Rent renewed
Joel Brewton
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Web Extras
The Byham Theater, located in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District, was the location of the Pittsburgh Musical Theatre's production of "Rent," which will continue to play until next weekend. Young and old alike turned out for this re-imagining of Puccini's opera, "La Boheme." Some were diehard Rent-heads while others were coming out to see the Tony Award winning rock opera for the first time.
Set in Manhattan's Lower East Side, "Rent" tells the stories of a group of young men and women as they struggle with life, love, AIDS and, foremost, paying the rent. Written by the late Jonathan Larson, it is the eighth longest running Broadway show. It ran for twelve years until 2008, and its national tour is currently coming to a close as well. But did this performance earn the show a renewed lease on life? Or did it deserve to have an eviction notice nailed to its front door?
For starters, any fan of the show would immediately expect something great when they opened their program and saw the complete list of famous musical numbers in its entirety. Because of its adult content, harsh language and homosexual coupling, "Rent" has a reputation for being censored in amateur performances. Numerous songs have been known to have verses cut, much of the swearing and displays of affection are toned down, and other songs tend to be shortened because of their degrees of difficulty. The Act I song, "Christmas Bells," constantly has its final verses removed because they involve all the actors singing different lyrics and overlapping each other, while the Act II number, "Contact," is notorious for being removed from the show completely because of its erotic nature. However, this performance left everything intact. Every song was in its entirety and none of the couples were holding back.
Peter Mathew Smith, 32, not only directed the show but also starred as lead character Mark.
"I had little notes and charts and things like that that I kept having to reference and make sure I was doing everything right. It was a lot [of work]," Smith said.
Set in Manhattan's Lower East Side, "Rent" tells the stories of a group of young men and women as they struggle with life, love, AIDS and, foremost, paying the rent. Written by the late Jonathan Larson, it is the eighth longest running Broadway show. It ran for twelve years until 2008, and its national tour is currently coming to a close as well. But did this performance earn the show a renewed lease on life? Or did it deserve to have an eviction notice nailed to its front door?
For starters, any fan of the show would immediately expect something great when they opened their program and saw the complete list of famous musical numbers in its entirety. Because of its adult content, harsh language and homosexual coupling, "Rent" has a reputation for being censored in amateur performances. Numerous songs have been known to have verses cut, much of the swearing and displays of affection are toned down, and other songs tend to be shortened because of their degrees of difficulty. The Act I song, "Christmas Bells," constantly has its final verses removed because they involve all the actors singing different lyrics and overlapping each other, while the Act II number, "Contact," is notorious for being removed from the show completely because of its erotic nature. However, this performance left everything intact. Every song was in its entirety and none of the couples were holding back.
Peter Mathew Smith, 32, not only directed the show but also starred as lead character Mark.
"I had little notes and charts and things like that that I kept having to reference and make sure I was doing everything right. It was a lot [of work]," Smith said.
Be the first to comment on this story