"RENT" at Zeitgeist Theater

My favorite musical in my favorite city in Minnesota?! I'm there, even if it means missing the first day of the Minnesota Fringe Festival (don't worry, there are ten more days). This was my 19th time seeing RENT, some 28 years after I saw it the first time on tour at the Ordway, and it still moves me. Zeitgeist in Duluth (just across the street from the NorShor Theatre) is a unique hub of arts, culture, and community, with a non-profit restaurant, a movie theater, and a live performance space with various programming including theater. Under Producing Artistic Director Mary Fox (whom some of you might know from her years performing at Yellow Tree, Theater Latte Da, the Children's Theatre Company, and more), Zeitgeist Theater has been producing excellent choices of shows in their last couple seasons. Where Renegade Theater Company (which performed in the same space and did the Minnesota premiere of Fun Home, among other great shows) did not survive the pandemic, Zeitgeist has bloomed in its place. Last season they did POTUS (which we have yet to see in #TCTheater), and this season includes six great choices of plays and musicals, some familiar, some new. I've been wanting to get up to Duluth to see a Zeitgeist show for the last few years, but just wasn't able to make it work. Until RENT. That's a show I cannot resist, and I was so thrilled to be there on opening night to see this raw young talented cast perform in the most intimate and immersive production of RENT I've ever seen. I felt like I was surrounded by RENT, and it was just the best. I'd tell you to get yourself to Duluth to see it but the short run is virtually sold out. Instead I'll tell you that the next time you plan a trip to Duluth, check out what's going on at Zeitgeist, or the Playhouse, or other arts organization in this amazing artsy town (including a production of Jonathan Larson's first musical Tick, Tick... Boom! by Boat House Productions this fall).

You all know the story of RENT, which now, approaching its 30th anniversary, is a period piece. Based loosely on the opera La Boheme and set in NYC "at the end of the millennium," it tells the story of a group of artist friends struggling with addiction, poverty, illness, and an increasingly disconnected world. Themes that are only more relevant today. But despite these difficulties, or because of them, they are able to find joy in the moment, joy in creation, joy in being together. 

And that's what really captured me when I was young and just starting my adult life, the same as these characters who now feel like friends. What a joy to discover them again through this young cast, many of whom were not yet born when RENT premiered in 1996. They have never shared a planet with Jonathan Larson, yet he lives on in them. A lot of this 15-person ensemble are current students at or recent graduates of the University of Minnesota - Duluth, which has a great musical theater program and produces a lot of our #TCTheater talent. So it's no surprise that this cast is fantastic, and while some of them may be green (this is the professional debut for many), they are so full of heart and passion and energy. And a young green cast works really well for RENT, because that's what it's about.

rehearsal photo of the cast courtesy of Zeitgeist

A quick rundown on our eight friends: Tate Nowacki is very endearing as Mark, my favorite character (going into just his second year at UMD, my RENT shirt is probably older than him); Ryan Sternbaum is every bit the angsty rocker Roger, and plays the guitar too; Ava O'Brian gives one of the most uniquely entertaining performances of "Over the Moon" I've ever seen, she had us all laughing and mooing; Izzy Maxwell is a tough and lovesick Joanne (the "Take Me or Leave Me Duet" between these two a highlight); Hope Davis is a fierce and powerful Mimi, while still showing her vulnerability; Tanner Rex Longshore is so sweet and lovable as Angel, the heart of the piece; Peyton Dixon (the one performer I've previously seen in multiple #TCTheater shows) is great as the antagonist Bennie; and Aaron J. Dumalag both warmed and broke my heart in his portrayal of Collins. But best of all was the way these eight, along with the seven ensemble members, work and play together, often on or near the stage even when not in the main action, always present and in the moment and fun to watch. I look forward to seeing these young performers again as they complete their studies and make their way in the theater world - they are the next generation of talent in the state.

Co-directors Mary Fox and Jess Hughes do a really great job of using the intimate and oddly shaped space at Zeitgeist, creating a RENT like I've never experienced. The raw talent and energy of the cast just explodes off the not-very-large stage, literally and figuratively. There doesn't seem to be any border between stage and audience; the cast is up and down all of the aisles, performing scenes just in front of the stage, or in the main aisle (used for many entrances and exits). I truly felt like I was surrounded by RENT, with the cast everywhere amongst us (most obviously during Maureen's performance when the cast sits down with the audience to watch). This intimate space requires no miking of actors, which I love, because you can hear the voices pure and clear coming from the performers and not filtered through a sound system. Because the stage is so tiny (made even more so by the dozen or so lucky audience members seated on stage, making this almost an in-the-round performance), there's no room for the band. But they're not far away; they're in a room at the back of the audience, sound piped in but also coming through the open door, for an almost surround sound experience. And the sound is fantastic (music director Patrick Russel, sound designer Nick Gosen).

This may also be the first production of RENT I've seen with no tables, used in the iconic "La Boheme" number. This is a grungy, scrappy RENT, and it works - graffiti on the walls, a stationary scaffolding on one side (not as large as in the Broadway production but still climbable), and a movable yellow scaffolding on stage with a platform that can function as a table or bed. These items do not look like they were made for theater, they look real and worn. The only furniture (other than a few cabaret tables and chairs for the on-stage audience) are Angel's "ten-gallon plastic pickle tubs." In "La Boheme," the cast sits on these in two long lines, then moves them around to one line, then out of the way as the perform in the middle. Really every scene and musical number is inventively staged to fit the space, with choreography (by Kayla Schiltgen) that's also unique and new and fun and grungy. Costumes are reminiscent of the iconic originals (Mark's striped sweater and scarf, Roger's plaid pants), but also unique and different (set design by Nelson Wennberg, costume design by Laura Piotrowski, lighting design by Jon Brophy).

Sitting by Lake Superior on a gorgeous (if hazy) morning after opening night of RENT, I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for Minnesota's favorite vacation spot just an easy two-hour drive away that even in the busyness of summer is a respite, gratitude for Jonathan Larson's enduring work and legacy, and gratitude for a new generation of RENTheads. I may be the original RENT generation (we're in our 50s now, but we're still here!), but every new generation is a RENT generation. We don't own it, and neither do they. That's the beauty of theater, it lives on to be re-interpreted by new artists again and again. Long live RENT - a celebration of love, community, and creation!