That wasn't RENT

So, I hate to make the official return to reviewing local theatre on such a bad note, but I think I am fed up. Since the rights to RENT became available roughly 2 years ago, it seems as if every young performer has been in it. I think it is a fantastic show to be able to perform in, and each artist involved with it should be proud of their work...unless they are involved with Towson University's "production" of this show. I had been forwarded a rather pretentious article from Towson's student newspaper in which the cast and director stroke their own egos by insisting that their production was "edgier" and "different" from other productions of the show. I simply rolled my eyes, decided to skip what was sure to be a Kanye West-sized ego inflation convention and moved on.

That was until opening night.

I got two different emails from readers from last summers posts insisting that I rush out to see this production immediately. At first, I was wondering why these people were insisting upon it so much, then I read their entire messages. It seems that yes, Towson's production was different. Because they decided to break copyright law and change the ending to a show. I got a ticket from a friend who is a very proud RENThead and went to the show the next night. To say I was mortified would be putting it nicely. From entering the theatre to exiting as fast as was humanly possible, this show was terrible.

These college students had no clue what was going on. I'm more than sure that most of them thought they were making subtle and understated character choices which read more as "Why are you standing center stage and waving your arms like a mob boss giving a monologue?" Perhaps this was the direction, which included a lot of clunky use of levels, characters inexplicably climbing ladders, sliding down poles and running up and down the stairs. Yes, Daniel Ettinger's set looked great, but it seems director and theatre law anarchist Diane Smith-Sadak was hell-bent on using those levels and getting her money out of them.

The show starts rather stereotypically. On Broadway, the show opens with Roger enterting, plugging in his guitar to an amp and then being joined on stage by the remainder of the cast. As is the current trend, upon entering the theatre, the "homeless" are scattered about and trying to draw us in. This is not new or exciting, and I've seen it quite a few times now. Towson's version of homeless, however is very entertaining. Apparently, wearing combat boots or converses with jeans and sweatshirts is their incarnation of manhattan's crack-addicted homeless. I think it looked more like the scene outside of a nightclub in Baltimore, with the urban outfitters-clad hipsters bouncing about. I knew I was in for a long night.

Andrew Worthington's Mark was nothing to freak out about. Could he sing? Yes. His character choices were bland and I never actually felt for anything he said. Yes, he looked the part and he didn't butcher his music, but that was about it. Thomas Hedgpeth fairs slightly better vocally, but he shouldn't have attempted to play guitar. It was painfully obvious that he learned the chords of his music solely for this show. His choices are flat, and include a lot of hand waving, which does not an actor make. Nellie Glover is Mimi. This girl clearly isn't a singer. From the moment she entered in "Light My Candle", she started trying to take vocal risks which came across as diva-ish. Diva-ish in that she thought she was doing something right. Glover and Hedgpeth never once touched the melody of the song. I'm not sure what happened, but it didn't get better. Her "Out Tonight" was cringe inducing, seeing as her voice started to give out halfway through, but no matter! Mimi was joined onstage by a chorus of stripper friends, which escalated the number from bad to worse. "Out Tonight" is a solo sung by a stripper. Not a solo that morphs into a quartet of singing ladies of the night. By the end of the number, she had resorted to yelling on key, which was both highly entertaining and also nerve inducing. I didn't think she would even make it to the end of the evening yelling like that. Her performance in Act 2 seemed more promising until "Without You" which she started off on strong, but again chose to try and use vocal options which she did not have the training to pull off. Next.

Standouts, yes...they surprisingly had standouts. Nina Kauffman is Maureen and does a commendable job in the sea of bad character choices and bad direction. Her Maureen is strong and clearly an activist. Her voice can handle the music and her "Over the Moon" was truly enjoyable. Nurney Mason is Angel. I say he is a standout in that he clearly knows how to work a crowd. Was he entertaining? Yes. Did he ever tear at my heart strings, as Angel should? Never. It was more like watching a drag queen compete to win an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. No heart or soul to his performance, but he was certainly never boring.
Ensemble member Ines Nassara absolutely rocks the "Seasons of Love" solo and should have been cast as Joanne, who I won't comment on. Anthony Conway as Collins was enjoyable. He has one of the better voices in the cast, and tries to create chemistry with Mason as Angel, which comes off as forced most of the time, but not to say he isn't trying. He shines in Act 2 as one of the few performers who made legitimate acting choices. I actually felt something watching him, and it wasn't burning hatred, so that is great.

All in all, I was hoping that in larger group numbers, so many clearly un-trained voices could pull off some of the more memorable vocal moments. Perhaps if they all managed to yell (I'm sure they thought this was "belting") on key, the harmonies might come across. The only one time that I got somewhere near goosebumps was "I'll Cover You (reprise)" . I think this was more Larson's brilliant music and where the story sits at that moment, but I will give credit where it is due.

As for the copyright problems, which I know all of you have read. Diane Smith-Sadak decided to kill Mimi off at the end of "Your Eyes". Being that Larson passed before he could further edit the show, Mimi is supposed to wake up, tell the group that she saw Angel, and he told her to turn around. Yes, it is corny. No, I don't think that would actually happen. This is, however, Larson's work and it is copyrighted. By changing this, she broke copyright law by altering the plot and outcome of the show. I was absolutely horrified, as was the audience member next to me who simply said, "I hope that was an actor mistake, because this isn't going to end well for them if it wasn't." Towson's changing of this was incredibly brash and blatantly pretentious. It was a huge slap in the face to Jonathan Larson, his family, his work and the legacy of this show. I wasn't going to write a review on this piece simply out of anger, but I started following the story after news broke almost instantly about the changes that they made. Message boards lit up, with my favorite zinger being, "Well, now when I do MY Evita, Eva will live." MTI, the company that owns and maintains the licensing rights to many famous musicals, was contacted and contacted Towson with a cease and desist. Smith-Sadak in a move that made me even angrier, took to the school's blog and attempted to defend her honestly stupid choices. The rant she went on a self-indulgent and crazy. She came off and saying that she made a show better. That would be fine if it were her show to begin with. It wasn't hers to alter, and I am surprised that no one along the way said anything to her.

All in all, this show flops on an epic level. On top of all of the legal drama, it was just bad. Bad performances, bad singing, bad direction. Just bad. On top of that, I was surprised to see that Towson chose to perform a reprise of Seasons of Love after curtain call. According to my RENThead friend, that reprise was only authorized for certain tour versions of the show, but seeing as this production had altered verses of songs, extra actors singing some songs and unauthorized slayings of characters, it was the least of their problems. If you're going to take illegal liberties, you might as well take every single one of them that you possibly can before getting caught.

In other news, lots of shows open soon, and hopefully they've decided to present them within the realm of their contracts.