Type – Rock Opera Musical, Grungy, Bohemian
If you liked – La Boheme, tick, tick…BOOM!, Hamilton
RENT: Measure your life in love and how many times RENT can continue to move you. Treat yourself to this!
One of my favourite musical films is the 2021, Lin Manuel Miranda directed version of tick, tick…BOOM! starring Andrew Garfield as the late Jonathan Larson. The tale of Larson’s life as a struggling bohemian artist on the verge of turning 30 found me at the right time in my life where I too was on the verge of this next chapter. Larson’s yearning to make something great before his clock runs out was just astoundingly resonant with me, but in regards to Larson’s timeline, there is no way he could have known how game changing his musical RENT would become.
The legacy of RENT is one that is bittersweet. Larson infamously passed away on the verge of RENT’s Broadway opening from an unexpected aneurysm. He never got to see the audience reception to RENT, nor how it would change the landscape of musical theatre forever. RENT, therefore, feels inexorably tied to Larson in both voice and spirit, especially too after you consider the time in which he was surrounded.
Based on Puccini’s La Boheme, Larson managed to capture the essence of the bohemian lifestyle in the New York of the 90s as well as the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in a grand rock opera for the ages. There are clear musical references to his musical idol, the late Stephen Sondheim throughout his orchestrations, with notable melodies and patter elements found throughout. There are characters in which friends Larson lost to AIDS are mirrored. Some even challenge that the narrator, Mark (Henry Rollo), is a semi-biographical reflection of Larson himself.
In short, RENT is one of those once-in-a-lifetime musicals that feel like a full-bodied reflection of its creator – just as Hamilton has become for the current generation of the musical world.
Staging this RENT at the Sydney Opera House
This isn’t the first time RENT has made its way to the Sydney Opera House, having played here most recently in 2019. Despite this, and the fact that this current production finished a national tour last year, the revitalised casting of this production of RENT feels altogether eclectic and electric.
RENT’s director, Shaun Rennie, is himself no stranger to crafting grand, sweeping operas as the Associate Director of Opera Australia. This version of Rennie’s RENT feels more timely than ever as he digs his hands into the very core of Larson’s work to both honour the late writer’s voice and extract underlying notions that feel extraordinarily prevalent to our own context.
Larson’s writing and music feels somewhat omnipresent in this production – there’s no true way of knowing if Larson felt the fear of technology replacing workers as deep as it exists today, but Rennie unearths these underlying elements in Benny’s (Tana La’agia) mission to gentrify the lower Manhattan neighbourhood by building a virtual technology space. The replacement of tuberculosis from Puccini’s opera with HIV/AIDS is still felt deeply by those affected, particularly from the Queer Community, and Rennie’s handling of Angel’s (portrayed stunningly by Jesse Dutlow) storyline is both gently produced and powerfully visceral. So too is the acceptance of Angel’s trans-persona – “she”, Mark corrects himself from the use of “he” at Angel’s euology. Larson was ahead of his time.
Defying the norm in RENT
Even when it comes to the structure of RENT, Larson defied the expectations of the norm in Broadway’s musical theatre. There is no overture, no grand opening, instead a series of voice calls from Mark’s mother (Eliza Soriano chewing every element she gets her hands on) rings as Mark narrates his and best friend Roger’s (Harry Targett) current situation in a year’s worth of rent backpay.
After a sudden power outage, we then plunge into the opening number, ‘Rent’, which is fuelled with a near physical adrenaline shot by the ensemble. Imani Williams (Joanne) remains a fierce embodiment of a performer on stage, her physicality and voice cutting through the space as the mass of the cast explode towards the pearl-clutching, multi-property owners in the Joan. It almost makes me want to refuse to pay my rent this week.
The opening of the second act as well refuses the entr’acte, with Larson instead writing one of the biggest songs in the musical theatre canon, ‘Seasons of Love’. How do you measure a life? Larson suggests we do it with love, before the show recommences and this creed is woven into the tragedies of Act Two.
RENT also remains the only multi-Tony Award Winning musical I know that weaves performance art successfully into a standout moment that is wholly unique to each production. Calista Nelmes’ ‘Over the Moon’ features a vest adorned with multiple udders and a blonde front tail as Nelmes registers fourth-wall breaking vocals to get the audience of the Joan to audibly moo in retaliation to autocracy.
Is RENT Worth Seeing in Sydney?
Dann Barber’s rugged and metallic frame moving set design intertwines with Paul Jackson’s explosive lighting design to bring the audience into RENT at any given moment, it almost has a Brechtian touch about it to make us an audience never relax but to actively engage. With richly woven moments of heat from Kristin Paulse’s Mimi, and heart from Googoorewon Knox’s Collins, there’s so much raw talent on stage it makes sense that RENT is, well, renting the space of the Joan Sutherland for its run.
No matter how many times you see RENT, there’ll eventually be that one production that absolutely nails the challenge that Larson set. This RENT meets that challenge head on and then some, featuring the very best of Australian musical theatre talent both on stage and behind the scenes. Measure your life in love, and how many times this RENT can give you tears and chills.
Tickets and Practical Info for RENT in Sydney 🎟️
Until 1st November
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point, Sydney
Language
Performed in English.
Running time
Approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes, including one interval.
Please note
This production contains mature content, including coarse language, partial nudity, depiction of death and references to drug addiction and self-harm. It also makes use of strobe lighting.
Tickets: https://opera.org.au/productions/rent-sydney/
CREATIVES
Shaun Rennie (He/Him) – Director
Jack Earle – Music Director
Luca Dinardo (She/Her) – Choreographer
Dann Barber (He/Him) – Set Designer
Paul Jackson (He/Him) – Lighting Designer
Evan Drill (He/Him) – Sound Designer
Ella Butler (She/Her) – Costume Designer
Lauren Peters (She/Her) – Originating Executive Producer
Toby Francis (He/Him) – Originating Associate Producer
CAST
Jesse Dutlow (They/Them) – Angel
Googoorewon Knox (he/him) – Collins
Tana Laga’aia (He/They) – Benny
Calista Nelmes (She/Her) – Maureen
Kristin Paulse (She/Her) – Mimi
Henry Rollo (He/Him) – Mark
Harry Targett (He/Him) – Roger
Imani Williams (She/Her) – Joanne
Anna Francesca Armenia (She/Her) – Featured Ensemble – (Joanne Cover)
Kobe Brown (He/Him) – Featured Ensemble – (Collins / Angel / Benny Cover)
Sam Harmon (He/Him) – Featured Ensemble – (Roger / Mark / Benny Cover)
Lawrence Hawkins (He/Him) – Featured Ensemble – (Mark / Roger Cover)
Carmel Rodrigues (She/Her) – Featured Ensemble – (Joanne Cover)
Eliza Soriano (She/Her) – Featured Ensemble – (Maureen / Mimi Cover)
Stacey Thomsett (She/Her) – Featured Ensemble – (Maureen Cover)
Theo Williams (He/Him) – Featured Ensemble – (Collins / Benny Cover)
Chad Rosete (He/They) – Onstage Cover – (Angel Cover)
Bree Tipoki (She/Her) – Resident Choreographer / Onstage Cover (Mimi Cover)
