I had the opportunity to see the performance of Rent, School Edition at the Montgomery Theatre in San Jose (This post is originally from February 28th, 2009). It is a production of the Children Musical Theater in San Jose, CA, under the direction of Kevin R. Hauge. I only had seen the movie before and knew the score, but the stage production pretty much blew me away, it being of great quality and the voices of the very young cast being outstanding.
The Montgomery Theatre is a great setting for this production. While the audience enters the stage is open, showing a loft-like apartment in New York. The cast is between 15 and 17 years old, which gives the at times difficult topics touched on in Rent an interesting perspective.
Roger, played by Joey Pisacane, 16, is one of the two outstanding male voices and opens the production together with the narrating character, Mark. Joey has a great voice and is casted very well. He has a great duet “Light my Candle” with Mimi, played by Marion Wellington. Marion has for her 15 years a surprisingly powerful voice and plays the sexy, sassy elements of Mimi’s character for her age scaringly well. Later, the outstanding male performer comes on as Angel, played by Bryant Montalvo, 17. Unbelievable, how Bryant plays and sings in “Today 4 U”! His performance is later matched by Maureen, played by Adrienne Eller, 15, in “Over The Moon”. She has a very powerful, dark voice, carrying the part extremely well. The first act closes with almost full cast in “La Vie Boheme” and leaves me quite astounded.
The second act opens with the trade mark “Seasons of Love” with various solo parts in it. Further highlights in the secont act are “Take me or Leave” me in which Joanne, played by Alia Hodge, 16, ideally matches Maureen’s energy to represent the dynamic of the duet. If the “I’ll Cover You: Reprise” scene leaves you without goose bumps, then you better search a different planet. After the Finale with “Your Eyes” the cast enjoyed the well deserved standing ovation!Wonderful!
I’ll definitely get season tickets for CMT now …
StageAficionado 