By David Feldman 
http://cnycafemomus.com/David_Feldman.html  

The rock musical Rent teeter-totters on the brink of the generational divide.  A not-very-scientific survey I took suggests that people over 40 tend to be ho-hum to negative about it; those 35 - 40 are so-so; and those under 35 love it.  I saw the musical at Ithaca’s Hangar Theater a year and a half ago with loudspeakers hanging over my head and singers running up and down the aisles blaring barely intelligible lyrics into my ears, and figured once was enough.  

That was then.  This is now.  The current Syracuse Stage production blends student and professional actors so well together you can hardly tell which is who without a close inspection of the program (the leads: professionals, for the most part; the ensemble: students).  Rent will jar your ears –– but not blast any delicate parts to smithereens.  And Anthony Salatino’s choreography and stage directing are outstanding, as is the musical direction and conducting by homegrown (albeit with much professional experience all over the U.S. map) Sarah Pickett.  

This is an exciting and energetic production of what is essentially an overwrought (and not particularly well-constructed or believable) rock musical.  It appeals to the kind of young audiences that theaters need to attract, and judging by the enthusiastic reaction by that age group at the Archbold Theatre opening night, the show should do exactly that for Syracuse Stage.  Still, this is Hair for the Twitter, YouTube and Friends generation.  And like much that’s sold in America, there’s more sizzle than steak.

Many will prefer the opera it’s based on (Puccini’s La Bohème) to Rent, which switches AIDS for consumption and the 1980s-90s New York world of hippies, musicians, drug addicts, gays, hookers and such for the artistic life in 1830s Paris. 

The music seems to me to be good enough if not especially inspired.  About the only number in this production that is guaranteed to blow you away (at least it did me) is a 1-million kilowatt Seasons of Love, which opens Act 2.  

Perhaps the show’s greatest weakness is that it never feels genuine.  Of the four love affairs among the various heterosexual, gays, transvestites, etc., only one in the script or on stage at the Archbold is genuinely believable –– that between the teacher, Tom Collins (gently acted and nicely sung by Jordan Barbour), and his lover, Angel (Jose Sepulveda in an absolutely spot-on, show stopping, flamingly cross-dressed performance).

Rent is made up of a half-dozen, very loosely connected plot-lines –– all centering upon love and friendship relationships, social and political concerns.  What cleverly, if unevenly, connects them is the use of a narrator/filmmaker (Stanley Bahorek as a nicely fuzzy and personable Mark).  The conceit here is that he’s filming all his friends and his roommate Roger (Ken Clark, not particularly convincing as roommate or songwriter or lover on opening night, but perhaps some weaknesses here were the result of sound system glitches).  So every major character gets a star turn, and every love affair or cry for social justice gets its moment in the spotlight –– even if the connections between them are tenuous.  But these people are friends, after all, and they love each other.  If that’s not enough to hang a rock musical plot from, I don’t know what is.

What holds this particular production solidly together is the energy and verve of the cast, Salatino’s choreography (so carefully crafted it seems spontaneous) and Troy Hourie’s well-used, multi-level set.  The moment when Angel ascends the stairway in the rear wall to eternity just on the other side is genuinely affecting.  Dawn Chiang’s lighting is often excitingly obtrusive, and Jessica Ford’s costumes are appropriately grubby.

Still, there is not one single character here who is anything but a cliché.  That includes the closest thing to a villain, Benny (the powerfully voiced Antwayn Hopper).  Benny used to be one of the denizens of this demimonde, but has gone upscale. He owns the building where the rent is due, drives a Land Rover, gets the plot (such as it is) moving because of his financial manipulations and manages to alienate all his former friends.  But he ends up being (too bad, this) a real nice and sweet guy by the final scenes. Similarly, filmmaker Mark, after flirting with making it big as a documentarian, decides that he just can’t sell out his principals and returns to the hippie fold in time for the big production number finale.  Worst of all, songwriter Roger’s lover Mimi (Jene Hernandez), dying of exposure and AIDS, actually does die –– but then returns to life after a New Age trip into the white light of death and a visit with Angel off there backstage, in eternity.  Sometimes a happy ending can be real depressing.

But this Syracuse Stage/Drama Department production is a genuine visual feast. The dancing is simply wonderful, the music is OK (and, happily, not ear-throbingly loud), it’s a fine collaboration of professionals and Drama Department students –– and it’s all so excitingly mounted that the show’s lapses, banalities and excesses are (nearly) forgivable.  

What: Rent, music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson.
Where: Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse.
When: Through Feb. 13.
Length of performance: About 2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission.
Tickets:  $25 - $48; $15 students;  $16 for 18-years and under; $25 for 40 and under
Call: 315-443-3275, or www.syracusestage.org   
Family guide: Strong language, adult themes.