RENT at Hershey Theatre

RENT at Hershey Theatre

by Lisa Hummel

From the first on-stage action to the final curtain call, the entire RENT ensemble was nearly flawless, with no blatant opening night jitters. A ’90s take on Puccini’s La Boheme, the production takes place in an industrial flat in New York City and follows the lives of seven twenty-somethings as they face life in an age where poverty, sex, drugs, and AIDS are prevalent.

Written by the late Jonathan Larson, the production is not the most uplifting, but neither is life, and that is the point. The characters deal with death and dying, love and leaving, and the pain in discovering who one really is.

RENT opened on Broadway in 1996, and has since spawned excellent touring versions like the Benny Company visiting the Hershey Theatre. Cast color blind — the casting of a character is done more for personality than race or body type — each element of the 15-member ensemble was superb, hitting their marks, delivering their lines, and belting out numbers with evident passion.

And while no part of the cast was lacking in talent, two of the production’s central characters more than stepped up to the plate: Roger, played by Cary Shields, and Mimi, played on opening night by understudy Karmine Alers — Alers has a set of pipes that makes one believe that Dominique Roy, the lead Mimi, must be a supreme find. She was that good. Both Shields and Alers were amazing, drawing the audience in to their characters’ tormented love story and hooking them with their vocal tenacity. Together, the actors combined for what were some of the finer numbers of the show, from the first act’s “Light My Candle” and the intentionally themed “Another Day” to the final act’s “Without You.” As components of a roller coaster relationship, the two portrayed the right mix of comic timing and despair, never allowing the audience to guess which emotion they would next be conveying.

At under three hours, the show moves at a smooth pace and isn’t once halted by the depressing subject matter; rather the characters deal with their issues and choose to “live life.” Set to an outstanding score — RENT won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Score of a Musical, among others — there is as much comedy as there is tears, as much love as there is hate. And as many graphic sexual overtones as there probably ever has been in the refined walls of the Hershey Theatre.

Often performed in front of a young and modern crowd, opening night in Hershey found RENT playing to as many 20- and 30-somethings as it did to white-haired season-ticket holders. And, even at intermission, not one peep was heard about the subject content or often in-your-face sexual expression. How refreshing.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and of four Tony Awards, RENT will be at the Hershey Theatre until February 18. For more information, call the box office at 534-3405.