Today I would like to talk about the musical RENT. This video is me from last December. It’s not really that good because it was the first performance. Don’t judge me. Lol. I’d like to talk about my experience in RENT. If you are not familiar with this musical, I put a description of the characters and summary at the bottom. The production of RENT I was in was directed by an awesome man by the name of Rich Wexler. We did the school version of RENT, but the differences from the regular version are very minimal. When I originally auditioned, I auditioned for the role of Mimi. It didn’t go very well. But Rich decided to give me another chance. So he told me to learn two songs that Maureen sings and come back to audition. So I learned the songs, and it was definitely a much better fit for me. It was such an amazing experience. It wasn’t just a musical, it was a learning experience. Rich had different people come in to talk to us and teach us different things. He had someone with aids come in and talk to us about what life was like with AIDS. He also had someone come in and teach us how to improv. And we also got to do interviews, and take pictures for newspapers. It felt so amazing. I felt like a professional. And it was so nice to have strangers come see our shows instead of a whole bunch of the cast’s family, like when you do a high school show. I went into this show thinking I was just going to get on stage and do my thing, and that was it. But I ended up developing some close relationships with the people in the cast. I felt so comfortable around them, and it was nice to have people I could open up to and be myself around. I also developed a greater appreciation for this musical, and found myself connecting with my character. Playing the role of Maureen and being around the amazing people in my cast helped me become a lot more confident. This is an amazing show, and I highly recommend seeing it, whether it’s the movie version or the musical itself (even though the movie cuts out a lot of song).
Click here to watch other videos from this performance
Main characters
- Mark Cohen (baritone/tenor): A struggling Jewish documentary filmmaker and the narrator of the show. He is Roger's and Collins's roommate until Collins moves out; he is also Maureen's ex-boyfriend.
- Roger Davis (tenor): A once successful but now struggling musician who is HIV positive and an ex-junkie. He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. He is having a hard time coping with the fact that he, along with many others around him, knowing that they are going to die. His girlfriend, April, killed herself after finding out they had HIV. He is roommates with Mark.
- Mimi Márquez ([[soprano/belter): A club dancer and drug addict. She lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, and is Roger's love interest that, like him, has HIV. She is also Benny's ex-lover.
- Tom Collins (baritone/tenor): A gay anarchist with AIDS. He is described by Mark as a "computer genius, teacher, and vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon." Collins dreams of opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, where the problems in New York will not affect him and his friends. He was formerly a roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen, then just Roger and Mark, until he moves in with Angel.
- Angel Dumott Schunard (tenor, often with falsetto): A young drag queen, street percussionist with AIDS. He is Collins's love interest.
- Maureen Johnson (alto]/belter): A lesbian performance artist who is Mark's ex-girlfriend and Joanne's current girlfriend. She is very flirtatious and cheated on Mark a lot.
- Joanne Jefferson (mezzo soprano/belter): An Ivy League-educated public interest lawyerand a lesbian. Joanne is the woman for whom Maureen left Mark. Joanne has very important parents (one is undergoing confirmation to be a judge, the other is a government official.)
- Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III (baritone/tenor): Landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building and ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys, a very wealthy family involved in real estate, and he is considered a yuppie scum and a sell-out by his ex-roommates. He is also Mimi's ex-lover, although he considers himself her ex-boyfriend.
Summary
Based on Puccini's 'La Boheme', 'Rent' tells the story of one year in the life of friends living the Bohemian life in modern day East Village, New York City, 1989-1990. Among the group are our narrator, nerdy love-struck filmmaker Mark Cohen; the object of Mark's affection, his former girlfriend, Maureen Johnson; Maureen's Harvard-educated public interest lawyer and lesbian lover Joanne Jefferson; Mark's roommate, HIV-positive musician and former junkie, Roger Davis; Roger's new girlfriend, the HIV-positive drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi Marquez; their former roommate, HIV-positive computer genius Tom Collins; Collins' HIV-positive drag queen street musician/lover Angel; and Benjamin Coffin III, a former member of the group who married for money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for. Shows how much changes or doesn't change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year.
