Rent Review 4/3

[kyguy78]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 11:37am

My wife loved the movie and made it known that Rent had to be on our agenda for the week. We went to last Monday night's performance and sat in the front row of the Mezz. I saw the show in 2000 in NYC and was floored by the cast then. I even saw a very solid touring performance a couple of years ago. My wife loved the show, but I was a little less impressed.

Matt's take on Mark wasn't bad. At times I really liked his performance, but there were other times I thought it seemed as though he was just going through the motions. I really liked his singing in "Rent" and "What You Own," but I thought he was a little less than up to snuff in "Tango Maureen" and "La Vie Boheme" (which happens to be my favorite song from the show).

I thought Tim stole the show with his Roger. He has a much more angsty and tortured Roger than I've seen before. His voice was absoultely amazing on "One Song Glory" and his voice really mixed well with all of the cast on the duets, ensemble pieces, etc.

Justin had great energy as Angel and probably was the most solid overall performance of the night. He's a very charismatic guy and he really played Angel to the hilt.

Destan's Collins was pretty good as well. He plays it in a different way than I've seen the previous two times, but, to me, it seems a little more poignant. His voice is very controlled and when he really decides to blare out singing, it almost overwhelms you.

Antonique as Mimi was good as well. Her singing voice is really good and I thought her and Tim had a very good chemistry.

D'Monroe as Benny was just, well, flat. His singing voice was okay and his acting was passable, but he did seem as though he were enjoying himself.

Haven Burton as Maureen was one of the best performances I thought. She had an energy about her on stage and she totally played Maureen over the top, which I believe is the way she should be portrayed. She has a very good singing voice and is very easy on the eyes as well. And just something about the blonde hair-blue eyes makes her really stand out when she's on stage.

All of the cast can sing, that's obvious, but I'm not sure how well they can act. The songs and everything sounded great, especially "Seasons of Love" (as always), but it just seemed that the parts didn't add up to a strong whole. I thought there were parts of the show that moved along really well and were very entertaining, but there were other times where it seemd as though the show was just kind of stumbling along. A solid performance, but I'd probably rate it fourth out of the four shows we saw last week.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 12:18pm

I agree with what you said in your last paragraph there. Last time I saw RENT I thought the same thing and blame it on much of the current cast not keeping it fresh. Hopefully they'll recast Mark soon as he's so vital.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 12:33pm

Thanks for the review kyguy. I have seen the show but my best friend, who is going to NYC with me in June, has not. So I am kind of keeping tabs on the show to see what people are saying about the current cast.

[lesmisforever]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 3:30pm

I am going to see RENT in May... hopefully the cast will get more enthusiastic by then

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 3:41pm

I'm glad people love Haven. I thought she was amazing when I saw her as Maureen, and she's the sweetest person ever.

[Sparklesss]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 3:49pm

That's the one thing i always questioned about RENT too....it seemed that they were casting mainly on voices (i guess since they sing so much of it) and less on acting...

[florida theatre kid]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 4:19pm

Haven Burton is AMAZING. And what a nice girl...

[downtowndiva84]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 4:24pm

I liked Haven a lot as well. :)

Eh, I think Caplan is good. I know a lot of people disagree. But he brings something different to the role of Mark anyway, which I always appreciate.

I wish I could see what people see in Tim Howar. People seem to love him. I didn't.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 5:23pm

I was at the same show and agree about Haven. She's an excellent Maureen, one of the best, vocally, that I've seen. Unlike a lot who have played Maureen over the years, she actually SINGS the role and doesn't shout!

Matt is Matt. I happen to think he's excellent and I'll be sorry when he's gone but happy for him that he's getting to do another show. My prediction is that once he's gone, people are going to miss him.

I'm not sure how I feel about Tim. He's certainly different than any other Roger I've seen. Vocally, he's interesting but I just wish he'd stop making those crazy faces throughout the show. He looks like he's ready to burst into tears through half the show!

The performance that night was a rough one. For those who haven't seen the show very often, they probably wouldn't notice but having seen it as much as I have, I did!

[downtowndiva84]

Posted: 4/11/06 at 5:34pm

I agree about Tim's crazy faces. I saw it from the front row so they were particularly distracting.

And I don't know about him vocally...I REALLY felt like he was yelling a lot of the time. Again, maybe that's because I was sitting right next to one of the speakers but still. His Roger had a lot of anger, but where was the heart?