“Rent - The School Edition” by Copper Studios

Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

Written by Jonathan Larson and set in the East Village of New York City, "Rent" is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. 

Based loosely on Puccini's “La Boheme”, Jonathan Larson's Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger Davis, Mimi Marquez, Tom Collins and Angel Schunard. Maureen Johnson deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne Jefferson, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble.

Benjamin Coffey III has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for financial gains, forgetting the bond with his former friends. Mark Cohen, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. The way these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this musical.

"Rent" could be classed as rock opera as everything is sung through, and the soundtrack leans heavily on rock genre.

Musical Director, Harry Hindley will be overjoyed at the result, and I imagine will have been a labour of love.

Likewise, Megan Hindley who choreographed and Directed the production will be classing this show as a big success, especially with the delay due to Covid, and I would agree with both Harry and Megan, this show is a massive success.

I've said previously this year how bowled over I've been at the talented young actors in and around the area, and the students at Copper Studios yet again prove me right.

The three main male actors William Horner (Mark), Harry Steel (Roger) and Louis Chadburn (Tom) all have incredible voices for this style of musical. They have amazing control and emotion when they sing, and when it comes to Louis' scene at the funeral, you can really feel the hurt that Tom is going through. The song "Without You" sung at this stage is delivered with maximum feeling, and could well be the best version of this song I've heard sung live. I can't wait to hear how their voices develop when they get a bit older because they sound so good at the moment.

The themes in this story are of an adult variety and I was really impressed with the way these young actors understood and delivered the script and what they were singing. "Rent" is not the easiest of musicals to take on and the songs are not the easiest of songs to sing either but this group nailed it all.

Lily-Mae Evans, as Mimi, had to deliver a sleazy performance when she first meets Roger and her song, "Light My Candle", like several of the soundtrack have hidden meanings and the way she delivered this particular piece showed that she comprehended what the character's aim was, and was delivered in a very mature way; a tribute to Lily-Mae's acting skills. I loved her voice, especially in "Without You"

Jude Forsey (Benjamin) gives us a very mature performance as the landlord, chasing for the rent for the department that he used to share with the others, with just the right amount of sleaze. And another young actor who has a really good, strong vocal style.

I loved the chemistry created by Tillie Parsons (Maureen) and Daisy Waters (Joanne) and their big duet "Take Me Or Leave Me" had sparks flying with the electricity they caused. Mark and Maureen's duet "Tango Maureen" was also a highlight for me, combining a fun lyric with a killer piece of choreography. Tillie also gets to be slightly off the wall with Maureen's "Over The Moon", a definite audience pleaser.

One of the most difficult, and probably the most fun characters to play in "Rent" just has to be Angel, and that requires an actor who can not only sing and dance, but can be totally convincing in the role. Evan Fretwell is a brilliant choice for this role, and he looks completely comfortable in those heels! Angel and Tom's duet "I'll Cover You" was completely believable and really quite romantic.

An excellent ensemble of Amber Colson, Ashlei-Mai Domleo, Kyra Fowler, Niamh Hutchinson, Isabella Streets, Eden Bell, Carrie Byrne and Lottie Parsons make up the ensemble and minor characters.

The soundtrack is packed with some really memorable songs, both emotive and comic. "One Song Glory", "Light My Candle", "Santa Fe", "La Vie Boheme", "Seasons Of Love", "Take Me Or Leave Me", "Tango Maureen", "Without You", "I'll Cover You", "Your Eyes" and of course the title song all favourites of mine.

The cast have really worked incredibly hard and this shows in their performance, and were flawless.

The set design (Harry Hindley) looked apt for the decade and location of the musical and created an interesting backdrop for the actors and their story.

The lighting was subtle, at times quite low which added to the depressive feel of the storyline.

My only little gripe was with the sound and the mics. there were hand held mics and radio mics and at times they were not turned up, missing the first words of a song or delivery, and sometimes crackled and the sound was lost. The backing soundtrack was also just a tad loud, which didn't help when the mics were not loud enough and a balance needed to be struck. I imagine that with this being the first night, these slight technical glitches will be amended for the following two days. Not even this though could spoil my enjoyment of this gritty, hard-hitting musical.

If any musical gives you more bang for your buck, then this is the one. Brilliant performances by an incredibly talented young cast who get through 40 musical numbers.

"Rent - The School Edition" is on at the Bonington Theatre in Arnold only until Wednesday 23 February.