In this age of irony, what’s a show like “Rent,” with all of its unabashed earnestness, to do? Four Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and 12 years on Broadway later, the show now exists in a world that’s rather removed from the unmistakable ’90s setting of the rock opera.
Today, the themes of the show are riper for parody than for the heartfelt reflection of a song like “Seasons of Love.” Instead, we have “Everyone has AIDS!” from “Team America: World Police” or “Avenue Q,” which is effectively “Rent” restaged with vulgar puppets. Irony is a cultural commodity, and “Rent” rarely pauses to stop taking itself seriously.
And yet, there’s no denying the timelessness of the exuberant energy the show displays in its best moments, which there are plenty of in the University Theatre production of the musical, now on stage through Oct. 3. Jonathan Larson’s labor of love is a natural fit for OU’s School of Musical Theatre, and the show gives both the program’s veterans (musical theater seniors Skyler Adams, Christopher Rice and Adrianna Hicks) and its rising stars (musical theater sophomores Damian Chambers and Jamard Richardson and junior Sophie Menas) plenty of opportunity to showcase their talents.
With scenic designer Jon Young effectively recreating the unforgiving industrial look of the Broadway set design, “Rent” takes place in and around an abandoned music publishing building in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Aspiring artists Mark Cohen (Rice) and Roger Davis (Adams) live in the building, assured by their former roommate and the now-wealthy owner of the building, Benjamin Coffin III (University College freshman Storm Lineberger), that they could live there rent-free.
That promise gets broken, leading to a proclamation that the artists will never pay rent — just the first in the show’s long series of defied bourgeoisie conventions and celebration of the Bohemian life.
Still, there’s plenty not worth celebrating about life in “Rent,” with the menace of HIV/AIDS looming large — Roger is HIV positive, and the artists’ friend and former roommate Tom Collins (Richardson) has AIDS, as does Tom’s drag queen boyfriend Angel (Chambers). When Roger meets the seductive Mimi Márquez (Menas) as she’s looking for a light, he’s hesitant despite the intense attraction until he discovers that she too has HIV.
At the heart of the show are these bonds formed by disenfranchised statuses, but it’s the power of love that’s an even stronger force than the sharing of a common marginalized state. That’s the way it is for Roger and Mimi, for Tom and Angel and for Mark’s ex Maureen (musical theater senior Emily Mechler) and her girlfriend Joanne (Hicks). Love conquers despite disease, poverty, societal norms and strong wills.
Basing any piece of art around “the power of love” brings with it the risk of running into hackneyed sentimentality, but the feelings in “Rent” are often the real thing, irony be damned. Consider the impact of numbers “Another Day” and “Seasons of Love,” and try to retain a shred of cynicism. Both numbers can enact a chokehold on the heart as they’re simply being sung by the cast in a line formed at the front of the stage.
That’s because they’re not artificial Hallmark sentiment — Larson reached deep for those songs, and created something universally resonant.
University Theatre’s production succeeds exactly because it embraces that resonance. Just a decade-and-a-half removed from its premiere, “Rent” isn’t nearly as edgy as it might have once appeared, and some of its numbers are undeniable duds (especially the turgid “What You Own”), but it’s difficult not to believe the best about “Rent.”
After all, that’s probably what its characters would do for you.
If you go
WHAT: University Theatre's "Rent"
WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday
PRICE: $15 for students, $25 for faculty and $30 for adults. For tickets, call 405-325-4101.
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b00mer 1 year, 8 months ago
this seems to be less of a review of the performance and more of a historical summary/plot explanation. Please stick to a critique of the performers and design, as we college students are probably already familiar with most of the themes and characters.