"Rent" - Runaway Stage Productions

Left: Joanne (Lorraine de Arco).


A brilliant opening night over at RSP! Strong performances all the way around!

Some things were problematic. Sometimes the sound quality suffered. Lyrics were muddy. I thought people who don't know "Rent" might have trouble following the story. Myself, I had no trouble (I wasn't quite aware that I had practically memorized the entire book, but like all Rent-lovers, that was apparently the case).



Left: Mimi (Shanta Robinson)

I was really happy to see Shanta at RSP. I've seen her mostly in a variety of Pepper Von productions, where her performances have often been quite amazing!

"Rent", like many musicals, has a strong first act and a weak second act (only "Sweeney Todd" seems to avoid this fate). It seems like all these wonderful characters are created in Act 1, only to thrash around like hamsters in wheels in Act 2.

For Act 2, I sat next to one person noted as a skeptic of many things "Rent". He was writhing around in such agony I thought it might be better to remove his skin. I wasn't in that state, though. Act 2 still had some excellent songs. Lorraine deArco's and Lindsay Grimes' duet 'Take Me or Leave Me' nearly stopped the show!


Left: Angel (Joseph Boyette)


"Joesph's 'Today 4 You' stopped the show! I have never seen that happen before!


Left: Benny, or Benjamin Coffin III (Ali Llacer)

Ali, along with Lorraine, were recently in "Smokey Joe's Cafe" at Magic Circle. I liked Ali's cool sense on stage.



Left: Roger (Eddie Voyce). Wonderful voice!




Left: Mark (Tyler Robinson). Excellent performance, and good comic timing!



















And since I was just in "The City Different" only a month ago, it seems like the lyrics to "Santa Fe" (sung very well by Rudy 'Roods' Brown) come to mind!:

You're a sensitive aesthete
Brush the sauce onto the meat
You could make the menu sparkle with rhyme
You could drum a gentle drum
I could seat guests as they come
Chatting not about Heidegger, but wine!

Let's open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
Our labors would reap financial gains



Left: Santa Fe's Coyote Cafe.





Left: View from the cafe's balcony.


"Where The Buffalo Roam" and "Big Coyote Bar" by William Prescott.


We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
And save from devastation our brains

We'll pack up all our junk and fly so far away
Devote ourselves to projects that sell
We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
Forget this cold Bohemian hell


Do you know the way to Santa Fe?
You know, tumbleweeds...prairie dogs...
Yeah

I can't believe how lucky I am! In the foreground, I've got Salsola tragus (aka tumbleweed). In the background, I've got a Gunnison's Prairie Dog. Tumbleweeds and a prairie dog in just one photo!