It would be well worth anyone’s while to see the musical Rent while it is in town at the Buell Theatre for a limited run through the Sunday, June 14, 2009, 2:00 p.m. matinee. It is referred to as the Broadway Tour because the two principal actors, Adam Pascal as Roger, and Anthony Rapp as Mark, who played those roles in the original 1996 production on Broadway, and Michael McElroy as Tom, and Justin Johnston as Angel, who were members of the last Broadway cast that closed the show on Broadway on September 7, 2008, have joined with a remarkably talented cast of performers to present the energetic, often frenetic, always complex and very modern show.  Many in the cast appeared at various times in the Broadway production of Rent, such as Jacques C. Smith who made his Broadway debut in the musical.

Rent is pure, mobile existentialism before your very eyes. But this is not the existentialism of Kierkegaard, Camus, and Sartre, who spoke of  living in and valuing the moment. This is the existentialism of the millisecond, so quickly do emotions, words, reactions, songs, and love and hate come and go. The book, music, and lyrics were written by Jonathan Larson, who, seemingly in the very spirit of the musical he wrote, tragically died just before it was to be staged before the public for the first time. No less tragic, sometimes, is the life portrayed on the stage during one miserable year, including a bitter winter, in the 1990’s when a group of young, broke would be musical superstars (in their own minds) try to survive in an unheated loft on Avenue B in the East Village of New York, with electricity through a long extension cord plugged in at another apartment, and water through a hose from an outside spigot. Their approach to life is whatever works, including selling your body if you can get some money. They seek truth, not sure what that is; seek love, sometimes not caring from where it will or should come, or whose love it is supposed to be; and disdaining the calls from mom and dad on phones that often do not work, and suffering HIVAIDs because, well, that’s what you get.

One of the sterling new actors in the cast is Lexi Lawson in the role of Mimi, a beautiful girl/woman who is learning that it is hard to live off of what your body is providing to others. Lawson was born in the Bronx 24 years ago and lived the last 17 years in the Catskill region of New York, Lawson has established herself as a strong vocal music presence. She auditioned for American Idol and advanced to the Hollywood phase. She took time out from Idol to audition for the part of Mimi in Rent, got the part, and has not looked back. She appeared as a child in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, and local productions of Alice in Wonderland as Alice, Wizard of Oz as Dorothy, Sound of Music as Louisa, and many others, honing her acting craft and impressing with her singing. She will be seen soon in a movie, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, starring Matthew McConnahey. She has been “more into music than acting,” but sees the two talents merging and taking her into many great opportunities in the future. She is conscious of the fact that the role of Mimi has become one of the signature roles in a classic modern American musical, and is grateful that some critics and many audiences find her work to be equal to and superior to some of the other Mimi’s, though she appreciates the way the role has come to her, and the opportunity to advance the role. The role enables her to show her versatility both in acting and in singing various musical styles. She hopes to land a role in West Side Story after the current tour has ended. And we might look for a CD from her in the not too distant future.

Now is a propitious time to see this great musical with its notable cast. You will enjoy the winter of their discontent.