RENT at rockdale or penrith?

Setting the record straight?? pffft! What a load of crock! It seems that Jo's professional qualifications lie in licking the asses of Rockdale's production - which was, I agree technically good. But unfortunately, the glitzy facade of Rockdale's production did not deliver on the emotional side to RENT. In fact, it was all showy but shallow.

Anyway, IÂ’m also a RENT geek and IÂ’ve seen all 3 different productions of RENT in Canberra, Rockdale and Penrith.

First of all, cheers to all of you for putting on a show. It's not easy to put a show together and I know from my years of doing shows that those 3-4 months of rehearsal time is hard work, but also a really rewarding time.

The 3 productions all had their strengths and weaknesses. Here are some that I've noted and hopefully, a little more constructive than Jo's "bitchy" and baseless remarks.

CANBERRA

* STRENGTHS
- The band was very good. Awesome sound and great lighting!
- Canberra had very strong principle roles. Mark was very engaging. Riveting scene between Mark and Roger in “What you Own”. Both actors delivered an outstanding performance in this scene and outshone the other two renditions of this song in the other productions.
- Mimi, although a little shaky in “Out tonight” gave an emotionally moving performance in “Without You”, very fragile and heartfelt. This was definitely the best performance of the song between the 3 productions.
- Great overall performance by Joanne, very engaging and attractive.
- Overall stage direction of the production was well done

• WEAKNESSES
- Chemistry between the characters was lacking. Collins and Angel are meant to be totally enamoured with each other and even though both actors gave good performances, the lack of chemistry between them was a little disheartening
- When Mimi said “Angel was one of my closest friends”, I found that hard to believe as there was little or no contact between them throughout the course of the musical. This could have easily been rectified by more contact between them in “La Vie Boheme” or in “Happy New Year”
- The opening song, “Rent” was well choreographed; however, the performers did not deliver the intensity of that song. “Rent” is meant to be an angry song and some of the performers were smiling throughout that number.
- Personally, I felt that watching the answering machine deliver the messages was a little boring. Interesting interpretation but not as effective as seeing the actors deliver the messages.



PENRITH

STRENGTHS

• Overall the cast was very strong. Special mentions go to Joanne, whose strong vocals resonated through the beautiful recital hall of the Joan Sutherland Performance Arts Centre.
• Mimi had very good vocals and her sweet voice carried her through an almost wooden acting performance. No doubt that with a little more acting coaching she will further develop her skills as a performer.
• The minimal usage of the staging (in comparison to Rockdale’s or Canberra’s) was a little disconcerting at first. I found myself wondering where the scaffolding was and thinking “was that it?”, in terms of the staging. But in the end, their minimal approach (and possibly due to budgetary reasons) worked for them. I found myself looking and concentrating on the characters on stage more. Also it enabled them to use the gliding stairs which was very effective in “Out Tonight”
• Out of the three productions, Penrith Rent had more energy and spark on the stage with the principle characters. In the Penrith show (the last Rent performance I saw of the three productions) I was finally relieved to see chemistry between Angel and Collins. In fact, there was so much sizzling between those two characters that it made up for my disappointments with Rockdale’s and Canberra’s Collins/Angel’s relationship. The duet of “I’ll Cover You” in Penrith just cemented the believability of their relationship and by far outshone the other two renditions of this song at Rockdale and Canberra.
• Angel and Maureen were fabulous. Maureen’s performance was hilarious, real and edgy. But it was Angel’s “Today for You. Tomorrow for Me.” Which was well choreographed and excitingly delivered that captured the essence and “spark” of Angel that was missing at Rockdale and Canberra. Throughout the musical, it was Angel that I was looking forward in seeing on stage. Also looking around me, people were emotionally very moved when Angel was dying. By far, out of the 3 productions the performance by Angel at the Penrith show exceeded the other two. By far! Also at intermission and after the show, it was Angel’s performance that people around me were raving about. Hence, this is a totally different outlook to Jo’s personal attack. What would you know about Filipino drag queens Jo? By the way, if you are going to bag out something especially in reference to a particular culture make sure you get the spelling right - it’s “Filipino” otherwise it just makes you look like an ignorant fool – totally agree with Andrew. The Penrith Angel looked beautiful and stunning in her costumes!! By far the prettiest one than the other two and I think there might have been some straight men in the audience with a hard-on .
• The ensemble performance of “Will I” was great – good staging with everyone walking around the stage looking lost and uncertain, fully delivered the message of the song, great harmonies - very moving piece!


WEAKNESSES
• There were some problems with sound which at times detracted from the performances. It kind of ruined some of the songs, honestly. Mimi’s microphone had problems which was annoying because she was a lead and of all people, she had the worst microphone problems.
• At times, the lighting seemed a little dim and not as well lit as Rockdale and Canberra’s. More focus on the lighting of characters as well as the central happenings on the stage was needed.
• At times, the band would overpower the actual singing so better sound control would have benefited this production more.
• As I know the musical quite well, I noticed the miss-timings of Benny in “We’ll See Boys”. I had a bit of a cringe at this. However, the actor made up for it in his stronger performance in the 2nd act in “Happy New Year”.


ROCKDALE

STRENGTHS
• The production design/set looked fantastic. They had obviously invested a bit of money on the scaffolding which looked terrific. Their stage didn’t seem as big as Canberra’s or Penrith’s but they worked well with what they had.
• Overall, strong principle roles. Joanne in this show was fantastic to watch. “Tango Maureen” with Mark was definitely one of the highlights of the show.
• Out of all the relationships it was the relationship between Joanne and Maureen that was the most believable and their number, “Take Me or Leave Me” was nicely performed and reflected the volatile nature of their relationship.
• Overall, the vocals were very good. The ensemble numbers especially.
• The “homeless” were by far the stars of the show and were funnier than the other two productions.

WEAKNESSES
• Although technically good. The weaknesses showed in the chemistry between the actors. Again, Collins and Angel in this show (more so than Canberra’s) lacked any chemistry. Vocally they delivered (especially Collins) but their relationship was not believable. Unfortunately, I felt the same way about Mimi and Roger (both were technically good) however they lacked passion in each other. Don’t know if it was the direction or the acting, but their supposed “love” for each other didn’t seem real. Sadly, the two key relationships were lacking in this area and it was detrimental to the musical overall.
• The character of Angel in the Rockdale show lacked any “spark”. Angel is a vibrant, flamboyant character with attitude that is central to the overall development of the other characters. Angel is someone who is unapologetic for being who he/she is and I didn’t get that from the Angel in the Rockdale production (The Canberra Angel was a little better, but not much). This was lacking from Angel’s character which makes his death less tragic and meaningless. Angel’s costumes in the Rockdale one were a tad bit boring and looked a little bit “wannabe trannie”. At the end, I did not feel anything for Angel and/or Collins which resulted to not feeling anything for Roger/Mimi whose relationship parallels with Collins/Angel.
• In the Rockdale production, the “Will I Soloist” was definitely NOT “chillingly good” and there was nothing extraordinary about the Steve/Gordon interchange. In fact, out of the minor roles it was these two unfortunately that were the least believable or vocally good. The Will I Soloist was vocally shaky and/or seemed nervous, but can happen to a lot of actors so it’s forgiveable. Good performance by Mark’s mom.
• I felt that Rockdale was trying too hard to be “pretty” and sexy. Was the sex scene at the back of the restaurant really necessary? It had nothing to do with the plot nor did it add anything to it. In fact it was detrimental to the scene and was a distraction to what was really going on. The dramatic moments were “stagy” and too concerned with what looks good rather than finding the “heart” of the scene. An example is Roger’s solo “One Song Glory”, sung nicely but lacked any oomph. The Canberra and Penrith shows may not have been as “polished”or as “pretty” as Rockdale’s but one thing that stood out for me was that Canberra and Penrith definitely had more spirit and it showed through their delivery of the performances and music.


Overall the three productions did a pretty good job! They were all very different in casting, staging and in their interpretation. Which is a good thing, otherwise I would have been totally bored seeing all three of them. As someone who is not affiliated with any of the productions, honestly I didnÂ’t think any one of them were better than the other. In analyzing each one thoroughly, quite frankly as IÂ’ve noted they all had their strengths and weaknesses and in such different ways. Where one succeeded in a particular area, the other didnÂ’t do as well..

But these three productions did get their show off the ground and all had great audience response/applause, particularly the one in Penrith who had an overly appreciative crowd.

So congratulations to all three productions, Canberra, Rockdale and Penrith for getting the music of RENT out there and for letting all of us enjoy it.