Mark Richard Ford's last performance in RENT

Okay, I had a REALLY amazing weekend in the city, which I do not feel like going through at the moment, but I did have to talk about this.

I love Mark Richard Ford so much. He played Collins the first time I ever saw RENT and his voice was one of the reasons I fell I fell in love with the show. It is incredibly powerful and emotional and is simply one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard in my life.

I saw RENT in DC with a bunch of friends on Friday (the first time I had not seen Mark as Collins, which was quite depressing anyway) and it was okay. But, on Sunday morning I decided even though it was only two days later, I needed to see it again for Mark's last show. So, we bought four discounted tix, which ended up being 6th row center, for that night.

Mark got a TON of applause throughout the whole show, which I was quite happy about. The show itself wasabsolutely the best I had ever seen anyway. In particular I was very happy with three people: Cary Shields was AMAZING as Roger. He is now my favorite that I have ever seen. Awesome voice, great actor, and wow...hot. I had seen Matt Caplan a few times before, but he was FAR better on Sunday than I had ever seen him. Justin Johnston was also great as Angel...just as good as Jai Rodriguez, which is saying a lot coming from me :) He was very funny and really made it his own. Overall, the cast just somehow made the show more natural than I had ever seen it before. For the first time it felst like I was watching real life, which of course also made it the most emotional performance of RENT I have ever seen.

Now...the Mark stuff. He started to seem emotional during "Seasons of Love". Cary even grabbed his arm for a minute, comforting him. Then, "I'll Cover You". He is always ridiculously wonderful in that song, and I have always seen him cry, but it was nothing like that. Hearing Mark sing that song for the last time was one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced in a theater. I can't even express how emotional and real that moment was. And that voice...he is a force of nature. "Goodbye Love" was also very raw. The lyrics were so fitting to the mood you could tell everyone was in. Then, during the finale, when the whole cast sings together again, I could literally see tears dripping off his face. I can't even imagine how hard that must have been to be performing RENT that one last time after five years. He got a ton of applause and Frenchie Davis made a little announcement about him leaving after the show, which was nice.

The show was so powerful I was shaking as I left, but not too much for pictures :) The four of us took pix with Cary, Matt, Karmine, Justin, and then finally I got to talk to Mark for a minute and tell him how much I love him.

*sigh* What and incredible talent. RENT will really not be the same without him!

Alix

Updated On: 3/22/05 at 10:57 PM

I too thought he was amazing. His I'll cover you reprise made me cry so much . Sad to see him leave.

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Alix, who is your icon?

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I've seen that name. What has he done?

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Fosseboi, Rufus is a fabulous Canadian singer. He's not an actor, although he's been in a couple of films.

Destan is the new Collins. I'm including my review below, even though I cross-posted it everywhere. And um, PM me about the Reprise, if you want. For PM reasons.

Full cast except

Jay Wilkison - Gordon

The show was sold out, and lotto was huge. Luckily the lotto gods were nice, and my friend and I both got called.

I've been to quite a few "lasts", be it closings or an actor's last, and have never seen anything quite like what happened at the Neder this evening. It was a completely magical experience I'm very glad to have been a part of.

Matt Caplan is back to his not so subtle brilliance as Mark Cohen. He is so engaged every moment that he's on stage, whether it be through his very quirky T:M or his completely focused What You Own. Yeah, he's been doing the role seemingly forever, and he does, in a sense "own" it, but that only adds to the comfort he feels on stage, and gives him the security to stretech his characterization to make new and better choices. Matt's acting and singing, added to his instinctive knowledge of what is truly funny about this young man he portrays make him interesting and compelling. He did some pretty wacky stuff in T:M and LVB, including attempting to flip through an imaginary magazine during "mucho masturbation", but never crossed the line of breaking character, and was really the epitome of someone "starving for attention". What I like about Matt is that he has great chemistry with Kelly, and it's easy to buy that they'd have been a couple, and it's easy to see why Matt's Mark would be the center of the little community of friends.

After taking a break this afternoon, Cary was back tonight, and absolutely on fire. I'm sure it was because it was Mark's last show, but Cary's emotions seemed to be RIGHT on the edge of his performance. His "Glory" was explosive, with tons of riffing and thought and patience taken in between each phrase. And his energy just seemed to skyrocket from there. For someone who really shines every second he's on stage, he was able to let Mark have much more spotlight than he normally does, without interrupting the flow of the performance. "What You Own" was absolutely perfect; by that point in the show, buth Cary and Matt have done such a thorough job with their characterization that the plotless song seems to create a plot and movement of its own. "Your Eyes" was phenomenal enough to receive enthusiastic applause from much of the audience. Cary's one of those actors who gives a consistently fabulous performance that it would be hard to get tired of, because it's always fresh, but tonight, was especially edgy.

Karmine gave a rather good performance. Her LMC was very flirty. What surprised me though, was how quiet and reflective she was tonight. Through AD and WY both, she sang almost quietly and hauntingly, as if Mimi were as reflective as the cast seemed to be tonight. Karmine was crying very hard in ICYR, and I think that threw her through GL. She's just so good an actor, however, that you can follow her facial expressions and get exactly what she's trying to do.

Justin's Angel was wonderful, as always. He seemd to be enjoying himself with Mark in ICY and WSB. The new HNY wig is the biggest thing I've ever seen. And Contact, as always, makes me believe that Justin's voice is a gift from God. He's so sassy.

Kelly and Merle were both off the hook tonight. Kelly's OTM got a lot of reaction, and they both cranked out TMOLM without making it scream-y or screechy. Merle, especially, who I've never seen "out of control" stretched both vocally and physically, reacting to both Matt and Kelly with thought and intelligence. Absolutely commanding. Kelly's eulogy started everyone's tears on stage, as she looked directly at MRF when she said "it was us, baby, who were the lucky ones", and then took a deep breath, and smiled through a veil of tears. And then, for the last time, Mark took center stage.

By this time, two solid lines of tears were running down Mark's face, and he took a good five seconds to breathe and collect himself before singing. But, oh, when he did. ICYR was soaring and lovely and heartbreaking, ranging from the lowest to the highest notes in his register, and with more force than I've ever seen come from him. It seemed that everything he wanted to say to the audience, and to his fellow cast members, he said through the words of that song. From the very moment he walked on stage tonight, Mark was every inch the star he's always been, and more. The audience cheered for his opening lines, and again, racously, for his hearty Santa Fe and touching ICY. And when Mark riffed at the end of Reprise, his baritone howl without harness or weakness, it seemed that nothing could ever be a more fitting ending for him, then to be surrounded on stage by friends who have been there for him for five years, on tour and on Broadway, and to a final standing ovation that should have blown the ceiling off.

The rest of the cast was infallible, as well. Jay's Gordon is pretty damn spectacular, and I like his "Man" as well, because he doesn't try to copy anyone's performance, but still manages to be scary. They were all pretty emotional, with Mayumi starting the tears during Will I?. The highlight ensemble was Enrico forgetting the "five miso soups" order, and subsequently laughing off the whole bit, much to the delight of Cary and Matt, who, in character, teased him mercilessly.

Frenchie gave a nice curtain speech about how loved Mark is, and how missed he would be. Pretty much the whole cast stopped for everyone at the stage door, and Mark seemed appreciative of everyone there to support him.

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thanks