Rent at TPAC

Rent has come to TPAC, and now’s your chance to pay it a visit.

Nashville Repertory Theatre kicked open the door to the show’s run and to its 22-23 season on Friday night, under the direction of Micah-Shane Brewer.

The show explores life on the margins, delving into macro themes of homelessness, gentrification, and the AIDS crisis while also addressing the very human experiences ubiquitous to all times and places. It’s as much about tenets as it is about tenants, and convictions instead of evictions take center stage. There’s a lot to unpack in Rent, and it’s a testament to Jonathan Larson’s brilliance that the show, though deeply rooted in its setting (The Lower East Side, New York City from December 1989-December 1990), is just as timely as ever.

Rent is a poignant and timeless reminder that we’re all living in a world in which our time and our future are not our property, but that friendship, kindness, and love are worth the investment. In a world bent on profit margins, investment returns, and property portfolios, there are other ways to live and other values to pursue. On the heels of a global pandemic, it’s a refreshing reminder that humans really do have the capacity to support, to persevere, and to love.

Favorite Performer: Marena Lucero. Portraying Mimi Marquez, she delivered the pathos, the vivacity, and the balance necessary to be the keystone of the show. The smoothness of Mike Sallee Jr.’s vocals as Roger Davis was evident, Wood Van Meter solidly and steadily portrayed Mark Cohen, Deonte L. Warren was divine as Angel Dumott Schunard, and Natalie Rankin was stellar (and hilarious) as Maureen Johnson.

Favorite Number: 525,600. Bad puns aside…

Favorite MUSICAL NUMBER: This is extremely unfair since “Seasons of Love” is one of the greatest musical numbers from any musical from any time. And it was executed beautifully by this cast, as was “La Vie Boheme.” But Natalie Rankin’s “Over the Moon” was a delicious slice of absurdity that couldn’t hide her vocal talents and, ahem, “udderly” magnificent stage presence. (If you were lucky enough to have attended Nashville Rep’s production of Mary Poppins, you’ll remember her phenomenal work as Winifred Banks).

Rent gives credence to Thoreau’s assertion that we “lead lives of quiet desperation,” but it shows that, with friendship, hope, art, and love, the desperation doesn’t have to be quite as quiet as we might think. Jonathan Larson made this a desperate tale of love, friendship, and loss tragic, but also hopeful. And loud. It shows that maybe it’s possible to heed the foreboding warning attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, that “Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it time runs out.” It reminds us that there are songs that need to be sung and songs that need to be heard, and it reminds us that amidst the music, love is the greatest metric of all.

Nashville Rep will be performing Rent in Nashville until September 25 in TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater. Get tickets and more information here.

Next up at TPAC: Pretty Woman: The Musical (September 27-October 2) Tickets and more info here. Take a look at the rest of TPAC’s 22-23 season here.

Next up for The Rep: The Cake (October 21-30). Tickets and more info here. See the rest of Nashville Rep’s 22-23 season here.