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| Saycon Segbloh as Mimi and Cary Shields as Roger in a scene from RENT, playing at the Community Center Theater through Mar. 12. Photo by Joan Marcus |
The story centers around roommates Mark (Matt Caplan) and Roger (Cary Shields) and their friends and lovers, all tenants of the same building who are now threatened with eviction by their former roommate Benny (Brian M. Love) who has married into money and bought the blighted building hoping to turn the property into a high-tech cyber-arts studio.
Mark is an aspiring filmmaker and Roger a song-writer who has acquired AIDS through his drug habit. Roger has basically given up on the world, seldom leaving the room and still tries to write that one great song before he dies.
RENT becomes wonderfully twisted as it moves on. Roger falls for another girl in the building - Mimi (Saycon Sengbloh) - Benny's former girlfriend - but pushes her away until he finds out that she also has AIDS. Mark's old girlfriend Maureen (Michelle Joan Smith), a performance artist, has moved out and decided she's a lesbian, moving in with Joanne (Jacqueline B. Arnold), a lawyer. And Tom Collins (Horace V. Rogers), another ex-roommate of Mark and Roger, becomes involved with Angel (Shaun Earl) - a transvestite.
As Christmas and New Year's comes and goes, a protest is planned with a special performance by Maureen. This is one of the funnier moments in RENT, which mostly deals with serious themes, but is not without its light moments, as well.
While the tenants are at the performance, Benny locks them out of the building. They must ban together in order to survive, and they eventually hatch a plan to break back into the building on New Year's Eve. On the verge of their break-in, however, Benny relents and lets them all move back in.
Life goes on for the people in the building...or does it...what follows is as bittersweet as it is uplifting.
As with the tradition that started in New York, seats in the front row of the orchestra are only $20 the day of the performance.
"In keeping
with the spirit of the show and the vision Jonathan Larson (the show's
creator), we are happy to be able to offer prime seats to people who otherwise
would not be able to purchase them," explains RENT producer Kevin McCollum.
"Jonathan was himself a struggling artist and his dream was to create a
universal piece of musical theatre that's available to everyone."
The $20 tickets are available on the day of the performance only at the
Community Center box office beginning two hours before curtain time.
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| Roger Davis - Cary Shields | Mark Cohen - Matt Caplan | Tom Collins - Horace V. Rogers |
| Benjamin Coffin III - Brian M. Love | Joanne Jefferson - Jacqueline B. Arnold | Angel Schunard - Shaun Earl |
| Mimi Marquez - Saycon Sengbloh | Maureen Johnson - Michelle Joan Smith | Mark's Mom and Others - Haven Burton |
| Xmas Caroler/Mr. Jefferson - Marcus Chaney | Mrs. Jefferson - Maia Nkenge Wilson | Gordon/the man/Mr. Grey - Joshua Greene |
| Steve/man with squeegee - Jake Manabat | Paul/a waiter/others - Enrico Rodriguez | Alexi Darling/Roger's Mom - Tricia Young |
| Cop - Marcus Mitchell | Cop - Dominique Roy |
RENT performs at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street in Downtown Sacramento through Mar. 12. Tickets are priced at $10 - $60. For ticket information call (916) 557-1999, (916) 264-5181 or (916) 766-BASS, or visit the Broadway Series box office at 1419 H Street.
Next up for the Broadway Series is THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Apr. 18-23) starring Tony Award nominee Douglas Sills as Percy/The Scarlet Pimpernel.