STAGE WEST: "Rent" at Diversionary Theatre

Michael Amira Temple (left) and Nio Russell in "Rent."                                                     Xing Photo Studio

            Diversionary Theatre promised a production of “Rent” like you’ve never seen before.
            It’s delivered.
            Co-conceived and -directed by Sherri Eden Barber and Coleman Ray Clark, this legacy revival of Jonathan Larson’s 30-year-old rock musical is an ambitious departure from what these days are considered “traditional” stagings of the show based on Puccini’s “La Boheme.” For one, out of necessity and out of invention, Barber and Clark haven’t attempted to accommodate a large ensemble and a live band on the Diversionary stage. Necessity because it’s just not big enough. Invention because the inspired choice was made to open up the entire theater building in University Heights, indoors and outside of it, as a “stage,” utilizing live video projected in the theater to show characters in performance.
            Another conceit that is even more effective is transporting one of “Rent’s” most entertaining (and outrageous) moments, performance artist Maureen’s “Over the Moon” (complete with cow), to the theater’s downstairs cabaret and patio lobby area. She and cow are not alone either. Audience members are invited – and most are game – to head down and witness this in person. (Others may remain upstairs and watch it on the eight video screens.)
            Maureen’s gig downstairs is followed by the celebratory “La Vie Boheme,” with cast members performing in the very midst of the attending audience. The effect is what Barber and Clark intended: to make audience members not merely viewers of “Rent” but participants in it. This device is the highlight of the production and, amazingly, it only took the crowd five minutes to get back upstairs and in their seats again in time for what is usually the opening of “Rent’s” second act, the iconic, all-cast-sung “Seasons of Love.”
            Most but not all of the video shooting throughout is handled by Jonathan Sangster, who’s a fine Mark Cohen. Capturing characters on the stage itself contributes to the feeling that you’re up there with them and part of the story of this community of friends living for each other and holding fast to their freedom at the height of the AIDS crisis in mid-‘90s East Village, New York City.
            One of the most successful uses of the live video and the alternative staging is the heartfelt “Without You” duet between Roger (Gio Coppola) and Mimi (Maya Sofia Enciso). He’s in the theater, she’s outside on the stairway that leads up to it from below. The resulting effect is emphasis on their individual loneliness, isolation and the fragility of the bond between them that makes separation all but unbearable.
            Possibly as expected with a theatrical undertaking as technically complex as this one is, the live action and the video are slightly out of sync the entire time, and there are instances during the production when some actors are either drowned out by the band (sequestered out of sight) or victimized by mic issues.
            These lapses shouldn’t detract from the contributions of sound designer Kevin Antenhill, projection designer Nicholas Hussong or the others on the technical side who should be lauded for even attempting a “Rent” like this one, among them lighting designer Annelise Schultz-Salazar, props designer Anthony Garcia and costume designer Claire Peterson (outfitting Maureen alone is boldly in the spirit of “Rent’s” rebellious story).
            “Rent” also MUST be produced with a live band and Diversionary’s is a stellar one: guitarist Andrew Snyder, drummer Chris Potente, Sean Collins on bass, keyboards from Kyle Adam Blair (the associate music director to Jerrica Stone).
            There’s a reason why I’ve spent all this time on the technical merits of Diversionary’s “Rent” and am just now getting to the cast: The presentation is what makes this show. The risks taken. The big swings swung. The ability to make an “old” musical feel new again.
            I’ve seen “Rent” half a dozen times or more by now. Diversionary’s ensemble, from a strictly singing standpoint, is somewhere in the middle of those. But there are some standouts nonetheless. Leading the way is Nio Russell as Maureen’s lawyer-girlfriend Joanne with a voice both beautiful and expressive. The Maureen part is arguably the most coveted one in productions of “Rent,” even if she doesn’t appear until near the end of the first act. (Here, in order to facilitate the upstairs/downstairs transition, that happens after intermission.) I knew going in that the talented Michael Amira Temple would ace this role, and she does. She and Russell make some magic.
            Sangster and Coppola are the other well-matched pair in this production, their “What You Own” collaboration erasing any doubt.
            I was less moved by Enciso’s Mimi or Allen Lucky Weaver’s Angel but those are very demanding portrayals, physically and emotionally, and I won’t minimize them by comparison to others I’ve seen. Andre Heimos is a sensitive and understated Tom Collins, though David McBean feels underused as Benny Coffin, a consequence to some extent of the defined one-note role as the friend-turned-landlord.
            The star of any production of “Rent,” including a technically innovative one such as Diversionary’s, is always Jonathan Larson’s score – emotive, incredibly varied and nuanced, and, as seeing his show after 30 years testifies, timeless.
            The overarching message of “Rent” is timeless too: LIVE FOR THE MOMENT.
            “Rent” runs through June 28 at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights.