Rent ready to take the stage

BLOC Music Theatre is playing at Ballarat’s new performing space, Terminus Theatre, with a production of the musical, Rent.

Located in the renovated Good Shed building city’s railway station precinct, the theatre is an intimate space seating 320, and perfectly proportioned for the production.

Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. The plot is based, loosely, on Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera, La Bohème, which is, in turn, based on Henry Murger’s novel, Scenes de la vie de Bohème.

Rent is set not in Paris’ Pigalle, but the Alphabet City neighbourhood in New York’s Lower Manhattan.

The play is an inspiring tale of a group of impoverished young artists, struggling to survive and create a life in the city’s thriving bohemian days, under the devastating shadow of HIV/AIDS.

It was, for those who lived through those dark days, a period of great sadness as many watched stricken friends dying, inexplicably.

The six leading protagonists, played by Joshua Vucicevic, Aidan Brady, Dylan Shalless, Violet Fedeniw, Jessica Ryan and Jenn Stalk, and Leigh Sleightholme – with a show-stopping number choreographed by Natalya Munro, are supported by an ensemble of eleven artists who help carry much of the show.

It is such joy to see young and attractive actors imbuing their performances with style and vigour.

Rent is an ensemble piece of merit; the style of musical theatre which is seen too rarely.

The cast bring to the production, set in an important modern period before most of them were born, the glorious exuberance of youth, coupled with the determination and rebelliousness which so marked the period.

The rock band, under the direction of Sarah Barlow, sharing keyboard with Stewart Greedy, creates a perfect sound which is truly reminiscent of the ethos.

Greedy doubles as choral director, and rarely will you hear better integrated voices in a theatre production.

Rent is serious musical theatre – in the manner of West Side Story. It demands a commitment from its audience to take the journey.

For those who remember, and those coming to the story for the first time, it was a confronting episode; however, it also provided much cause for rejoicing, which is reflected in this production.

Director Matthew Henderson has relied on his actors and the text. He has turned a potentially mawkish experience into a joyous celebration.

Henderson, the cast, and his musicians, have served the piece with honesty and integrity, creating a memorable night in the theatre.

Writer and composer Jonathan Larson died on the day of the first preview in New York. He was denied the opportunity to relish the international audience response to a meaningful piece of writing.

Larson would be delighted by this production.

Rent opens at the Terminus Theatre in the Goods Shed on Lydiard Street North on Thursday, 11 August and runs until Sunday, 21 August.

For tickets visit rentballarat.com.