The Circle Players Give Rent Its Due
The Circle Players, Nashville’s oldest volunteer community theater, is ending their 75th season with Rent, the rock musical loosely adapted from the opera La Boheme. The Pulitzer Prize winning musical is about bohemian artists living in New York City. It follows a circle of friends who are starving artists trying to live for their art while casting off bourgeois complacency and “the system.” There are significant differences from the opera, such as changing Mimi’s tuberculosis to AIDS, which most of the characters suffer from. Rent also expands the number of roles: there are almost ten main characters and many supporting roles.
There isn’t a strong or complex plot. Roger and Mark begin the show upset that their friend who owns their building hasn’t kept his word to let them live for free there, but is now charging them last year’s rent. They refuse to pay and consider him a sell-out while they’re staying true to their artistic dreams: Mark is a wannabe filmmaker and Roger a recently sober musician. Mark’s ex-girlfriend Maureen, who is now dating Joanne, is about to do performance art in front of a homeless encampment nearby and Mark and Joanne complain about Maureen’s habitual infidelity. While their electricity has been shut off, Roger meets Mimi, a neighbor who has come over to ask for a candle. Later their friend Collins introduces them to Angel, a street performer in drag who immediately becomes part of their friend group. The rest of the show features parties, breakups, reconciliations, a tragic death, and general drama and comedy.
The music has a few songs I really enjoy, but Rent is one of those musicals that you don’t want to think about too hard: while the show has a message of living each day as your last and sticking it to the man, the portrayal of these philosophies comes across more as recklessness and justification for pettiness. This aspect has been covered too well by Lindsay Ellis for me to spend any more time on it.
What the show does have is indulgently dramatic moments and much humor. One particularly ridiculous scene is when Maureen is doing her pretentious set, “Over the Moon.” It’s a moment that calls for a careful balance: it must be played straight because Maureen takes herself seriously, but not too straight or the audience might think it’s intended to be serious, in which case it would be painfully cringy. Maureen is played by Nikki Berra, who does a fantastic job with the balance in this scene and got everyone laughing loudly. Miya Nicole Burt plays her girlfriend Joanne, and they make an excellent on-stage couple, comedy and beautiful voices working perfectly together in “Take Me or Leave Me.”Another standout voice is Harrison Hall’s, who plays Roger. His voice is incredible, a perfect casting choice complemented by his excellent acting.
Megan Castleberry’s choreography for the show is great and the cast features talented dancers. Chaz A. Sanders is an exceptional dancer and is a joy to watch, moving as only a naturally gifted and extensively trained dancer can. He plays Angel with energetic enthusiasm. His choreography for the character is far more interesting and difficult than the movie adaptation, adding to the deserved praise.
Rent is at the Looby Theater, which shares a building with a library branch and community center (free parking!). The seating is comfortable and the theater is pleasantly small. The set for Rent is simple and the production uses minimal props. Ladders lead to scaffolding on both sides of the stage, connected by a bridge of scaffolding along the back. A chain link fence acts as the back of the stage, through which we can see graffitied walls and the musicians. Music Director Emily Dennis made sure the live music was great, and I’m very glad that Director Matthew Hayes Hunter made the choice to take the trouble and expense to get musicians: no recorded track can replace that energy or sound quality.
I’m not particularly fond of the musical itself, but I enjoyed watching the Circle Player’s performance. While all community theater has some performers that are stronger than others, and logistical difficulties (when I attended opening night, there was some difficulty with the timing of the microphones for a few minor characters), I was impressed by the show they were able to put on. If you’ve never seen the show, this production is a great way to start, and if you’re already a fan of the musical, I think you’ll have a blast. They will be performing Rent through June 1st. See their website for more information.
Vive la vie community theater!
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G E Tipton was born in Nashville and raised there and in Spring Hill. She graduated from MTSU in 2017 with a degree in German and a minor in piano performance. She spent three years in Boston before returning to Nashville in 2020. She is married and has a baby boy.
