he SHOULD be a rock singer. Do you guys remember the "Wanna be in RENT?" stint about 2 years ago? One of the guys that almost made it sang "One Song Glory" like it was a LES MIZ ballad...and people online frieken voted for him. It was terrible and completely missing the essence of the show.

Sorry, I've ranted too long.