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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Musical Players Rock with RENT

Following the highly anticipated J-term production of Les Miserables, members of the College community will have another opportunity to enjoy a popular piece of musical theater when The Middlebury College Musical Players (MCMP) presents their Spring Term musical, RENT, at the Town Hall Theatre on Apr. 17-19.

As a contrast to the faculty-assisted J-term show, MCMP is in their eighteenth year of presenting completely student designed, directed, acted and produced musical theater, and currently puts on two musicals each academic year. Recent shows have included City of Angels, Midd-Life Crisis and Man of La Mancha, and this spring production employs the talents of fifteen student actors, five orchestra musicians, and a production team comprised of Assistant Director Sally Seitz ’17 , Music Director York Kitajima ’15 and Director Jack DesBois ’15.

DesBois joined MCMP in the fall of 2012 when he acted and assisted in the lighting design of City of Angels, and the student of music and theater so enjoyed the experience that he returned to direct the spring 2014 show.

DesBois and MCMP President Erica Furgiuele ’15, Vice President Hannah Johnston ’15.5 and Treasurer Annie MacPherson ’16 collaborated to decide which musical to stage.

“While City of Angels was a really great show, it was relatively unknown, and because of that we did have trouble finding people to get involved with it,” DesBois said. “So, this year we decided that we would choose a popular show, and we decided on RENT, partially because this is my first time directing and I wanted to do a show that I was already familiar with. As it turns out, that’s been quite helpful.”

Additionally, RENT’s even distribution of male to female roles proved helpful in combating the typical scarcity of female roles in musical theater.

Eight main characters comprise composer and lyricist Jonathan Larson’s rock musical adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera La bohème, following a group of impoverished young artists and musicians as they struggle to live and create in New York City’s Lower East Side under the shadow of the 1980’s and ‘90’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.

RENT experienced a meteoric rise to fame after premiering at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994, eventually moving off-Broadway where it was a massive hit, especially with younger generations, and won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. In that year, the show debuted on Broadway and catapulted into national attention, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and eventually becoming the tenth-longest running Broadway show in history at the time of the production’s closing in 2008. RENT also includes the classic Broadway anthem “Seasons of Love,” which crossed over to enjoy success on pop and rock charts.

The original Broadway production served as the launching pad for many now legendary Broadway performers, including Taye Diggs, Adam Pascal and Wicked and Frozen star Idina Menzel. These individual successes are just snapshots of the greater legacy of the musical, which lives on in a 2005 film version featuring most of the original cast, a live taping of the final 2008 performance and national tours and subsequent productions in 46 countries around the world in 24 languages.

DesBois’ history with RENT includes a viewing on Broadway and creative participation in multiple productions. This familiarity has allowed DesBois an ease with the material that inspires original interpretation.

“One of the ways I’ve tried to put my stamp on the show is by giving it a kind of rough-cut feel by having no curtains,” he said. “This is typical for the show, but usually when there are curtains, the actors will be hanging out behind watching what is going on onstage, and we’re still going to have those actors hanging out there in complete view.”

The breathtaking, refreshing rock melodies and complex characters of RENT have allowed the musical to endure almost 20 years after its New York premier, and the themes of community and friendship amidst hardship make the show accessible even to those who usually do not identify as fans of the musical theater genre.

“We recently had our first music rehearsal integrating the band and the cast, and when they came to ‘Goodbye Love,’ there was this really great moment when all the voices were singing, and I realized that this really is going to happen. These surreal moments are happening more and more,” DesBois said.

Health struggles threatened to set the production back after DesBois was forced to take J-term off for sick leave, but Kitajima ran music rehearsals to avoid losing time, priming the cast for upcoming blocking sessions when DesBois returned in the spring. Further health events caused more cancellations just before spring break, but the musical has managed to stay on schedule with only a week left until show time.

DesBois’ passion for the material that has consumed his life in recent months is palpable.

“RENT is one of those shows that is very close to my heart, and the themes are so universal and uplifting that I feel that you can’t come away from this show not smiling,” he said. “The cast is great, the music is going to be amazing, and it’s going to be a really good quality show.”

Tickets are available through the Box Office and at go.middlebury.edu/measureinlove, and are selling fast. Each of the three performances on Apr. 17-19 will be presented at 8 p.m. at The Town Hall Theater.


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