Ostensibly you couldn’t get two more different musicals than Paddington and Jonathan Larson’s cult 1996 Broadway hit, which reimagines Puccini’s La Boheme among a group of starving New York artists, junkies and drag queens, many of them HIV-positive.
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many → get → them
But both are richly resonant urban stories about loss and finding your community, and both have been triumphantly realised by director Luke Sheppard.
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both → find → Sheppard
His hurtling, 30th anniversary staging of Rent is glorious, with an ensemble of astonishing voices anchored by Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo as our charming narrator, Mark.
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staging → anchor → narrator
Yes, there is an element of indulgence in the portrayal of these yappy, fragile bohemians, and yes, the songs are mostly pitched at a full-throated, mascara-stained level of feeling that sits better on Broadway than it does in London.
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it → be → London
But the kaleidoscopic score, which flits, fragments and recurs across genres including rock, blues, tango and gospel, rolls over you like an irresistible wave.
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which → flit → wave
What’s more, this revival arrives as we’re again taking stock of the political values and the HIV/Aids crisis of the 80s and 90s: see also Pride the musical and the forthcoming film Elsinore.
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we → ’ → Pride
Given Rent is partly about premature departures, the early death of Larson - who wrote the book, music and lyrics – only adds to the mythology.
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who → give → mythology
He suffered a fatal aneurysm three weeks before the show opened, ten days before his 36th birthday.
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show → suffer → birthday
The show covers a year, from one Christmas Eve to another, in the lives of characters who rotate around a squatted loft in the East Village.
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who → cover → Village
Here Mark, a wannabe documentarian, and aspiring songwriter Roger (Travis Ross) are burning old CBGCs posters to keep warm.
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Mark → burn → posters
The insistent, rising thrum of Roger’s guitar in the opening number Tune Up #1, sliding into hiccupy voicemails from Mark’s mom in Scarsdale and then the titular showstopper set out Larson’s stall magnificently.
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showstopper → rise → stall
The building is owned by their former roommate Benny (Joaquin Pedro Valdes), a scumbag yuppie who wants to turn it and an accompanying lot occupied by the homeless into a “digital interactive studio”.
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who → own → studio
Roger is HIV-positive and Mark has recently been dumped for a woman by performance artist Maureen (played by the charismatic and wonderfully-named musician Lazy Violet).
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Mark → dump → musician
Though everyone sings sardonically about being cold, hungry and sad, no-one actually seems that downcast apart from the tortured Roger. Hacker/philosopher Tom Collins (Billy Nevers) finds beatific love with street-drumming drag queen Angel (Jeevan Braich) at a support group for those living with Aids.
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Collins → sing → Aids
Agreeable Mark helps his supplanter Joanne sort out the tech for Maureen’s monologue protesting the eviction of the homeless.
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supplanter → help → homeless
It’s sort of he point: this is a feckless, affectionate bunch, a loose family who put the “fun” in “dysfunctional” until they’re compelled to get serious.
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they → ’ → fun
Which partly happens thanks to the arrival of Mimi (lambent Cuban-American Alexa Lopez, making a scorching UK stage debut).
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Which → happen → debut
Mimi’s a smackhead dancer/stripper with “the best ass below 14th St”.
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Mimi → ’ → St
She waggles it at Roger one freezing night when she’s looking for light and love.
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she → waggle → light
Their purple duet, Light My Candle, should be absurd but it absolutely sizzles.
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it → sizzle → Candle
From here the gorgeous, interwoven numbers roll out: the heartbreaking Will I? about the indignity of illness; the dreamy groove of Santa Fe; Maureen’s po-facedly hilarious Over the Moon; the banging first act closer, La Vie Boheme (which rhymes “vindaloo” with “Maya Angelou”).
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which → roll → Angelou
The leads are pretty much flawless within the show’s perameters, Matarazzo bringing easygoing balance to the intensity of Ross and Lopez as Roger and Mimie.
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Matarazzo → bring → Roger
Nevers sings beautifully and Braich confirms the firecracker star power he showed in Starlight Express, as melodious and acrobatically agile in heels as he was on wheels.
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he → sing → wheels
Lazy Violet and Danielle Fiamanya are hilarious as Maureen and Joanne and Valdes has great fun as the evil Benny.
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Valdes → have → Benny
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But Larson and Sheppard also ensure that supporting characters also get their chance to shine in the sun.
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characters → read → sun
The sheer verve and humanity of Rent shines through this revival.
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verve → shin → revival
Paddington would surely approve.
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Paddington → approve → ?
The Aporia
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