Rent - current cast

[LANYC]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 6:06pm

Hey anyone can tell a die hard fan how the current cast of Rent is? I might see it if i hear good things about them. Was a big renthead back in the day.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 6:24pm

I saw the current cast about a week ago. I can't vouch for the full-time Mimi since I saw an (amazing) understudy, but the show was great. The entire cast was full of energy and very talented. I'd highly suggest catching a performance if you have a chance.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 6:32pm

http://www.compulsivebowlers.org/boards/viewforum.php?f=2

[Shiksa Goddess2]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 7:56pm

I saw it in Decemeber and they were amazing. The best Rent cast I've ever seen (though I've only seen it three times). I also saw the understudy for Mimi, and she was amazing too.

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 8:08pm

i saw RENT this past saturday AMAZING! i just dont like the new Maureen or Joanne. But other than that AMAZING!

[wheredidhegogeorge2]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 3:52am

Im gonna have to say I didnt really care for tim howars performance. He just seemed to yell a lot of the show. His ballads were beautiful but all else was just painful almost. However Destan Owens, is of another world. So much talent.

[FabalaYero85]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 5:57am

hmm what to say about the current cast...

Chris Hanke tends to have moments where he channels Matt Caplan during the Tango Maureen and La Vie Boheme.

Tim Howar. he has his moments. the last time I saw the show his performance was stellar. but not one of my favorite Rogers.

Jamie is great Mimi. wonderful chemistry with Howar.

Nicolette Hart is the current Maureen having just started this past weekend. she's pretty good.

everyone else. eh theys ok. D'Monroe is always fabulous, Justin's Angel is always a hoot. didn't really like the new Collins or Joanne.

they are great, but not amazing and they still put on an energetic and wonderful performance.

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 8:46am

actually i thought Tim Howar is doing an amazing job now. during the beginning of his run he screamed a lot but now hes much better .. he can contain himself. i think he makes a great Roger only because thats how Roger is suppose to be, upset,angry, depressed. i love his portrayal of Roger. i really didnt like Nicolette, she rushed through all her parts and her voice doesnt seem to fit the "high-pitched, wacky" maureen. I love Jamie she is the BEST Mimi i feel in my own opinion. she has a slamming body, sings amazingly, and has great chemistry with all the actors. and Christopher i love hes amazing, he makes the best faces! But i agree with Fabalayero85 the new Joanne is just not that great.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 12:17pm

Saw it Monday December 18th and it was hands doen the worst performance of a Broadway show I have ever seen.
Howar was all over the place. At times he was speaking(yelling is more like it) to the wrong character. Vocally he seems to have either been just getting over a cold, damged his voice, or just a bad singer. His stifling his natural British accent gave any of his spoken lines an odd cadence which didn't help his characterization Hanke seemed to be trying something different in each scene and then abandoning it in the next. There seemed to be a certain level of dis-interest from him which maybe was his way of "Detach(ing) form being alive" . Regardless it came across as ambivalence.
I saw the Marueen cover and thought she was great, although She seems like she is a bit of a square peg in this show. She seems better suited for contmporary sweet ingenue stuff instead of Brassy character stuff like maureen. That being said she did a very good job Joanne was OK, although She didn't seem to me like a HArvard educated lawyer.
Collins seemed about ten years older than The other collins's i ahve seen. HE riffed on I'll cover you to sing a high note and it only caused me to lose the emotion of the song-not a great choice.

I have seen the show 4 times and know it quite well. I haven't been back in a few years and was actually really excited since all the other times I saw it the creative team and the casting people were always filling it with new (but Talented) blood making it always fresh. Even my sister in law who loves rent but doesn't know much about Musical theater thought it was horrendous.
ANgel hands-down stole the show
Mimi was good. Angel was
The dancing wa a mess and the singing was marginal

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 12:22pm

ok neverandy... who would you like to see perform the roles then?

Posted: 1/16/07 at 12:24pm

However Destan Owens, is of another world. So much talent.

Besides the fact that Destan has been gone for months, I have to admit that I'd never think I'd see "so much talent" used as a phrase to describe Destan Owens. Why exactly do you think he was wonderful?

There seems to be very little ground with regards to Tim Howar - I personally wasn't completely sold on him the first time I saw him but have since accepted that even though I'm not a fan of some of his acting choices, I can put that aside and enjoy his and enjoy his amazing voice. I can't really fathom that anyone would feel he's a bad singer - raspy and raw, definitely, but I think those qualities embody the character so well (provided they aren't taken to an extreme). But to each his own.

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 12:30pm

^^^ i thought his voice was really good too. i saw him early in october and he did much better the past weekend when i saw him.

[jenna2]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 2:30pm

Neverandy -- Tim's not British. The only accent he would have been stifling is Canadian. lol.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 2:37pm

starring as Mark Cohen!

[Neverandy]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 9:39pm

Well if he isn't british he has the strangest way of speaking for a North american I have ever heard.
If I had to pick the best people for mark and roger I have seen...
Well then
Manley pope as Roger
gilles chiasson as Mark

[Maggie_May]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:02am

I just got back from tonights performance and hte only people holding that show together to me are Christopher Hanke, Nicolette Hart and Justin Johnson. It was the worst one I have ever been too. I really wish I could go back to three years ago when the cast was good.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:09am

Sad to hear that!

I've yet to see RENT on broadway, but I'm happy to hear that Nicolette is doing a good job. :o)

[Craww]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:21am

Well if he isn't british he has the strangest way of speaking for a North american I have ever heard.

I thought the same thing, when he spoke to me after the show. I found myself thinking "hah! he thinks he's British, how cute". He does have a legitimate excuse. A combination of time spent in England, and the influence of time spent with those possessing actual British accents.

I agree, though. His line delivery and some of his phrasing does have a strange cadence. I pretty much adored him, but I could always see why others don't.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:26am

Not to mention his wife is Ruthie Henshall.

[kyle.]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:38am

Nevermind! Sorry! Updated On: 1/17/07 at 01:38 AM

[Craww]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 5:44am

Not to mention his wife is Ruthie Henshall.

Indeed. That's what I was getting at, without...well, Googling to make sure I spelled her name right. Or otherwise putting forth just a bit too much effort reporting what I remembered of Tim Howar's life story.

On topic, I caught the show recently before the cast changes for Collins, Maureen, Joanne, and the all important Alexi Darling. I enjoyed everyone, but I don't have much perspective.

I think I like Christopher J. Hanke better in retrospect. Being a Mark-watching sort of person, it initially caught me a bit off guard to be more engrossed with Roger. Christopher was incredibly solid both nights I saw him, but definitely put more enthusiasm in the second time.
Updated On: 1/17/07 at 05:44 AM

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 7:56am

See i thought Nicolette was horrible. she has no enthusiasm. and her voice overall isnt that powerful.

Posted: 1/17/07 at 8:47am

Being a Mark-watching sort of person, it initially caught me a bit off guard to be more engrossed with Roger.

I think that's the way it's supposed to be. I wouldn't go so far to say that the performers aren't doing their jobs properly if the audience finds itself more engrossed with the character of Mark because people may have predisposed preferences to prefer one character to the other, but it makes a lot more sense to have Roger as the more attractive (not necessarily physically) character with Mark as more of an observer/commentator. The central romance and conflict revolves around Roger, after all.
Updated On: 1/17/07 at 08:47 AM

[javertim]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 10:35am

I cannot believe there are so many negative things being said about Tonya Dixon as Joanne. She is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the strongest Joannes I have ever seen ... And I have seen very many.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 11:00am

I am glad I am not the only one that had these feelings. I didn't go into it enough on my first post, but Justin was great. Thank God that in all my times seeing REnt I have never seen a bad Angel.
It could be possible that the show and the performers are terribly inconsistant, but I am not so sure. I wonder what the Stage Manager notes are like, and when the last time the Associate Director was in for a clean-up.